Welcome to the blog of NSW strata investigative journalism
| From: | SP52948 owner |
|---|---|
| To: | Robert Crosbie, Heath Crosbie |
| Cc: | Committee members: Stan Pogorelsky, John Gore, Genelle Godbee, Ramesh Desai, Kathryn Cutler, Carlos Fornieles Montoya, Andrew Ip, Jeffery Wang |
| Subject: | REQUEST - Provide evidence and justify questionable payments from SP52948 Admin Fund for AGM 2023 |
| Date: | 20/10/23, 20:37 |
Good evening,
a) As of evening on 20 October 2023, Auditor's report for FY 2023 has not been delivered to any owner and not provided in the agenda for AGM 2023. Because you must send it to some owners by post, there is absolutely no time to meet requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).
Waratah Strata Management and all nine members of the committee are requested to have fully prepared answers (to avoid long AGM best option is to provide written response and share it with all owners and tenants) for AGM 2023.
Attachment "SP52948-AGM-2023-dubious-invoices.pdf" contain details of payments that are questionable and need full clarification and evidence.
b) As of evening on 20 October 2023, neither Waratah Strata Management, nor nine members of the committee and Uniqueco Property Services allowed owners to receive information about NSW Fair Trading admission that Waratah Strata Management failed to provide copy of audit reports, in direct non-compliance with SSMA 2015.
Further evidence was provided to NSW Fair Trading and much stronger actions are requested for strata manager due to "repeat offender" status.
This email will be forwarded to NSW Fair Trading as well.
c) As of evening on 20 October 2023, monthly salary for Uniqueco Property Services was still not listed in Admin Fund (attachment "SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2023-to-evening-20Oct2023.pdf"), in spite of fact that usually, these payments occur in the first week of the month (attachment "SP52948-dates-of-monthly-payments-for-building-management-contract-FY-2023.png").
Today's negative balance in Admin Fund is horrific nevertheless: -$272,482.76
Two options are only possible:
1. SP52948 has so serious financial problems that this payment is delayed until next levy collection on or after 1 November 2023.
2. Payment was completed but not recorded in Admin Fund to avoid having deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund reaching above $300,000.00 by the Annual General Meeting.
In both cases, this is a serious financial mismanagement.
d) Lot 158 gave strong warnings to delay AGM 2023, and they were ignored.
Without going into details here, be aware that contract renewal with Uniqueco Property Services cannot happen at AGM 2023 (the contract expires on 31 January 2024, and owners shall have that information next week).
One of the reasons (and there are dozens listed in report prepared for next week):
General Business is precluded from any strata scheme meetings. All items must be included as a motion on the meeting agenda and distributed to all owners so that they are aware of what decisions are to be considered.
If an item is forgotten or not included it needs to be considered at the next meeting.
General business may be conducted as an information session at the conclusion of a meeting but there can be no resolutions passed. This also applies to strata committee meetings.
Passing a motion that was not included in the agenda would deny proper notice being given to all owners and committee members, and, in turn, deny owners the right to oppose the proposal.
No motion, whether ordinary or special, can be resolved unless it appears on the notice/agenda of the general meeting.
Regards,
Good evening,
On 9 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management and all committee members received Lot 158 request to postpone AGM 2023 and include Lot 158 Motions. That was silently ignored.
Things are now much more serious.
a) On 17 October 2023, NSW Fair Trading (case 11138875) reached decision that Waratah Strata Management failed in its duties for financial audits:
Based on the information provided, Fair Trading identified that the Agency failed to provide a copy of audit reports to the owners corporation as required under Schedule 1, Clause 9 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (Act). Fair Trading has taken appropriate compliance action in accordance with our policies and procedures.
If the owners corporation is dissatisfied with the performance of the strata managing agent, the owners corporation may consider convening a general meeting to terminate the management agreement. If considering this option, the owners corporation should carefully review the agreement for termination conditions.
Lot 158 now demands that the following actions follow immediately:
1. All owners receive NSW Fair Trading decisions via email and post (where applicable).
2. NSW Fair Trading decisions are published on Waratah Strata Management website.
3. NSW Fair Trading decisions are published on all six notice boards.
b) As of today, negative balance in Admin Fund reached $272,482.76. That is the highest negative balance ever reached for SP52948. Owners still have to pay monthly salary (for October 2023) for building manager Uniqueco Property Services before next collection of levies on 1 November 2023.
It is almost guaranteed that negative balance in Admin Fund will go above $300,000.00 by the end of October 2023.
c) Lot 158 prepared full document not only refuting false statements and errors in agenda for AGM 2023, but also documented reasons why EVERY owner will have to vote against Motions as presented by Waratah Strata Management and committee members.
Two days before the AGM, Waratah Strata Management MUST, in accordance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), Sch1, Part 10(1), provide Lot 158 copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits are one example). Waratah Strata Management and committee members received this official request titled "UPDATED EVIDENCE PART 3 - NSW Fair Trading - Reference Number 11138875" on 7 October 2023.
Of special interest will be evidence of how Waratah Strata Management paid invoices from Admin Fund which had negative balance almost 100% of the time during FY 2023. If the money was borrowed from Capital Works Fund, Waratah Strata Management must have complied with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Section 76.
That will be sent to Waratah Strata Management and committee members one day before the meeting (if it goes ahead on 26 October 2023, which we strongly advise not to ahead with). That will give strata manager and committee members time to prepare answers to Lot 158 questions.
d) Now that we achieved fist level of success at NSW Fair Trading against Waratah Strata Management, much more serious actions will follow.
Regards,
