Lot 158 finally starting to achieve results: NSW Fair Trading letter on 17 October 2023, confirming that Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with regulations for Auditor's reports (and this is just the beginning of troubles for this strata agency):
Nine committee members were asked to inform all owners about NSW Fair Trading update on 18 October 2023 and they did not respond:
On 19 October 2023, Director of Uniqueco Property Services was given one-page document to put on or near six notice boards. Mr. Steve Carbone pretended that he had to ask Mr. Robert Crosbie (Director of Waratah Strata Management) for permission to publish it, and then never completed the task to comply with Lot 158 request:
SP52948-Lot-158-notice-board-v2-19Oct2023
In one of many examples of Lot 158 efforts, on 5 October 2015 Lot 158 tried to reason with BCS Strata Management (they lost contract with SP52948 at AGM in 2016) to avoid massive and persistent mismanagement of common funds and pending large expenses due to neglect of complex. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 tried to reason with Waratah Strata Management and committee members to avoid bankruptcy and unnecessary legal costs and insurance risks on 2 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 tried to reason with Waratah Strata Management and committee members to prevent unnecessary legal costs and assist NSW Fair Trading and Police on 18 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 predicted risks of running out of money in email and warning to Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and committee members on 29 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Seven more warnings were sent to Waratah Strata Management and committee members in 2023 - no reply was ever received:
In agenda for Annual General Meeting on 26 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management continued to mislead owners, confirming problems with strata funds without disclosing any balance sheets from funds, ongoing problems with fire safety, and providing completely false and fabricated figure of 18% inflation rate over three last years:
Even layman can easily confirm that figure for official inflation rates of 18% for three years prior to 2023 were grossly inflated, false, and designed to coerce owners:
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... whilst sending this agenda to owners (full of errors and misleading statements)
Number of SP52948 owners, tenants, and investors expressed gratitude towards this website as that was the only way to gain access to lot of critical information, which is not available in minutes and notices of meetings, or on Waratah Strata website.
The rest of the audience is anyone who might be interested in problems with strata schemes in NSW...
This website does not have any desire or intent to add own comments and therefore it is up to anybody to make up their own conclusions based on evidence and statements by others who did it in public forums, in courts, or elsewhere. All files on this website were provided to Fair Trading NSW, Office of legal Services Commissioner, NCAT, Supreme Court, and Police. The same files were repeatedly sent to Solicitor Adrian Mueller, committee members and strata managers - silence is their response.
Public is voicing strong concerns about problems with Tribunals. Issues with strata complexes and dubious quality of services provided by those who should enforce laws are common and frequent - examples: NSW-Civil-Tribunal-failing-to-deliver-services
Democracy should be the leading avenue for managing strata complexes. But, democracy requires high level of sense and ethics, and right for all owners to have full access to strata files in order to make informed decisions. And when that does not happen, how to proceed? One way is to educate public and rise awareness that license to be a strata manager is one of the easiest in any industry: Strata Community Australia (SCA) are offering a three-day course on qualifying to be a strata manager with no prior educational requirements (apparently educational requirements are fulfilled by completing the course).
Justice McCallum publicly stated:
Extensive media reporting of allegations of criminal conduct is not a mischief in itself. On the contrary, it is appropriate to recognise that the media play an important role in drawing attention to allegations of criminal or other misconduct and any shortcomings in the treatment of such allegations.
Waratah Strata Management Non-Compliance of SP52948 Auditor Reports Since 2017
Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. That is what the law prescribes.
Waratah Strata Management since 2017 failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 six times, whilst in other two years the Auditor's Report in our complex was highly dubious and questionable.
Full details are in:
Waratah-Strata-Management-non-compliance-of-SP52948-Auditor-reports
SP52948 Waratah Strata Management Non-Compliance with SSMA 2015 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) for Meetings
As recently as 28 November 2018, amendments to the Interpretation Act (section 76(1)(b)) saw the ‘postage’ time period extended from 4 business days to 7 business days. The ‘postage’ period must be calculated before applying the meeting notice period. It is based on the Interpretation Act detailed in a circular issued by Australia Post in 2016 stating 7 business days for Standard Delivery.
NSW Strata Community perfect summary of strata meeting requirements
Since 1 February 2017, when Waratah Strata Management took office, no ordinary or general meeting satisfied regulations and requirements as defined by SSMA 2015 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).
Waratah Strata Management ignored evidence about recent decision in ACA Developments Pty Ltd vs The Owners – Strata Plan No. 73759 (2023) (“ACA Development“): notice was issued to convene a general meeting of the owners corporation with a motion to pass a by-law aimed at restricting short-term accommodation. However, the notice was served only five clear days before the scheduled meeting, failing to meet the mandatory seven-day requirement under the SSMA 2015. As a result, the Tribunal declared the resolution made at that meeting as invalid and repealed the by-law registered subsequent to the motion’s passage.
In ACA Development, the owners corporation served the meeting notice through a mailing company, and the mailing company lodged the notice with Australian Post 2 days short of the statutory requirement. Delivery to a mail house is not delivery to the postal system. In accordance with the Interpretation Act 1987, service of the notices was deemed be effected on the seventh working day after they were posted (day of post excluded), with the day of receipt excluded from the calculation.
The ACA Development case also highlighted the significance of strict compliance with the seven-day notice requirement, as established by a previous Supreme Court case, The Owners – Strata Plan No 62022 v Sahade [2013] NSWSC 2002 (“Sahade“). In Sahade, the notice of the general meeting was served one day late, precisely six days before the meeting. The Supreme Court emphasized that strict compliance is necessary, particularly when the Act employs the terms “must” and “at least,” ensuring the effectiveness of a properly served notice.
In spite of direct questions, Waratah Strata Management failed to provide a means that demonstrates the date of posting and delivery, such as a registered, express, or other tracked postal or courier service. Waratah Strata Management stayed silent and provided no evidence to Fair Trading NSW, NCAT, Office of Legal Services Commissioner (owner's submissions for professional misconduct by Solicitor Adrian Mueller, and Supreme Court).
Four cases were opened with Australia Post since 2018 (18901640, 20472440, 24171104, 30903851) and each time there was a resounding statement that no evidence of lost letters were detected or recorded for Lot 158.
Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 1 March 2017, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). It was admitted by Director Mr. Robert Crosbie himself.
As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed.
Waratah Strata Management allowed four non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
Lot 181, Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, by own admission (not shared with owners), paid $50.00 for gas heating in FY 2001. In this secret spreadsheet, he also submitted that GST applied from 2002, whilst the fact is that GST was introduced on 1 July 2000, and admitted that he did not pay for FY 2012 and 2013, ignoring the fact that levies had to be paid even if invoice had been lost or not sent:
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Agenda was created on 13 April 2017 and scheduled for 20 April 2019. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY four days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015.
Waratah Strata Management allowed four non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 30 June 2017, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). This was confirmed in minutes of meeting 20 July 2017:
Agenda was not sent to any owner, notice boards did not announce this meeting, and minutes of the meeting were not sent to any owner.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
NCAT-case-20/33352-SP52948-brief-log-of-events-related-to-elevator-maintenance-and-replacement-contract-in-three-periods-2005-2017-and-2018 (tenders without evidence, delayed repairs, contracts approved without having any paperwork).
Without sending notice of the meeting to any owner, committee had paper meeting on 30 June 2017, allegedly making a decision to enter into elevator maintenance contract with Liftronics without tender or any competitive quotes. Minutes of committee meeting on 20 July 2017 confirmed that the paper meeting on 30 June 2017 was non-compliant with strata regulations. Committee members and Waratah Strata Management were fully aware that seven-year contract with Thyssen Krupp was being terminated on 30 June 2017, as per Motion 6 in minutes of committee meeting three months earlier on 16 March 2017.
Waratah Strata Management hide information about unfinancial committee members: SP52948-committee-member-Marianna-Paltikian-unfinancial-to-vote-7May2020 SP52948-levy-arrears-for-committee-members-at-meeting-that-decided-to-grant-elevator-contract-to-Liftronics-without-general-meeting-or-details-of-contract-20Jul2017.
Only once Waratah Strata Management informed owners about committee members not being allowed to vote:
SP52948-committee-member-Marianna-Paltikian-unfinancial-to-vote-7May2020
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Agenda was created on 13 July 2017 and scheduled for 20 July 2019. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY four days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015.
Waratah Strata Management allowed four non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 22 September 2017 and scheduled for 28 September 2017. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 7 February 2018 and scheduled for 15 February 2018. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY five days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015.
Waratah Strata Management allowed four non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 18 March 2019 and scheduled for 21 March 2019. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 26 April 2019 and scheduled for 2 May 2019. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, ONLY two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 14 June 2019 and scheduled for 20 June 2019. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
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Agenda was created on 30 August 2019 and scheduled for 5 September 2019. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
Strata Plan SP52948 Annual General Meeting 2019, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), Section 7, Section 8 (d), Section 9 (a) and (d), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW):
The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.
This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.
Agenda was created on 30 September 2019 and scheduled for 17 October 2019. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019 failed to meet required timeframes:
Lot 158 sent Motions for AGM 2019 on Saturday 28 September 2019 at 21:09 hours. At earliest, Waratah Strata Management would have dealt with it on Monday, 30 September 2019 and sent notices to owners in early October. Waratah Strata Management refused to prove the date they sent the letters
Lot 158 has full photo evidence that notice boards in the complex did not have ANY information about AGM even as late as 11 October 2019
If notices were sent on 1 October 2019 (the best-case scenario for Waratah Strata Management), the following would apply:
1 October 2019 not counted (day of postage) 7 October 2019 not counted (Labour Day in ACT, NSW & SA) 17 October 2019 not counted (day of the meeting) ... leaving the following calculation: Seven working days as per Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) are: 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 October 2019 Days for notice of AGM: 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 October 2019 (five days, 17 October 2019 is NOT counted (day of AGM)) Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 1/10/2019 Tuesday Notice posted 2, 2/10/2019 Wednesday First working day 3, 3/10/2019 Thursday Second working day 4, 4/10/2019 Friday Third working day 5, 5/10/2019 Saturday Weekend 6, 6/10/2019 Sunday Weekend 7, 7/10/2019 Monday Public holiday (Labour Day) 8, 8/10/2019 Tuesday Fourth working day 9, 9/10/2019 Wednesday Fifth working day 10, 10/10/2019 Thursday Sixth working day 11, 11/10/2019 Friday Seventh working day - notice effective 12, 12/10/2019 Saturday First notice day 13, 13/10/2019 Sunday Second notice day 14, 14/10/2019 Monday Third notice day 15, 15/10/2019 Tuesday Fourth notice day 16, 16/10/2019 Wednesday Fifth notice day 17, 17/10/2019 Thursday Date of meeting
All these items make AGM 2019 seemingly non-compliant, along with other strong reasons like quorum miscalculation, unfinancial owners allowed to vote, Lot 158 Motions not presented for voting with any legally- valid reasons to justify it, lack of tender for strata management contract renewal, non-disclosure of alleged losses of invoices, emails, and other financial documents, non-disclosure of owners who were allowed to be committee members whilst unfinancial, and much more If notices were sent by post on any other after 1 October 2019 (most probable scenario), the non-compliance is even more drastic.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).
SP52948-statutory-declaration-for-NCAT-case-20/33352-which-Waratah-Strata-Management-refused-to-provide-to-owners-Aug2020 contains more details of misconduct of AGM 2019.
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Agenda was created on 7 February 2020 and scheduled for 13 February 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 7 March 2020 and scheduled for 12 March 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY four days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Paper committee meeting was scheduled for 12 March 2020 at 16:00 hours but actual meeting happened five days later, without any updated given to owners, on 17 March 2020 at 09:00 hours (time-warped event).
Owners corporation declined to attend free-of-costs mediation in Fair Trading NSW case 00351498 on 17 March 2020, without providing owners with details of the case, or giving owners copy of the mediation request.
On 25 March 2020, Lot 158 sent the following email to Waratah Strata Management, which was never tabled in minutes of any meeting or shared with owners. Th Subject line of the email was:
“SUMMARY: Waratah Strata Management refusal to notify owners about critical issues including fair Trading Mediation and expired contract with Waratah Strata Management”.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 1 May 2020 and scheduled for 7 May 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Solicitors failed to comply with alleged decision at this meeting, and owners were never informed about it:
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 8 July 2020 and scheduled for 16 July 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY five days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 4 September 2020 and scheduled for 10 September 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 5 November 2020 and scheduled for 11 November 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
At this meeting, just few weeks after Annual General Meeting, Mr. Moses Levitt resigned as member of the committee. Solicitor Adrian Mueller, Waratah Strata Management, and committee members failed to notify NCAT in case SC 20/33352 about this event, and made Hearing on 11 February 2021 void due to false statement by Solicitor Adrian Mueller that all six members of the committee were still valid.
Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 29 January 2021 and scheduled for 4 February 2021. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 21 April 2021 and scheduled for 29 April 2021. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 11 July 2021 and scheduled for 15 July 2021. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 17 September 2021 and scheduled for 23 September 2021. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 25 November 2021 and scheduled for 1 December 2021. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 7 February 2022 and scheduled for 10 February 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Notice of paper committee meeting, without designated venue was published on notice boards as late as 13:30 hours on 8 February 2022, and scheduled for 10 February 2022, without venue and time. Solicitor Adrian Mueller was requested to respond about this meeting and he declined.
Owners were prevented from having any information about Solicitor Adrian Mueller and his work in agenda for the meeting, which failed to disclose actions related to NCAT case SC 20/33352.
Minutes of the committee meeting were not published on notice boards. Lot 158 has photo evidence.
Minutes did not provide any information to owners about Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s actions and confirmed that offers by Lot 158 (including request to maintain common property) were ignored.
Waratah Strata Management allowed two non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 25 February 2022 and scheduled for 3 March 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Committee Meeting on 3 March 2022 did not disclose the expenses accrued by Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
Lot 158 requested that owners be notified about current status of NCAT case and Solicitor’s engagement, but Waratah Strata Management and committee members declined. Legal costs had six versions of total expenses for Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s alleged work. This was proposed to the committee for inclusion in the Agenda on the meeting scheduled for 3 March 2022, but not allowed by Waratah Strata Management.
Agenda for the committee meeting had no details of Solicitor Adrian Mueller and Supreme Court case for legal costs recovery.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller was requested to respond about this meeting and he attempted to justify it in email to Supreme Court Costs Assessor on 20 April 2022.
Supreme Court Costs Assessor accepted non-compliant meetings as valid:
Lot 158 responded with these notes and Solicitor stayed silent:
It is noted that Costs Applicant did not respond to the submissions of the Costs Respondent dated 5 April 2022 which included three attachments (email by the Costs Applicant does not answer or provide the information being sought even for Costs Respondent’s submission with 19 attachments dated 31 March 2022 is taken into account):
NCAT-20-33352-submissions-and-document-report-from-18Aug2020-to-9Jun2021-for-document-search-photo-1-8Mar2022.webp (one page)
Costs-Respondent-letter-to-Ms-Julie-Wright-5Apr2022.pdf (50 pages)
Costs-Respondent-Questions-on-Validity-of-Legal-Cost-Items.pdf (spreadsheet)
Costs Respondent has no interest or desire to “reagitate issues”, as asserted by Cost Applicant, rather pursue a just and fair process. As per Costs Respondent’s submission on 5 April 2022; “The purpose of documents being requested is to clarify inaccuracies, ambiguities and most importantly whether Solicitor could act as a legal representative on behalf of the Owners Corporation. As stated in Cost Assessor's original letter, goal is to "assess the amount of costs that is fair and reasonable". We appreciate this case is complex with comprehensive evidence. This has culminated over ten years as a result of lack of transparency in legitimately and legally employing the services of Solicitor Adrian Mueller on behalf of the Owners Corporation, numerous attempts of mediation, self investigation of obtaining these documents with mediation attempts not being fruitful, and consequently the need for Costs Respondent to defend litigation.”
Solicitor Adrian Mueller continues to misspell first and last name of female owner of Lot 158.
Two attachments are enclosed herewith:
Strong-case-for-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-being-assessory-before-and-after-insurance-fraud-five-times-CTTT-12-32675-and-NCAT-20-33352.pdf
Costs-Respondent-letter-to-Ms-Julie-Wright-20Apr2022.pdf
Special attachment "Strong-case-for-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-being-assessory-before-and-after-insurance-fraud-five-times-CTTT-12-32675-and-NCAT-20-33352.pdf" documents (in another folder under URL sent to Cost Assessor and Costs Applicant on 5 April 2022) contains irrefutable evidence that Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to assist District Court in case 2013/360456 on 31 January 2014 where strata manager Peter Bone provided false statements in his Affidavit and Solicitor had such knowledge. Solicitor Adrian Mueller presented Affidavit by BCS Strata Management Peter Bone, knowing that it contained false information about Applicant never being denied access to strata files, which is easily confirmed by following evidence:
12 November 2012
15 November 2012 (complaint to BCS Strata Management that Respondent failed to honour
Agreement signed by Solicitor Adrian Mueller during CTTT hearing on 17 October 2012)
8 March 2013
5 June 2013
17 October 2013
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to acknowledge that committee meeting held on 3 April 2022 did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (pages 15-16 of Costs Respondent's document dated 5 April 2022). Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to acknowledge that in his invoices he claimed he had received authorisation from strata manager to lodge Supreme Court case on 1 March 2022 - two days before committee meeting. There is no evidence of such email and no evidence that Costs Applicant made such decision at any legally-compliant meeting. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's Paragraphs 17.1), 23), 23.1), and 23.2) in document dated 5 April 2022.
Costs Respondent collected all forensic evidence that Costs Applicant (and Solicitor Adrian Mueller) did not make any attempt to log into secure web site to verify Respondent's evidence in period from 5 April 2022 until this afternoon. Costs Respondent collected all forensic evidence that Costs Applicant (and Solicitor Adrian Mueller) did not make attempts to send any email or letter to Respondent in period from 5 April 2022 until this afternoon. For the sake of evidence, Cost Assessor logged 938 times into secure website and took significant interest in Respondents' evidence.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to provide any evidence of his alleged work and avoided direct questions about six versions of his legal costs which conflicted with owners corporation documents provided to owners before Annual General Meeting 2021.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller did not provide any evidence of his alleged correspondence with NCAT and he was directly challenged to do it, especially since document search at NCAT on 8 March 2022 found no such evidence. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's paragraphs 41.2) in document dated 5 April 2022.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to provide information about sudden insurance claim in amount of $19,758.14 (on 25 March 2022 Waratah Strata Management listed revenue from insurance claims in amount of $19,758.14 in Income & Expenditure Report):
Income & Expenditure Report listed all legal costs in period from 1 September 2021 to 21 March 2022 as $380.00 and no insurance claims for legal costs,
Income & Expenditure Report listed all legal costs in period from 1 September 2021 to 24 March 2022 as $4,128.71 and no insurance claims for legal costs,
Income & Expenditure Report suddenly listed all legal costs in period from 1 September 2021 to 25 March 2022 as $4,128.71 and insurance claims for legal costs as 19,758.14.Owners were prevented from having any information about Solicitor Adrian Mueller and his work in agenda for the meeting, which failed to disclose actions related to NCAT case SC 20/33352.
Minutes did not provide any information to owners about Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s actions and confirmed that offers by Lot 158 (including request to maintain common property) were ignored.
Waratah Strata Management allowed one non-financial owner to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 10 May 2022 and scheduled for 12 May 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, NO DAYS were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 10 May 2022:
Notice boards in Block A, B,C, and D on 10 May 2022 dod not publish information about this meeting (photos taket at 20:15 hours in the evening):
Waratah Strata Management allowed one non-financial owner to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year):
SP52948 extract from alleged committee meeting confirming unpaid levies but not disclosing full scale of outstanding debt for gas heating usage on 30 June 2017:
Motion 14 at Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019:
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Agenda was created on 26 July 2022 and scheduled for 28 July 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, NO DAYS were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor Adrian Mueller's costs: from Lot 158 and insurance company. Accounting statement showed that insurance company was still not reimbursed for legal costs.
Admin Fund had negative balance of $61,290.57 on 28 July 2022, 3 days before next collection of levies on 1 August 2022 (owners did not receive any information about financial status).
Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 28 July 2022:
Waratah Strata Management website lists only one committee meeting for whole 2022, screenshot taken on 28 July 2022:
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Agenda was created on 26 September 2022 and scheduled for 29 September 2022. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, only two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.
Agenda was put on notice boards at around 13:00 hours on 26 September 2022.
Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor Adrian Mueller's costs: from Lot 158 and insurance company. Accounting statement appears to show that insurance company was still not reimbursed for legal costs.
Insurance expired on 21 September 2022 and Admin Fund contained no information of the renewal.
Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 26 September 2022:
Balance sheet presented in the agenda displayed status on 31 August 2022 for Admin Fund as $68,149.95 and Capital Works Fund as $1,364,899.11, whilst the real status on the day notice was sent on 26 September 2022, Admin Fund had $61,907.28 and Capital Works Fund had $1,093,954.86.
Strata Plan SP52948 Annual General Meeting 2022, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW):
The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.
This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.
Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022 failed to meet required timeframes, as shown by postage date on the envelope sent to owners on 11 October 2022 at 23:53 hours (the envelope is now kept as evidence for court)
SP52948-postage-date-11Oct2022-for-agenda-of-Annual-General-meeting
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.
The following applies:
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 11/10/2022 Tuesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/10/2022 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/10/2022 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/10/2022 Friday Third working day 5, 15/10/2022 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/16/2022 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/10/2022 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/10/2022 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/10/2022 Friday First notice day 12, 22/10/2022 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/10/2022 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/10/2022 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth notice day 16, 26/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/10/2022 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)Waratah Strata Management was hiding true status of owners' funds - best shown by Income & Expenditure report dated 3 October 2022, which claimed to have $20,849.04 in Admin Fund whilst insurance premium payment in amount of $161,569.59 (GST inclusive) due on 21 September 2022 was not listed:
SP52948-Admin-Fund-balance-3Oct2022
SP52948-insurance-policy-renewal-21Sep2022
Status of insurance premium changes in period 1997 to 11 October 2022 (Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017 without competitive tender at AGM 2016):
On 21 September 2022, insurance premiums increased by significant amount of 49.33% (from $108,193.26 in 2021 to $161,569.59 in 2022 - all GST inclusive), without disclosure to owners, while as of 3 October 2022 Income & expenditure Report still did not list any payments for insurance policy:
Waratah Strata Management did not disclose to owners that they delayed additional payments for insurance policy dated 8 August 2022, as shown in reminder sent on 19 September 2022. This payment should have been included in FY 2022 accounting data (financial year ending on 31 August 2022):
One of good initiatives by ex-Chairperson Bruce Copland was to disallow strata agencies to claim rebates and commissions for insurance renewals, as listed in his submission to CTTT on 10 March 2012. After Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017, they started receiving significant rebates and commissions for insurance renewals:
At Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022, based on flawed advice by Solicitor Adrian Mueller, Waratah Strata Management denied owners to vote on irrefutable evidence of terrible financial status:
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Agenda was created on 6 February 2023 and scheduled for 9 February 2023. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, only two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158:
Strata Plan SP52948 notice published on 6 February 2023.
Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor Adrian Mueller's costs: from Lot 158 and insurance company.
Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 6 February 2023:
Waratah Strata Management notice claims it was created on 2 February 2023 but PDF metadata showed different status - it was created on 6 February 2023 at 11:48 hours:
Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds.
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The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.
This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.
Agenda was not sent to Lot 158.
Notice does not contain information whether motions require a special resolution or a unanimous resolution to be passed.
There is no evidence that a copy of the minutes of the previous general meeting was given to owners with notice of a meeting when the owner had not previously been given a copy of the minutes or had requested but not received a copy before the notice was given (SSMA 2015 Schedule 1 8(2)):
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Apartment 123/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $910,000 on 3 Dec 2022
Apartment 86/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $865,000.00 on 17 February 2023
Apartment 18/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold on 30 November 2022
Apartment 53/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $860,000.00 on 25 October 2022
Apartment 147/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold on 21 October 2022
Apartment 30/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $777,000.00 on 19 October 2022
Apartment 162/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $835,000.00 on 14 October 2022
PDF metadata shows notice was created on 11 April 2023 at 18:04 hours, making it impossible to be sent by post on that day:
The following applies:
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 12/04/2023 Wednesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/04/2023 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/04/2023 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/04/2023 Friday Third working day 5, 15/04/2023 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/04/2023 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/04/2023 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/04/2023 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/04/2023 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/04/2023 Friday First notice day 12, 22/04/2023 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/04/2023 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/04/2023 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/04/2023 Tuesday Anzac day - Fifth notice day 16, 26/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/04/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)
Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds. Negative balance in Admin Fund on 26 April 2023 amounted to $170,874.95.
Extraordinary General Meeting was exclusively related to two owners requesting major renovations: Lot 27 and Lot 103. There is no information if these two owners will cover all costs for this special meeting which benefits only them:
What owners are not told was also the fact that Lot 27 and 103 started with major renovations without approval at general meeting, as photos in elevators of Block B and D taken on 23 and 25 April 2023 show:
Even as late as 25 April 2023 (just two days before the meeting), at around 18:30 hours, six notice boards in the complex had no information about Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for 27 April 2023:
Photo evidence was taken on the day of EGM, 27 April 2023, showing that none of six notice boards had any information about the Extraordinary General Meeting at any time before the event.
Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting were published on Waratah Strata website day later, on 28 April 2023, sometime after 16:22 hours, at record efficiency as no other meeting has ever had such success with published minutes:
The meeting was attended by only 17 owners (out of 218 in the complex), and initially failed to establish a quorum. Of those 17, two were owners who requested approvals for major renovations (Lot 27 and 103), and two were from Lots 136 and 137 who in 2013 obtained approval to connect the two lots (exclusive rights to common property) without properly organised Extraordinary General Meeting whilst failing to cover full costs of the general meeting and Special By-Law registration:
Minutes of the meeting did not confirm that Lot 27 and 103 would cover costs of general meeting and updates of the Special By-Law 13, because these costs only benefit the two owners - this is even more crucial since Admin Fund for the whole complex had negative balance above $170,000.00 on the day of the meeting.
It means that "approval" for the major repairs was completed by only 8.37% of owners.
This fits very well with discrimination attitude by SP52948 committee and Waratah Strata Management, as two (of many) examples can prove:
Submission by now-deceased committee member Mrs. Elizabeth Saulits to CTTT in file SCS 11/00711 dated 14 February 2011:
"Also as Australia is a democracy it is a free decision of each owner whether to attend the meetings or not, not a dictatorship Lot 158 was educated under by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia."
In secret email to Fair Trading NSW on 17 May 2019, Waratah Strata Management stated the following, suggesting to Fair Trading not to waste time on investigating Lot 158 complaints:
"An Owners Corporation is a democracy - everyone has a say and everyone a vote and the majority rules.... One owner thinks all of the other owners are idiots or thieves. Why should the OC and SC have to continue to respond to and waste its time and resources on one recaltricant, obsessive owner?"
Four out of nine committee members did not attend:
Mrs. Marianna Paltikian (Lot 88)
Mr. Andrew Ip (Lot 133)
Mrs. Kathryn Warn (Lot 170)
Mr. Jeffrey Wang (Lot 218)
Notice in Block B for Lot 27 renovations which were originally allegedly approved until 16 June 2023, extended work with exposure to noise for another month to 6 July 2023:
Notice in Block B for Lot 27 renovations which were originally allegedly approved until 16 June 2023, extended work with exposure to noise for another month to 6 July 2023, extended work for second time to 16 July 2023:
Minutes of this EGM were not published on any of six notice boards within the complex. Photo evidence was collected.
Copy of the updated Consolidated By-Laws was not sent to any tenant in the complex, not sent to any owner, and not published on Waratah Strata website as of 28 July 2023.
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Agenda was created on 22 May 2023 and scheduled for 25 May 2023. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, only two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158:
Strata Plan SP52948 notice published on 22 May 2023.
Two different pages on Waratah Strata website claimed there were no scheduled meetings as evidence shows for 24 May 2023 (one day before the alleged meeting):
Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor Adrian Mueller's costs: from Lot 158 and insurance company.
Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds.
Minutes of this committee meeting were not published on any of six notice boards within the complex. Photo evidence was collected.
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Agenda was created on 29 May 2023 and scheduled for 1 June 2023. Excluding date of creation and meeting date, only two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158 (in fact, for the first time in six years notice of the meeting was sent to Lot 158, but it arrived one day after the meeting):
SP52948-Lot-158-late-notice-of-meeting-via-post-photo-4-2Jun2023
Screenshot of Waratah Strata Management website shows that minutes of committee meeting dated 25 May 2023 and notice for committee meeting dated 1 June 2023 were created on 29 May 2023 within four minutes of each other (14:54 hours and 14:58 hours respectively):
Two different pages on Waratah Strata website claimed there were no scheduled meetings as evidence shows for 30 May 2023 (two days before the alleged meeting):
Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor Adrian Mueller's costs: from Lot 158 and insurance company.
Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds.
None of six notice boards published minutes of this alleged meeting as of 14 June 2023 (photo evidence was collected).
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The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.
This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.
Notice does not contain information whether motions require a special resolution or a unanimous resolution to be passed.
There is no evidence that a copy of the minutes of the previous general meeting was given to owners with notice of a meeting when the owner had not previously been given a copy of the minutes or had requested but not received a copy before the notice was given (SSMA 2015 Schedule 1 8(2)):
Apartment 86/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $901,000.00 in April 2023
Apartment 104/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $880,000.00 in June 2023
Apartment 11/1-15 Fontenoy Road, sold for $873,000.00 in May 2023
PDF metadata shows notice was created on 3 August 2023 at 14:33 hours:
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 03/08/2023 Thursday Notice posted? (postage date must not be counted) 2, 04/08/2023 Friday First working day 3, 05/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 4, 06/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 5, 07/08/2023 Monday Second working day 6, 08/08/2023 Tuesday Third working day 7, 09/08/2023 Wednesday Fourth working day 8, 10/08/2023 Thursday Fifth working day 9, 11/08/2023 Friday Sixth working day 10, 12/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 11, 13/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 12, 14/08/2023 Monday Seventh working day - notice effective 13, 15/08/2023 Tuesday First notice day 14, 16/08/2023 Wednesday Second notice day 15, 17/08/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted) (third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh notice day are missing!)
Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds. Balance in Admin Fund on 17 August 2023 amounted to $49,524.49 but did not yet include amount of $28,877.00 for monthly expense for building management contract (and possibly some other unpaid invoices).
Extraordinary General Meeting was exclusively related to one owner requesting major renovations: Lot 72. There is no information if this owner will cover all costs for this special meeting which benefits only them:
Even as late as 16 August 2023 (a day before the meeting), six notice boards in the complex had no information about Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for 17 August 2023:
Photo evidence was taken for each day between 3 and 17 August 2023, showing that none of six notice boards had any information about the Extraordinary General Meeting at any time before the event.
Photo evidence was taken on the day of EGM, 17 August 2023, showing that none of six notice boards had any information about the Extraordinary General Meeting.
Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting were published on Waratah Strata website the SAME day, on 17 August 2023, sometime after 18:34 hours (four minutes after the meeting), at record efficiency as no other meeting has ever had such success with published minutes:
The meeting was attended by only four owners (out of 218 in the complex), and initially failed to establish a quorum. Of those 4, one was owner who requested approval for major renovations (Lot 72), two were from Lots 136 and 137 who in 2013 obtained approval to connect the two lots (exclusive rights to common property) without properly organised Extraordinary General Meeting whilst failing to cover full costs of the general meeting and Special By-Law registration, and one was a committee member:
Minutes of the meeting did not confirm that Lot 72 would cover costs of general meeting and updates of the Special By-Law 13, because these costs only benefit the owner - this is even more crucial since Admin Fund for the whole complex has extreme problems with cash flows:
SP52948-first-time-in-history-Admin-Fund-continuous-negative-balances-for-two-FY-quarters-Apr2023
It means that "approval" for the major repairs was completed by only 2.29% of owners.
This fits very well with discrimination attitude by SP52948 committee and Waratah Strata Management, as two (of many) examples can prove:
Submission by now-deceased committee member Mrs. Elizabeth Saulits to CTTT in file SCS 11/00711 dated 14 February 2011:
"Also as Australia is a democracy it is a free decision of each owner whether to attend the meetings or not, not a dictatorship Lot 158 was educated under by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia."
In secret email to Fair Trading NSW on 17 May 2019, Waratah Strata Management stated the following, suggesting to Fair Trading not to waste time on investigating Lot 158 complaints:
"An Owners Corporation is a democracy - everyone has a say and everyone a vote and the majority rules.... One owner thinks all of the other owners are idiots or thieves. Why should the OC and SC have to continue to respond to and waste its time and resources on one recaltricant, obsessive owner?"
Eight out of nine committee members did not attend:
Mrs. Marianna Paltikian (Lot 88)
Mrs. Genelle Godbee (Lot 142)
Mr. Andrew Ip (Lot 133)
Mr. Carlos Montoya (Lot 112)
Mr. Ramesh Desai (Lot 159)
Mrs. Kathryn Warn (Lot 170)
Mr. Stan Pogorelsky (Lot 181)
Mr. Jeffrey Wang (Lot 218)
Copy of the updated Consolidated By-Laws for previous Extraordinary General Meeting on 27 April 2023 was not sent to any tenant in the complex, not sent to any owner, and not published on Waratah Strata website as of 17 August 2023:
On 21 August 2023, Block C notice board published information about Lot 72 major renovations, whilst minutes of EGM were still kept undisclosed to owners:
Photos of notice boards taken from letterbox area, Block A, Block B, Block C, and Block D, prove, without any possibility of error, that none of the owners were notified about the alleged Extraordinary General Meeting:
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Agenda was created on 1 September 2023 and scheduled for 7 June 2023. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, only three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was sent to Lot 158 and arrived late for the meeting.
No owner received full information about financial status.
In March 2023, Uniqueco Property Services monthly salary increased from $28,311.75 to $28,877.98 (first increase in 2023, without approval by owners corporation at general meeting):
At non-compliant committee meeting on 7 September 2023, without giving owners any details of poor financial and property management, the following brief statement about finances:
... and still recommended salary increases:
What Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners was the fact that monthly salary to Uniqueco Property Services already increased from $28,877.98 to $31,764.07 (an increase of 10%), as shown in Income & Expenditure Report dated 13 September 2023 (second increase in 2023, without approval by owners corporation at general meeting):
... on the same day (13 September 2023), negative balance in Admin Fund was $37,050.64:
Strata Plan SP52948 Annual General Meeting on 26 October 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), Section 8 (d), Section 9 (a) and (d):
SP52948-partial-agenda-AGM-2023
Waratah Strata Management was fully aware of requirements for sending agenda for general meetings, as sent by Lot 158 to Mr. Robert Crosbie in emails on 13 March 2020 with subject line “Mediation SP52948 Case - 00351498 - Persistent non-compliance with Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) – 13Mar2020” and on 14 March 2020 with subject line “FOR OFFICIAL RECORDS: Mediation SP52948 Case 00351498 and Fair Trading Files 9363613 and 9761719 - Persistent non-compliance with Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) - 14Mar2020”. Waratah Strata Management did not attend the free mediation at NSW Fair Trading but continued to act in non-compliance with the Act.
Rating 1 (out of 5) was given to Waratah Strata Management at ProductReview and they never refuted or denied any claims:
Waratah Strata Management poor rating at ProductReview
One owners corporation was recently stung in the decision of ACA Developments Pty Ltd vs The Owners – Strata Plan No. 73759 (2023) (“ACA Development“). In this case, a notice was issued to convene a general meeting of the owners corporation with a motion to pass a by-law aimed at restricting short-term accommodation. However, the notice was served 5 clear days prior to the scheduled meeting, failing to meet the mandatory 7 day requirement under the SSMA. As a result, the Tribunal declared the resolution made at that meeting as invalid and repealed the by-law registered subsequent to the motion’s passage.
In ACA Development, the owners corporation served the meeting notice through a mailing company, and the mailing company lodged the notice with Australian Post 2 days short of the statutory requirement. Delivery to a mail house is not delivery to the postal system. In accordance with the Interpretation Act 1987, service of the notices was deemed be effected on the seventh working day after they were posted, with the day of receipt excluded from the calculation.
The ACA Development case also highlighted the significance of strict compliance with the 7 day notice requirement, as established by a previous Supreme Court case, The Owners – Strata Plan No 62022 v Sahade [2013] NSWSC 2002 (“Sahade“). In Sahade, the notice of the general meeting was served one day late, precisely six days before the meeting. The Supreme Court emphasised that strict compliance is necessary, particularly when the Act employs the terms “must” and “at least,” ensuring the effectiveness of a properly served notice.
On 7 October 2023, the following request was sent to Waratah Strata Management and nine committee members:
"Request for Waratah Strata Management: in accordance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), Sch1, Part 10(1), Lot 158 requests that owners corporation provides copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits are one example), which have to be produced to the owner at least two days before the meeting at which the statements are to be presented (AGM on 26 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."
Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with the request as of AGM 2023 date - 26 October 2023.
Motion 1 that minutes of the previous general meeting of the owners corporation be confirmed as a true record.
Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose non-compliant Annual General Meeting 2022, and two Extraordinary General Meetings in 2023.
Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Auditor's Report for FY 2022 was done 43 days after the general meeting:
SP52948-Economos-Audit-report-FY-2022-two-months-after-general-meeting-7Dec2022
Five out of last seven general meetings did not have Auditor reports sent to owners before general meetings, and yet Waratah Strata Management made these claims about “accurate, up-to-date recording and reporting of all financial and statutory Owners Corporation information” on their website:
Lot 158 finally starting to achieve results: NSW Fair Trading letter on 17 October 2023, confirming that Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with regulations for Auditor's reports (and this is just the beginning of troubles for this strata agency):
Nine committee members were asked to inform all owners about NSW Fair Trading update on 18 October 2023 and they did not respond.
On 19 October 2023, Director of Uniqueco Property Services was given one-page document to put on or near six notice boards:
SP52948-Lot-158-notice-board-v2-19Oct2023
Economos Auditor was coerced (or was accessory) to sign SP52948 financials for FY 2022 without income in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) in code 144000 (Miscellaneous Income – Admin).
Economos Auditor was coerced (or was accessory) to sign SP52948 financials for FY 2022 without expense (repayment to insurance company) in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) in code 169400 (Maint Bldg -- Insurance Repairs &/or Excess).
Lot 158 paid $5,000.00 (GST excl) on 2 July 2022 for fraudulent legal fees of Solicitor Adrian Mueller, whilst Waratah Strata Management paid back the same amount to AIG Insurance on 8 August 2022, directly charging two parties for the same Solicitor's invoices for one month and a week:
SP52948-discrepancies-between-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-legal-and-insurance-payments-FY-2022-and-2023
Detailed Expenses for the financial year from 01/09/2021 to 31/08/2022 were not presented to owners in the agenda for FY 2022.
Annual General Meeting 2022, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW):
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 11/10/2022 Tuesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/10/2022 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/10/2022 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/10/2022 Friday Third working day 5, 15/10/2022 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/16/2022 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/10/2022 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/10/2022 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/10/2022 Friday First notice day 12, 22/10/2022 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/10/2022 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/10/2022 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth notice day 16, 26/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/10/2022 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)Extraordinary General Meeting dated 27 April 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 12/04/2023 Wednesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/04/2023 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/04/2023 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/04/2023 Friday Third working day 5, 15/04/2023 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/04/2023 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/04/2023 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/04/2023 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/04/2023 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/04/2023 Friday First notice day 12, 22/04/2023 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/04/2023 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/04/2023 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/04/2023 Tuesday Anzac day - Fifth notice day 16, 26/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/04/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)Extraordinary General Meeting dated 17 August 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).
Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 03/08/2023 Thursday Notice posted? (postage date must not be counted) 2, 04/08/2023 Friday First working day 3, 05/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 4, 06/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 5, 07/08/2023 Monday Second working day 6, 08/08/2023 Tuesday Third working day 7, 09/08/2023 Wednesday Fourth working day 8, 10/08/2023 Thursday Fifth working day 9, 11/08/2023 Friday Sixth working day 10, 12/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 11, 13/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 12, 14/08/2023 Monday Seventh working day - notice effective 13, 15/08/2023 Tuesday First notice day 14, 16/08/2023 Wednesday Second notice day 15, 17/08/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted) (third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh notice day are missing!)Waratah Strata Management was hiding true status of owners' funds - best shown by Income & Expenditure report dated 3 October 2022, which claimed to have $20,849.04 in Admin Fund whilst insurance premium payment in amount of $161,569.59 (GST inclusive) due on 21 September 2022 was not listed:
Two Extraordinary General Meetings in 2023 were not based on qualified requests. Sections 19 (2) to 19 (4) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (the Act) deal with qualified requests.
A request is a qualified request if it is made by one or more owners of a lot or lots in the strata scheme which have a total unit entitlement of at least one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlements. Section 19 (1) of the SSMA which was the way an Extraordinary General Meetings were convened: Secretary or a strata committee of an owners corporation convened them. When an owner makes a request for the secretary or a strata committee to convene a meeting and their item is the only substantive one on the agenda (they needed a by-law passed to authorise works to their lots, the Secretary or a strata committee should require them to pay the costs of organising and holding the EGM before they agree to exercise their discretion to convene the meeting - there is no evidence that this applied in SP52948.
On 14 November 2021, committee members and Waratah Strata Management were warned that approving minutes of general meetings in 2020 and 2019 effectively voted against previous general meetings (including decisions for strata and building management contracts, contracts for electricity and gas supply, contracts for building renovation in 2017, contract for elevator upgrades and maintenance, and much more), and made all engagement by Solicitor Adrian Mueller void and invalid due to standard legal principle of ratification.
At AGM on 27 October 2022, where 16 owners were present at the meeting in person and the rest were proxy votes, owners corporation did not ratify past engagements of Solicitor Adrian Mueller (effectively making his costs illegal and void), and did not approve that Lot 158 recovers common funds for SP52948 from Solicitor Adrian Mueller without owners incurring any costs (conservative estimate was that Lot 158 would be able to recover for owners corporation at least $100,000.00 - lost income from unpaid interest to be calculated separately), whilst not disclosing to owners negative balance in Admin Fund in amount of $203,914.85.
For many years there have been strata laws which will allow buildings to be subdivided so that within the same building separate lots can be separately owned. A strata complex consists of various lots which are specified on a Strata Plan. There is also common property which is property which does not form part of any particular lot. There are many disputes in relation to what is common property and what other rights and obligations of each lot owner and also the Owners Corporation. The doctrine of fraud on the minority was dealt with in the case of Gambotto v WCP Ltd [1995] 182 CLR by the High Court of Australia. The case related to an amendment to the constitution of a company with the effect of depriving the minority shareholder of various rights. The High Court stated that the power can be taken only if it is exercised for a proper purpose and its exercise will not operate oppressively in relation to shareholders. In 2011 the case of Thoo v Owners Strata Plan 50276 Justice Slattery in the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered the question as to whether the doctrine of fraud on a power applied and what were the circumstances in which the doctrine applied. The Court held that the doctrine of fraud on the power and the principles in Gambotto’s case applies to Body Corporates as was confirmed in the case of Houghton v Immer and other cases. The fraud of a power can be exercised not only as being a fraud on the “minority” but there is no reason why it could not be a fraud on the “majority”. There are also other decisions by the majority which are questionable. The principles in Gambotto’s Case apply not only to the “expropriation” of rights in the sense of the compulsory taking of the rights or property of another to oneself by transfer, but also to the compulsory destruction of rights” see Heydon v NRMA Limited & Ors [2000] NSWCA374; (2000) 51 NSWLR 1, per Ormiston AJA at 206 [577] and Young & Anor v Owners Strata Plan No 3529 [2001] NSWSC 1135; (2001) 54 NSWLR 60, at 74[52]. There was an appeal against the Decision of Justice Slattery in Thoo’s case and the Supreme Court of Appeal agreed with Justice Slattery’s analysis of fraud on the minority. There was no evidence that Lot 151 (ex-committee member Mrs. Maureen McDonald) was approved through special resolution and had registered a special by-law for exclusive right to common property, and compensated owners corporation for exclusive rights to common property.
SP52948-Submitted-Motions-by-Lot-158-for-Annual-General-Meeting-7Oct2022
SP52948-underinsured-large-strata-complex-for-catastrophe-events-FY-2023
SP52948-insurance-policy-renewal-five-days-after-due-date-26Sep2022
SP52948-incomplete-insurance-policy-disclosures-to-owners-in-period-2012-to-2023
SP52948-discrepancies-between-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-legal-and-insurance-payments-FY-2022-and-2023
Waratah-Strata-Management-NSW-Fair-Trading-Reference-Table-of-Contents-11138875
SP52948-long-term-open-work-orders-without-resolution-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-Aug2023
SP52948-differences-between-Balance-Sheet-and-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-for-Admin-Fund-17Oct2019
Motion 2 for Chairman's report to be tabled and discussed.
Chairperson mislead the owners by stating that inflation rate in 2022 was 7.5%. Official inflation rate for 2022 for Australia was 6.59%.
Chairperson continued to mislead owners by using vague statements without facts, but was forced to confirm problems with strata funds without disclosing any balance sheets, ongoing problems with fire safety, and provided completely false and fabricated figure of 18% inflation rate over last three years.
Even layman can easily confirm that figure for official inflation rates of 18% for three years prior to 2023 were grossly inflated, false, and designed to coerce owners:
Chairperson failed to present long-term negative trends in Capital Works and Admin Funds, for which strata manager and committee members are exclusively and solely responsible for, including evidence that on 20 October 2023 negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund amounted to $272,482.76.
Chairperson mislead the owners by not disclosing that, thanks to Lot 158, serious fire safety and OH&S problems were reported since 2020, as email to Mr. Robert Crosbie and Mr. Frank Tallaridi on 3 April 2020 proved:
On 4 February 2021, secret email where Mr. Steve Carbone proposed to Mr. Robert Crosbie to DELAY fire safety remediation work due to lack of formal orders by City of Ryde Council, in spite of the fact that Mr. Carbone was aware of threat by the council that such order would come since 10 December 2020:
Waratah Strata Management and all nine committee members were warned about it by Lot 158 seven times in 2023, with first email dated 8 June 2023:
Chairperson failed to inform owners that committee meeting on 7 September 2023 did not comply with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). Agenda was created on 1 September 2023 and scheduled for 7 September2023. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, only three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years. Agenda was sent to Lot 158 and did not arrive on time.
SP52948-non-compliant-committee-meeting-7Sep2023
Agenda for committee meeting as prepared on 1 September in Motion 4 only stated "that the fee proposal submitted by Uniqueco Pty Ltd for building management pricing for 2024, 2025 & 2026 be tabled and discussed. [Explanatory Note: The fee proposal will be tabled at the meeting and reviewed by the Strata Committee before being put to the Annual General meeting.]":
SP52948-notice-EC-meeting-1Sep2023
Minutes of the committee meeting on 7 September 2023 stated that "resolved that the fee proposal submitted by Uniqueco Pty Ltd for building management pricing for 2024, 2025 & 2026 was tabled and discussed. It was noted that countless comments of positive feedback regarding Steve's services contribute to a recommendation from the committee to accept Uniqueco's fee proposal. The Chairperson Report tabled at the AGM will provide more detail of this recommendation" - minutes of the meeting clearly showed that the committee only recommended the proposal, not that they acted upon it, as it would be illegal to approve or sign the new contract without compliance with starat laws:
Chairperson avoided to present owners with factual information about quality of services offered by Uniqueco Property Services, whilst ignoring the fact that there was no Motion to approve contract renewal in this agenda, and that at least two quotes were compulsory for every expenditure above $30,000.00.
Chairperson withheld information about SP52948 repayments in amount of $28,545.69 (GST excl) to insurance companies for legal costs of Solicitor Adrian Mueller in 2017, 2022, and 2023, repayment to insurance company in amount of $1,574.00 (GST excl) for water leak damages which were below excess threshold in FY 2022, rejected claim by insurance company in amount of $13,497.00 in 2021 for sunroom window frame of Lot 190 destroyed by strong winds on 30 November 2020 with owners corporation carrying out additional costs of $12,270.00 for repairs in Lot 190, and legal documents related to past engagements of Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
Chairperson withheld information about SP52948 status of insurance premiums from 1997 to 2023 and insurance commissions paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $47,849.98 since 2018 with evidence of previous strata agency BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions due to conflict of interest.
Chairperson withheld information about Waratah Strata Management organizing 27 SP52948 executive committee meetings and seven Annual/Extraordinary General Meetings (AGM/EGM) since 1 February 2017 in non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) for Meetings.
Staff of Uniqueco Property Services were involved in the following Police Events of intimidation, stalking, and harassment, with nine requests to obtain access to CCTV recordings for stalking, harassment, intimidation, and threats against Lot 158 were ignored by Waratah Strata Management, committee members, and building maintenance staff.
An example of plea by Lot 158 female owner to Waratah Strata Management on 18 February 2018. Mr. Robert Crosbie never replied or took appropriate action:
Lot 12 complaint about Mr. Steve Westrip on 18 March 2019:
Mr. Steve Westrip’s threat to owners and tenants in Block C and D in November 2021:
Police Event H64596706 on 14 May 2017 - staff member of Uniqueco Property Services Mr. Steve Westrip tried to cause criminal record for Lot 158 who tried to discuss and defend his wife against persistent stalking (case was later dismissed in Local Court), Mr. Steve Westrip and his manager Mr. Steve Carbone received numerous advanced complaints and pleas to stop with intimidation of female owner but they had ignored it.
Police Event E66107079 on 31 August 2017 - continuous stalking of female owner of Lot 158 by Uniqueco Property Services Mr. Steve Carbone.
Police Event E244254697 on 26 March 2018 - one week after the alleged assault committed by Lot 158 against Mr. Steve Westrip was dismissed in court, staff member of Uniqueco Property Services Mr. Steve Westrip again followed female owner of Lot 158 and caused harassment, intimidation, and fear which ended with her being taken to hospital with blood pressure above 220.
Police event E69860959 on 26 October 2018 - staff member of Uniqueco Property Service Mr. Steve Westrip again tried to intimidate female owner of Lot 158 by taking photos/videos of her on his mobile phone without valid reason and acting in threatening manner towards her.
Police event E265804296 on 14 November 2018 - two staff members of Uniqueco Property Services (one of them was Mr. Steve Westrip and the other ageing cleaner Ms. Dorothy) tried to intimidate Lot 158 whilst he was collecting video and photo evidence of poor maintenance of the complex and fire safety non-compliance with state regulations (four years later as of November 2022, Uniqueco Property Services and Waratah Strata Management still have not complied with Ryde Council fire orders).
Police event E372820993 on 11 August 2019 - staff member of Uniqueco Property Services Mr. Steve Westrip stalked and tried to intimidate Lot 158 whilst they were collecting video and photo evidence of damages to the tennis court.
Police event E72924428 on 11 October 2019 – car of female owner of Lot 158 was damaged whilst parked on common property (by coincidence or not, Mr. Steve Westrip was working in the complex on that day and car of unfinancial committee member Mr. Stan Pogorelsky showed up parked near her car.
Chairperson prevented owners from having information that the contract with Uniqueco Property Services would expire on 31 January 2024, three months after the general meeting on 26 October 2023, so there was plenty of time to organise proper competitive tender:
Chairperson prevented owners from having information that the contract with Uniqueco Property Services decreased working hours compared to their predecessor Universal Strata Services and that most work days, there was nobody on site between hours of 14:00 to 14:30 and 18:30 to 19:00.
As an example, on 20 October 2023, Mr. Steve Carbone left office early and dashboard camera has evidence that his car disappeared from designated location before 19:00 hours (camera recording was at 18:16 hours, physical check of their office found it to be empty, and walk through basement and grounds of the complex found no staff by Uniqueco Property Services):
Chairperson prevented owners from having information that Uniqueco Property Services stopped doing number of activities that their predecessor undertook as part of standard services:
Touch-up painting of smaller areas within the complex
Cleaning exhaust vents in bathrooms and laundries
Mowing Ryde Council unnamed park Lot 202 DP848752, 440 Lane Cove Road, classified as Public Recreation Space. This started happening in 2019 after Mr. Steve Carbone and Mr. Robert Crosbie Ryde were prevented by Lot 158 to allow selective owners to park illegally (Ryde Council Reference 2158948):
Strata-Plan-SP52948-repeated-offences-with-undisclosed-use-of-Ryde-Council-land-for-parking
Chairperson prevented owners from having the following examples of Uniqueco Property Services quality of work and actions:
SP52948-continuous-delays-with-fire-and-OHS-problems
SP52948-lack-of-building-foyer-spot-light-maintenance
Strata-Plan-SP52948-repeated-offences-with-undisclosed-use-of-Ryde-Council-land-for-parking
Building-Manager-ongoing-issues-including-fire-and-health-safety-security-maintenance-25Aug2018
SP52948-unresolved-common-property-maintenance-issues-in-Lot-158
SP52948-dangers-to-wildlife-cat-roaming-freely
SP52948-discrimination-of-dog-owners-and-lack-of-compliance-with-by-laws.html
SP52948-risks-with-fallen-trees-and-lack-of-their-proactive-maintenance
SP52948-ongoing-maintenance-problems-mostly-ignored
Examples-of-legal-cases-terminated-contracts-with-strata-and-building-managers-in-Australia
Repetitive problems with Uniqueco Property Services staff abusing parking regulations in the complex (parking in private garages or non-parking areas of common property whilst designated parking slot near tennis courts was empty).
The abuse of private garages by Mr. Steve Carbone became more frequent and aggressive in 2023, in spite of allocated parking spot being empty in front of the building (which owners corporation pays for and provides for exclusive use of staff of the building manager) - these are just some of collected photo and video evidence:
Chairperson withheld this information about building management contract paid yearly to service providers:
Financial Year Building Manager (old name Caretaker) Total Contract Value Official annual inflation rate 1999 Strata Sphere $186,611.00 1.48% 2000 Universal Strata Services $220,168.00 4.46% 2001 Universal Strata Services $220,624.00 4.41% 2002 Universal Strata Services $218,938.00 2.98% 2003 Universal Strata Services $218,167.00 2.73% 2004 Universal Strata Services $222,376.00 2.34% 2005 Universal Strata Services $227,995.00 2.69% 2006 Universal Strata Services $228,438.00 3.56% 2007 Universal Strata Services $232,844.00 2.33% 2008 Universal Strata Services $235,560.00 4.35% 2009 Universal Strata Services $244,287.00 1.77% 2010 Universal Strata Services $264,080.00 2.92% 2011 Universal Strata Services $245,094.00 3.30% 2012 Universal Strata Services $255,673.00 1.76% 2013 Universal Strata Services $256,605.00 2.45% 2014 Universal Strata Services $252,618.00 2.49% 2015 Uniqueco Property Services $275,838.09 (charges split into four invoices: garden maintenance, security, caretaker fees, maintenance garden items, difference to previous year: 8.78%, contract RS/RH 081394 signed on 7 December 2014 by two committee members of which one of them - Mr. Moses Levitt of Lot 147 was unfinancial due to unpaid levies since 2001) 1.51% 2016 Uniqueco Property Services $295,250.60 (charges split into four invoices: garden maintenance, security, caretaker fees, maintenance garden items, difference to previous year: 7.03%, Unfinancial Chairperson Mr. Stan Pogorelsky of Lot 181 approved false statements about building management costs in agenda for AGM 2016 ($292,912.00) evidence part 1 and evidence part 2, minutes of committee meeting held on 21 March 2016 renewed contract for another year without any tender, although its expiration date was nine months later on 7 December 2016, contract value increased by 2% without owners corporation decision at general meeting on 22 April 2016) 1.28% 2017 Uniqueco Property Services $291,507.13 (difference to previous year: -1.27%, contract renewed without tender at general meeting on 24 October 2017 and signed by two unfinancial owners - Mr. Moses Levitt and Mr. Stan Pogorelsky of Lot 147 and 181 due to unpaid levies since 2001 and 1999 respectively, increasing the contract value by 4% per year) 1.95% 2018 Uniqueco Property Services $306,837.99 (Auditor signed incomplete version of financials at AGM 2018, agenda for AGM 2019 confirmed it, difference to previous year: 5.25%) 1.91% 2019 Uniqueco Property Services $293,031.44 (difference to previous year: -4.50%) 1.61% 2020 Uniqueco Property Services $330,986.89 (difference to previous year: 12.95%, contract renewed without tender at general meeting on 22 October 2020) 0.85% 2021 Uniqueco Property Services $339,249.60 (difference to previous year: 2.49%) 2.86% 2022 Uniqueco Property Services $339,741.00 (difference to previous year: 0.14%) 6.59% 2023 Uniqueco Property Services $343,507.47 (difference to previous year: 1.10%, undisclosed increase of 2.0% since February 2023) 4.1% as published on 31 January 2024 2024 Uniqueco Property Services Not applicable yet (undisclosed increase of 10.0% since September 2023) not applicable yet Waratah Strata Management was fully aware of requirements for tenders for building management and strata management and multiple quotes for each and every expense above $30,000.00 as listed in minutes for AGM in strata plan SP38936 on 25 October 2018:
Contract with Uniqueco Property Services, approved at general meeting without tender or full disclosure, was signed on 7 December 2014 by two committee members of which one of them - Mr. Moses Levitt of Lot 147 was unfinancial due to unpaid levies since 2001 without disclosure to owners).
Contract with Uniqueco Property Services was renewed without tender at general meeting on 24 October 2017 and signed by two unfinancial committee members - Mr. Moses Levitt and Mr. Stan Pogorelsky of Lot 147 and 181 due to unpaid levies since 2001 and 1999 respectively, increasing the contract value by 4% per year.
Contract with Uniqueco Property Services was renewed without tender at general meeting on 22 October 2020.
In 2023, monthly salary for Uniqueco Property Services was increased two times:
2% in March 2023.
10% in September 2023.
Date 161300 Maint Bldg--Building Management (monthly salary) Difference to previous month 31 August 2022 $28,311.75 $0.00 30 September 2022 $28,311.75 $0.00 31 October 2022 $28,311.75 $0.00 30 November 2022 $28,311.75 $0.00 31 December 2022 $28,311.75 $0.00 31 January 2023 $28,311.75 $0.00 28 February 2023 $28,311.75 $0.00 31 March 2023 $29,247.07 $935.32 30 April 2023 $28,877.98 -$369.09 (overpayment for previous month) 31 May 2023 $28,877.98 $0.00 30 June 2023 $28,877.98 $0.00 31 July 2023 $28,877.98 $0.00 31 August 2023 $28,877.98 $0.00 30 September 2023 $31,764.07 $2,886.09 As of 24 October 2023 $0.00 N/A - Either Waratah Strata Management withheld the payment to building manager due to ongoing financial problems, or the monthly salary for building manager was not recorded in SP52948 Admin Fund Solicitor Adrian Mueller stated the following on 25 January 2021 (sign-off date of his three-and-half page response to Lot 158 and NCAT in case SC 20/33352 was 18 January 2021 while hidden metadata (forensic investigation), contained real date of the document – 14 December 2020), confirming legal obligation of owners corporation to make all decisions related to strata and building management at general meetings:
Missing evidence of Police checks for building manager’s staff, and licenses for security guards working for Uniqueco Property Services, outstanding since 3 March 2018:
In the past, security guards were also requested to have first aid certificates, as per committee meeting in Lot 151 (Mrs. Maureen McDonald) which documented petition with around 40 owners (collected by late Dr. Edye) on 10 January 2001:
Committee meeting on 14 February 2001 confirmed that building manager complied with the committee’s request by having two licensed security guards:
We need to investigate if, and how much, Uniqueco Property Services might be claiming benefits for employing staff with disabilities now and in the near future: Employment Assistance Fund, Disabled Australian Apprentice Wage Support (DNAWS), Payroll Tax Exemptions (NSW only), Wage Subsidies, whilst building manager's income grew well above the inflation rates.
Waratah Strata Management and committee members were repeatedly requested to ensure proper work orders and engagement of contractors, which they failed to comply with - not issue a Work Order or engage any contractors for the provision of any goods or services, unless they have complied with the minimum requirements set out in the table below:
Minimum requirements (as aligned to the recommended criteria as advised by Safe Work Australia):
Must be registered as a business for tax purposes in Australia.
Must have a minimum $10 million Public & Product Liability Insurance (in respect of each and every occurrence and unlimited in aggregate for any one period of cover).
Must have a minimum $1 million Professional Indemnity Insurance (where applicable).
Must have Statutory Workers Compensation Insurance for all employees or Personal and Accident Insurance as a Sole Trader.
Must hold all licences as relevant to services provided.
Must have an established Quality Management system (consultants only).
Must have an established Health & Safety Management system.
Must accept Terms and Conditions of engagement and Business Code of Conduct.
Must provide full warranties for work.
Contractor: means a person or organisation that is engaged, on a temporary basis, to undertake a particular task and includes consultants who provide recommendations and/or specialist professional advice.
Work Order: means a written order providing specific or blanket authorisation to a contractor to proceed with the provision of specific goods or services without further instructions.
Waratah Strata Management and committee members were repeatedly requested to ensure compensation insurance is in place if applicable - that the owners corporation confirm that it does NOT employ workers with total annual wages exceeding $7,500.00 and therefore will not require workers compensation insurance for the coming year.
As of 24 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management still did not list monthly salary (October 2023) for building manager Uniqueco Property Services (code 161300 Maint Bldg--Building Management):
Typically, monthly salary for building manager is paid much earlier (in the first week of a month):
Waratah Strata Management failed to present bid from Complete Building Management Group at AGM 2017:
Due to poor performance by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services, Lot 158 requested the following tenders be presented to owners at AGM 2020 - they were disallowed for competing for strata and building management contracts at AGM 2020 without valid reasons. Three very competitive quotes for building management contract:
Curtis Strata Cleaning
Forte Asset Services
Clean and Secure Building Management
All three of them offered two options for security services with licensed staff:
Patrols two times a night in around 30 minute duration each time,
Full 10-hour a night onsite security.
Reasons for option with patrols: all fire doors in the basement in the complex now have alarms, new CCTV system installed in the complex.
Very competitive quote from Jim's Mowing franchise for gardening.
Three very competitive quotes for the strata management contract:
Strata Excellence
Strata Title Management
Netstrata
Request for tenders for strata and building management contracts was sent on 30 July 2020 (three months before AGM) - no reply from Waratah Strata Management:
Motion 3 that the attached statements of key financial information for the administrative fund and the capital works fund, together with the relevant auditor's report (if adopted at the last annual general meeting) for the period ended 31/08/2023 be adopted.
Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.
Waratah Strata Management since 2017 failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 six times, whilst in other two years the Auditor's Report in our complex was highly dubious and questionable.
Waratah Strata Management refused to inform owners about these payments, for which Lot 158 was prevented by Waratah Strata Management to have an invoice or proof of payment:
We also need to verify if SP52948 claimed GST on Lot 158 payments because they did not have GST in the price ($23,744.72 (GST excl), which owners corporation received for alleged legal costs of Solicitor Adrian Mueller):
$5,000.00 on 2 July 2022
$5,000.00 on 27 September 2022
$5,000.00 on 3 January 2023
$5,000.00 on 3 April 2023
$3,744.72 on 4 July 2023
Waratah-Strata-Management-non-compliance-of-SP52948-Auditor-reports
Auditor's report for FY 2023 was not presented to owners in the agenda.
The following invoices need clarification and justification:
Date of Payment Description Payment Recipient Amount Paid (GST excl) Comment 29/11/2022 Fire Order Austech Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd $11,400.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed of the orders 18/04/2023 Fire Order Documentation GRS Building Reports Pty Ltd $4,000.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 22/05/2023 Fire Order Austech Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd $26,600.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 21/03/2023 Emergency Light Replacement RS Electrical $9,635.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 26/06/2023 AFSS Repairs FlameSafe Fire Protection Pty Ltd $3,840.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 19/12/2022 Stage 2 PP Core Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd $3,750.00 Unidentified details of work and full report not presented to owners or made available on website 18/08/2023 Pool Resurfacing - Part Payment Fibrestyle Pool Resurfacing $23,993.18 Cancer in pool area known since 2017; decision to repair pool not planned at general meeting; evidence of tender not presented to any owner; details of warranties not presented to any owner; second part of payment in amount of $25,527.73 was on 8 September 2023 so that costs did not look excessive in FY 2023; renovation done without owners’ decision at general meeting 28/09/2022 Lot 158 Legal Fees Refund AIG Ref 6592035031AU AIG Australia Ltd $4,545.45 Lot 158 paid $5,000.00 (GST excl) on 27 September 2022 - Waratah Strata Management refused to issue invoice and receipt for this payment to Lot 158 21/02/2023 Lot 158 Legal Fees Refund AIG Ref 6592035031AU AIG Australia Ltd $4,545.45 Lot 158 paid $5,000.00 (GST excl) on 3 January 2023 for fraudulent legal fees of Solicitor Adrian Mueller, whilst Waratah Strata Management paid back the same amount to AIG Insurance on 21 February 2023, directly charging two parties for the same Solicitor's invoices for one month and two weeks - Waratah Strata Management refused to issue invoice and receipt for this payment to Lot 158 04/04/2023 Lot 158 Legal Fees Refund AIG Ref 6592035031AU AIG Australia Ltd $1,281.25 Lot 158 paid $5,000.00 (GST excl) on 3 April 2023 - Waratah Strata Management refused to issue invoice and receipt for this payment to Lot 158 21/10/2022 Advice on Motions 2022 AGM Requested by Lot 158 Solicitor Adrian Mueller $1,265.00 Insurance and litigation risks and costs due to continuous fraudulent activities by Solicitor Adrian Mueller 10/07/2023 NCAT Application Lot 158 Solicitor Adrian Mueller $220.00 No NCAT application occured in 2023 06/02/2023 A/H Assist Eastwood Police Forensic Uniqueco Property Services $360.00 Missing information for insurance company and owners 20/03/2023 A/H Fee Assist Eastwood Police on 20/2/2023 Uniqueco Property Services $369.09 Missing information for insurance company and owners, and wrong charging code “Maint Bldg--Building Management 161300” 19/12/2022 Fire Engineer Inspections Uniqueco Property Services $210.00 Standard duty for building manager - why additional payments? 03/02/2023 2/2/23 Uniqueco Property Services $377.27 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 28/03/2023 Consult with Austech Engineers Uniqueco Property Services $140.00 Standard duty for building manager - why additional payments? 05/12/2022 Th110 Ceiling Repair in Laundry W & M Gordon Property Management $113.64 There is no townhouse 110 in the complex, townhouse numbers start from 194 to 219 22/05/2023 U213 Fly Screen Door Repair W & M Gordon Property Management $118.18 There is no unit 213 in the complex, unit numbers start from 1 to 193, and since when fly screen doors are common property? 27/07/2023 Remove, Dispose and Supply of 2 large fans rooftop Handyman Electrics Pty Ltd $4,130.00 Unidentified details of work, owners not informed about status of other rooftop fans 08/08/2023 To supply downlight blanks, for two foyers Handyman Electrics Pty Ltd $320.00 Common property in foyers of Block B and D changed after water leakages in ceiling without owners decision at general meeting 28/03/2023 Service Closers As per AFSS Inspection Uniqueco Property Services $600.00 Standard duty for building manager - why additional payments? 05/12/2022 TH122 Laundry Coomon Wall Repair W & M Gordon Property Management $300.00 There is no townhouse 112 in the complex, townhouse numbers start from 194 to 219 06/12/2022 U206 Sprinkler System Repairs W & M Gordon Property Management $163.64 Missing evidence that sprinkler system in townhouses is common property 10/08/2023 Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers Fee Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers Pty Ltd $150.00 Unidentified details of work 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate Waratah Strata Management $180.00 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate Waratah Strata Management $90.00 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate Waratah Strata Management $90.00 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate Waratah Strata Management $109.09 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate Waratah Strata Management $109.09 Unidentified details of work and justification for payment 09/09/2022 A Block Window Reinforcement Macquarie Maintenance Services $890.00 Work completed in 2022 but delayed since November 2020 (Waratah Strata Management prevented owners to ratify discrimination against Block A owners - sunroom windows checks delayed for two years after work done in Block B and C: on 21 and 22 December 2020, after third major event with blown window frame in the complex (last one was in Lot 190 in Block A on 30 November 2020 without disclosure to owners), rushed work and repairs were done in Block B and C, in spite of repeated complaints and warnings, the work and checks in Block A were delayed from almost two years, as seen by sudden information on notice board on 31 August 2022, Block A work was done on 7 and 8 September 2022, number of units in Block A had serious problems with missing rivets in sunrooms, much more dangerous status was found in Lot 160 - missing rivets on window frame in Lot 160 on 7 September 2022 (most rivets completely missing, and it was easy to push the whole massive frame away from wall by around three centimeters, upset tenant stated that her child regularly played near that window, so it was a disaster just waiting to happen, similar to what happened in Lot 190 in November 2020, photo evidence taken on the day showed dangerously detached window from the frame)) 25/07/2023 Repair Fly Screen in Second Bedroom W & M Gordon Property Management $100.00 Unidentified details of work, and since when fly screens are common property? 25/07/2023 Repair ceiling after water leak W & M Gordon Property Management $240.00 Unidentified details of work 30/08/2023 Repair Pavers & Fit New Bollard W & M Gordon Property Management $400.00 Unidentified details of work, repairs were in front of townhouse 198, which Lot 158 reported on 17 August 2023 as insurance and safety risk, Lot 158 took evidence of damaged car which might have been involved in the accident so owners corporation should not pay for this damage 06/12/2022 Waterproof Roof Above U188 W & M Gordon Property Management $340.00 Unidentified details of work, long-term lack of maintenance of roof membranes reported in Napier & Blakeley's professional assessment in July 2012, which was hidden from CTTT by committee members, BCS Strata Management, and Solicitor Adrian Mueller in case SCS 12/32675 01/05/2023 AH Callout U123 Water Leak in Kitchen NCB Plumbing Pty Ltd $6,105.00 Unidentified details of work, long-term lack of maintenance, insurance not covering this expenses due to $10,000.00 excess for each and every water-related damage and exploratory work since 2012 17/08/2023 Monthly Consumables - July 2023 Uniqueco Property Services $1,150.31 Unidentified details, who verifies the use of consumables? 19/09/2022 Replace Fire Hydrant Batteries FlameSafe Fire Protection Pty Ltd $926.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 27/03/2023 Smoke Alarm Replacement All Units RS Electrical $720.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 13/03/2023 Door Repairs Lock Stock & Barrel Locksmiths Pty Ltd $1,520.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed 23/01/2023 U18 Resultant Damage Repairs (Below Excess) NCB Plumbing Pty Ltd $4,828.00 Unidentified details of work, long-term lack of maintenance, insurance not covering this expenses due to $10,000.00 excess for each and every water-related damage and exploratory work since 2012 25/10/2022 Roof Inspection Urban Access Rescue $1,600.00 Unidentified details, owners not informed In FY 2023, one of many examples of dubious accounting practices: on 18 August 2023, owners paid $23,993.18 (GST excl) for pool renovations:
Cancer in pool area was known since 2017. Decision to repair pool was not planned at general meeting. Evidence of tender not presented to any owner. Details of warranties were not presented to any owner.
Second part of payment in amount of $25,527.73 was on 8 September 2023 so that costs did not look excessive in FY 2023 - renovation was done without owners’ decision at general meeting:
Motion 6 Restricted Matters - That in accordance with Schedule 1 clause 6 (a) and 9 (i) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 to decide if any matters or type of matters that are to be determined only by the Owners Corporation in general meeting.
In NCAT case SC 20/33352, where six committee members and Waratah Strata Management coerced Tribunal not to consider Lot 158 evidence, the following was proposed by Lot 158:
Orders prohibiting strata committee to make or approve the following decisions without general meetings (where only financial owners are allowed to vote and full details of quorums made available before the general meetings and in minutes of those meetings): contracts and tenders for strata management, contracts and tenders for building management, contract and tenders for electricity supply and other utility services, contract and tenders for elevator maintenance and upgrades, all other major maintenance works and upgrades as per SSMA 2015 Section 102 and SSMR 2016 Regulation 25, 10-Year Capital Works plans, all types of levies (including gas heating levies), any expense above $30,000.00, any decision to engage legal services that does not meet requirements of SSMA 2015 Section 103 and SSMR 2016 Regulation 26, any decision related to exclusive use of common property, any decision related to strata subdivision, borrowing money on behalf of owners corporation, payments to a member of the committee (honorarium), acquisition of property, all major renovations including all other renovations that impact the waterproofing, agreeing to a license or lease over common property, and insurance tenders.
Motion 7 Tenant Representative.
If at least 50% of the lots are tenanted then the scheme must convene a meeting of eligible tenants for nominating a tenant representative on the strata committee.
Meeting should occur at least 14 days before AGM for a meeting not earlier than 7 days after the notice.
Notice for this meeting can be either displayed on the noticeboard or given to every tenant.
The convenor or eligible tenant is to chair.
Quorum is 1.
Tenant representative is determined by the majority vote of those present at the meeting.
Tenant representative cannot: put a motion to the committee, nominate an officer, be an officer, be included in the quorum count, or vote.
There are unverified suggestions by Waratah Strata Management that number of tenants in SP52948 already exceeded 50%.
Eligible tenants must, at least 7 days before any Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), be given a copy of the agenda. If there is a noticeboard for the scheme required by the by-laws then the agenda need only be displayed on the noticeboard. Photo evidence was taken on the day of EGM on 27 April 2023, showing that none of six notice boards had any information about the Extraordinary General Meeting at any time before the event. Minutes of this EGM were not published on any of six notice boards within the complex. Photo evidence was collected.
Waratah Strata Management continuously disallowed owners to have access to Strata Roll and prevented possible tenant representative to be member of the committee.
Motion 8 Budget and Levy Contributions.
Strata Plan SP52949 has serious cash flow and maintenance problems, without disclosure to owners.
SP52948-negative-trends-with-Admin-Fund-under-Waratah-Strata-Management
On 9 October 2023, all nine committee members s (Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, Mr. John Gore, Ms. Genelle Godbee, Mr. Ramesh Desai, Ms. Kathryn Cutler, Mr. Carlos Fornieles Montoya, Mr. Andrew Ip, and Mr. Jeffery Wang, whilst Mrs. Marianna Paltikian was notified through strata manager) and Waratah Strata Management were asked to postpone general meeting due to many procedural errors and false information in the agenda, and updated (shorted) version of Lot 58 was submitted. It appears Waratah Strata Management did not act upon this serious request.
Drastic changes are required to prevent owners corporation from collapsing. There is no need to increase levies in FY 2024, and proposed 8% increase as "suggested" by Mr. John Gore (on top of 5% increase in FY 2022), is INSUFFICIENT anyway. Mr. Gore is publicly challenged to explain where he got the 18% figure for inflation rates for last three years, because they do not match reality or any official data.
The proper solution is to introduce full accounting audits and reviews and recover sigificant amounts back into owners corporation funds WITHOUT ANY COSTS TO OWNERS.
The Property Services Compensation Fund (PSCF) in New South Wales provides an avenue for consumers to seek compensation when they suffer financial loss due to the dishonest or fraudulent conduct of licensed property service providers. Licensed property service providers, including strata managers, contribute to the fund through an annual fee based on their licence class and level of business activity. If a strata manager engages in dishonest or fraudulent conduct, the owners corporation or individual lot owners can make a claim for compensation under the PSCF. The PSCF is administrated by NSW Office of Fair Trading. To be eligible for compensation under the PSCF, an owners corporation or owner must have suffered a financial loss as a direct result of the licensed strata manager’s ‘failure to account’. A ‘failure to account’ means a ‘failure by a licensee to account for money or other valuable property entrusted to the licensee or an associate of the licensee in the course of the carrying on of the licensee’s business as a licensee’. Any claim is limited to $500,000 and must be made within whichever of the following periods ends first: 12 months after the claimant has become aware of the failure to account; or 2 years after the date of the failure to account.
Case for gross negligence and mismanagement by Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and committee members is solid):
$92,950.00 which was NOT spent on alleged upgrades for townhouses in 2017 (recovered fund to be paid by Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and committee members).
Missing common property (timber) behind townhouses, which Waratah Strata Management and committee members ignored:
Part of rotten fence behind townhouses was replaced in early June 2021, and there was some leftover timber for the fence towards M2 motorway:
The additional timber was left on common property until around 27 October 2021, when it disappeared, without fence repairs being finalized:
An inquiry about missing common property was sent to Waratah Strata Management and four committee members (Mr. Jeffery Wang, Mr. John Gore, Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, and Mr. Thomas Karolewski) on 14 November 2021. No reply was received:
SP52948-inquiry-about-disappeared-timber-behind-townhouses-14Nov2021
Repeated request was sent to Waratah Strata Management and eight committee members on 19 June 2023, and four more times since then. No reply was received. At AGM 2023, Lot 158 Motion about this was rejected by Waratah Strata Management, with ful support of commitete members.
$47,849.98 which Waratah Strata Management received for insurance commissions since 2018 (their predecessor BCS Strata Management was forced to repay such amounts to owners corporation due to direct conflict of interest).
At least $100,000.00 from Solicitor Adrian Mueller for actions causing significant insurance costs and other risks, whilst acting against best interests of owners and tenants (and even ignoring requests from strata managers and committee members in the past).
Unpaid levies and 10% simple interest for each year for gas heating.
Lot 181, Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, by own admission (not shared with owners), paid $50.00 for gas heating in FY 2001. In this secret spreadsheet, he also submitted that GST applied from 2002, whilst the fact is that GST was introduced on 1 July 2000, and admitted that he did not pay for FY 2012 and 2013, ignoring the fact that levies had to be paid even if invoice had been lost or not sent:
The amount owing was $170.00 (GST incl), as per decision at committee meeting on 21 July 1999, to be applied retrospectively:
SP52948-EC-meeting-21Jul1999-first-time-gas-charges-introduced
There is also a secret handwritten note by Waratah Strata Management for committee meeting in February 2019, where Mr. Robert Crosbie confirmed that gas heating levies were not paid in 2016 too (information about levies set to $220.00 on 27 November 2013 was inaccurate and misleading):
There was an alleged ransomware attack against Waratah Strata Management in early February 2019, with secret Bitcoin ransom payment in amount of $5,052.03 without disclosure who paid it:
Waratah Strata Management used this highly dubious event to make a claim that gas heating levies were "lost" for financial year that ended on 31 August 2018 (five months before alleged ransomware attack) in minutes of committee meeting on 21 March 2019:
Waratah Strata Management refusing information about alleged ransomware attack on 11 August 2019
Waratah Strata Management refusing information about alleged ransomware attack on 17 February 2020
Lot 181 never paid the outstanding levies, as per his own admission. In 2023, for unpaid gas heating levies in 2001, with 10% simple interest per year, Lot 181 owes $544.00 (that figure becomes much higher when all other outstanding years are added):
There are number of other owners with long-term gas heating connections: Lot 3, Lot 62, and Lot 147 are special cases because they served as committee members in the past:
Ordinary resolution for Motion 14 at AGM 2019 can be rescinded at any general meeting, especially since the meeting was non-compliant with strata laws (unfinancial owners approved Motion 14 before Motion 4 and elected unfinancial committee members who then voted against paying overdue levies) and delayed collection of gas heating levies as shown in extract from committee meeting on 20 July 2017 who delayed actions for two years and three months):
Extract from agenda for AGM 2019 (without owners having true information about overdue levies):
Extract from minutes of the AGM 2019:
Overcharged invoices for Waratah Strata Management and other service providers.
and more.
Motion 9 that the owners corporations insurances as listed in the annexures to the agenda of the meeting be confirmed, varied or extended, and in accordance with section 165 (2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 additional insurances be taken out.
Motion 10 can be bundled into the same category - strata management commission.
Insurance policy for FY 2024 was not presented to owners in the agenda.
Status of insurance premium changes in period 1997 to 11 October 2022 (Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017 without competitive tender at AGM 2016):
SP52948 Financial Year Insurance Premiums (GST excl) Difference to previous year Comments and insurance commissions paid to strata manager 1997 $34,128.00 1998 1999 $33,799.00 0.00% 2000 $33,721.00 -0.23% 2001 $45,277.65 34.27% 2002 $46,879.00 3.54% 2003 $52,841.00 12.72% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2004 $49,044.00 -7.19% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2005 $40,002.00 -18.44% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2006 $43,139.41 7.84% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2007 $42,962.77 -0.41% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2008 $38,583.00 -10.19% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2009 $42,940.00 11.29% Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed insurance commissions 2010 $43,324.00 0.89% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2011 $44,558.00 2.85% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2012 $48,410.00 8.64% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2013 $78,409.00 61.97% Two insurers declined to quote due to high risks, four insurance claims for Solicitor Adrian Mueller (strong evidence includes false statements by BCS Strata Management in Statutory Declaration to CTTT on 19 April 2013, false statement in Affidavit to District Court on 31 January 2014, four different versions of the same Standard Costs Agreement with Solicitor Mr. Adrian Simon Mueller, secret change of the insurance policy for SP52948 and then claiming amount of $24,919.31 (plus GST) for non-existent "defence" of Lot 3 in CTTT case SCS 12/32675 without owners corporation disclosure or decision at any general meeting, false written statements to CTTT by selective committee members, CHU Insurance forced partial repayment in amount of $8,800.00 in 2017). BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2014 $69,649.00 -11.17% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2015 $70,925.00 1.83% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2016 $64,395.00 -9.21% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2017 $65,480.98 1.69% BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions 2018 $75,503.19 15.31% $6,570.16 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2019 $81,382.12 7.79% $6,084.84 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2020 $80,320.14 -1.30% $5,633.62 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2021 $87,404.90 8.82% Solicitor Adrian Mueller fully involved in forcing insurance claims for his alleged work. $6,541.55 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2022 $99,132.62 13.42% Insurance claim for Solicitor Adrian Mueller (on 25 March 2022 Waratah Strata Management listed revenue from insurance claims in amount of $19,758.14. Insurance broker forced SP52948 to pay extra $1,617.37 (GST incl) as per invoice on 9 August 2022 for overdue excesses dated 20 September 2021 and 19 April 2022. SP52948 was forced to repay $4,545.45 (GST excl) to insurance company for Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s legal costs in NCAT case SC 20/33352. $6,541.55 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2023 $149,529.07 50.84% Insurance renewal was due on 21 September 2022 but paid on 26 September 2022 (creating risk of uncovered common property for period of five days). SP52948 was at high risk due to expired insurance. SP52948 was forced to repay $15,200.15 (GST excl) to insurance company for Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s legal costs in NCAT case SC 20/33352. $6,541.55 paid to Waratah Strata Management 2024 $181,778.06 21.57% Insurance renewal was due on 21 September 2023 but not listed on Waratah Strata Management even as late as 5 October 2023. $9,936.71 paid to Waratah Strata Management 
On 21 September 2022, insurance premiums increased by significant amount of 50.84% (from $108,193.26 in 2021 to $161,569.59 in 2022 - all GST inclusive), without disclosure to owners, while as of 3 October 2022 Income & expenditure Report still did not list any payments for insurance policy:
Waratah Strata Management did not disclose to owners that they might have delayed additional payments (excesses) for insurance policy due on 9 August 2022, as shown in reminder sent by BCB insurance broker:
Detailed Expenses for FY 2022 (1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022) shows that Waratah Strata Management might have failed to pay excesses for two events on time, dated 20 September 2021 and 19 April 2022, which were listed in BCB insurance broker reminder in August 2022, with warning about expired insurance. The dates of payments for insurance excesses in Detailed Expenses for FY 2022 were questionable, unless BCB insurance broker made a mistake with the letter in August 2022. As an example, no insurance excess was listed in code 169400 in Income & Expenditure Report on 28 September 2021 at 08:47 hours. Waratah Strata Management did not list any insurance claims in FY 2022, as shown in Delegated Functions Report dated 7 October 2022 at 17:46 hours:
The reminder highlighted the risk of UNINSURED large strata complex worth $146,550.000 (evaluation dated 1 September 2022) for two unpaid excesses dated 20 September 2021 and 19 April 2022:
SP52948-insurance-valuation-1Sep2022
SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-and-undeclared-expired-insurance-in-FY-2022
Owners' property worth more than $146 millions did not have any insurance cover when insurance policy for SP52948 expired on 21 September 2022, but renewal was delayed for five days and was not published for owners and costs were not included in Income & Expenditure Report even as late as 3 October 2022. No owner was notified about it by committee members or Waratah Strata Management.
Insurance renewal was paid on 26 September 2022, leaving SP52948 uninsured for additional five days (possibly adding to other period since early August 2022), without disclosure to owners. It also created risk of being unable to make any claims in that period, should any incident had happened.
Based on official information published by Waratah Strata Management, owners' property worth more than $146 millions did not have any insurance cover when insurance policy for SP52948 expired on 21 September 2023, but renewal might have been delayed for 20 days and was not published for owners and costs were not included in Income & Expenditure Report even as late as 11 October 2023. No owner was notified about it by committee members or Waratah Strata Management:
SP52948-expired-insurance-on-21Sep2023-not-renewed-as-of-11Oct2023
In agenda for AGM 2023, sent by Waratah Strata Management on 5 October 2023, information about insurance premiums still showed details for previous financial year with expiration date of 21 September 2023:
This was not an accidental mistake, because the same misinformation was repeated on page 81 of the AGM 2023 agenda, showing expired insurance (21 September 2023) on 5 October 2023:
The comparison between agenda for AGM 2022 and 2023 shows same insurance expiration date (21 September 2023), but different sums insured for loss of rent/temp accommodation, additional excesses for water-related claims and all other claims, and different insurance commissions paid to Waratah Strata Management
As predicted by Lot 158, Waratah Strata Management published updated insurance policy 21 days after due date on 12 October 2023, claiming that insurance was paid before due date - on 20 September 2023. This document still did not list all excesses (one drastic example was $10,000.00 excess for each and every water-related damage and exploratory work, introduced by insurance company since 2012 and hidden from owners by strata managers in most years):
SP52948-insurance-due-on-21Sep2023-published-21-days-later-on-12Oct2023
Either Waratah Strata Management ran dubious accounting practices, or had sinister reasons for delaying updates to financial documents, but here is evidence that even as late as 4 October 2023, they did not publish any expenses for insurance renewal, which directly correlated to the fact that agenda for AGM 2023 was published and sent on 5 October 2023, allowing Waratah Strata Management to avoid publishing any information about insurance renewal and still claiming cost of $161,569,59 for September 2022 (GST inclusive) instead of new costs for September 2023:
Document folder at Waratah Strata Management website did not disclose insurance policy for owners as of 16 October 2023:
Document folder at Waratah Strata Management website suddenly disclosed insurance policy for owners on 17 October 2023 and "backdated" it to 21 September 2023:
Summary of forged date of the published insurance premiums for FY 2024:
Insurance commissions were paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $47,849.98 since 2018 with evidence of previous strata agency BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions due to conflict of interest.
One of good initiatives by ex-Chairperson Bruce Copland was to disallow strata agencies to claim rebates and commissions for insurance renewals, as listed in his submission to CTTT on 10 March 2012. After Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017, they started receiving significant rebates and commissions for insurance renewals:
Waratah Strata Management was notified number of times about owners and investors not being informed about full details of insurance policies.
Motion 11 that owners corporation consider the annual fire safety statement and to make arrangements for obtaining the next annual fire statement.
Fire Safety Statements and City of Ryde fire orders and cause for delays were not presented in the agenda or at any time beforehand.
Ongoing problems with fire and OH&S problems were not disclosed to owners:
In FY 2022 (ending on 31 August 2022), $30,403.25 (GST excl) was paid for fire orders and repairs without disclosure of Council documents to owners, without plans for such repairs in 10-Year Capital Works Fund, and without detailed expense assessment at any general meeting:
In FY 2023 (ending on 31 August 2023), $43,711.00 (GST excl) was paid for fire orders and repairs without disclosure of Council documents to owners, without plans for such repairs in 10-Year Capital Works Fund, and without detailed expense assessment at any general meeting:
In FY 2023 (ending on 31 August 2023), $15,400.00 (GST excl) was paid for fire safety consultants without full disclosure to owners, without plans for such costs in 10-Year Capital Works Fund, and without detailed expense assessment at any general meeting:
Examples of random checks of four fire doors in carpark basement on 21 October 2023:
Examples of burnt external fire door in Block A, photographed on 24 September 2023 and 23 October 2023:
Motion 12 that the records from the strata manager specifying the functions exercised and the manner in which they were exercised be considered.
Waratah Strata Management did not include a copy of the records kept for the preceding 12 months in the agenda.
Since 1 February 2017, Waratah Strata Management did not publish on their website a single quote for any work in the complex:
Since 1 February 2017 until 24 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management published only 177 documents on their website, with many crucial ones missing:
As of lunch time on 18 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management published 16 Open Work Orders on their website:
Few hours later, in the evening of 18 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management published 13 Open Work Orders on their website:
Since 1 February 2017 Waratah Strata Management prevented any tender for strata management, building management, and ran fraudulent tender for elevator upgrades and maintenance, and painting/upgrade project.
Motion 14 NSW Government Strata Hub.
Initially, all NSW strata schemes had to submit their first report at Strata Hub by the end of December 2022, which Waratah Strata Management and SP52948 did not comply with.
Government extended the deadline to 30 June 2023, and Waratah Strata Management completed it on 2 May 2023, as shown by these financial records (questions will be asked about exact nature of additional charges at hourly rate):
Strata manager had to comply with the owners corporation obligations under Part 7 Division 2 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016 by inputting the mandatory information into the NSW Strata Hub, but failed in their duties and ignored Lot 158 concerns seven times:
Waratah Strata Management disallowed owners from voting on Lot 158 Motion at AGM 2023:
Waratah Strata Management continued to mislead the government and owners - screenshot taken on 24 October 2023 showed false date of last general meeting still reported at Strata Hub:
Motion 14 A - GIPA Application.
Waratah Strata Management and committee members wanted owners to approve the strata manager to lodge a GIPA application to the relevant Authority to obtain a copy of any interim and final occupation certificates for the property. Waratah Strata Management claimed that inspection of the SP52948 books and records indicated that they did not have one and the building was approved after 1 July 1998 (approx. SP57500 onwards) after which occupation certificates were issued for strata buildings. These statements were false and designed to mislead owners:
SP52948 was registered on 11 July 1996 (with number of changes soon afterwards)
Lot 158 has copies of "Development Consent 288 of 1994.pdf" and "Development consent A288 of 1994.pdf" since 27 February 2020, which were provided to Waratah Strata Management, six committee members, and Solicitor Adrian Mueller in NCAT case SC 20/33352 but they ignored it as it would be detrimental to their defence at the Tribunal.
Motion 15 - Limits on Spending by Large Schemes.
Waratah Strata Management and committee members wanted owners to approve removal of limitation imposed by section 102(2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 generally or in relation to any particular item.
Waratah Strata Management and committee members have appalling record with managing the complex and finance of SP52948, where negative balance in Admin Fund reached $272,482.76 on 18 October 2023 and there was still an outstanding payment for building manager monthly salary before next collection of levies on 1 November 2023:
There is no business justification for allowing expenditures without proper consultation with the owners corporation. Due to lack of SSMA 1996 S80A, the Executive Committee at Macquarie Gardens ran number of projects without any review by the owners, spent excessive amount of money (sometimes secretly and without disclosure), and even failed to obtain additional quotations for works on number of occasions (contracts management is one example of very serious financial mismanagement and lack of planning). For three years, a concerned owner was trying to rescind the decision made in 2005 so that strata complex enforced compliance with the Strata Management Acts 1996, Division 3, Section 80A (1), which most other complexes use successfully for many years. The Explanatory Notes for owner’s motions were deliberately excluded from the agenda at three AGMs by BCS Strata Management.
Owners corporation of a large strata scheme must include in the estimates at an annual general meeting specific amounts in relation to each item or matter on which the owners corporation intends to expend money, or on which the owners corporation is aware money will be likely to be expended, in the period until the next annual general meeting. It is done by taking into account a statement of the existing financial situation of the strata scheme and an estimate of receipts and payments. If the error margin is not more than 10%, the Act includes provisions to cover this case without any special actions by the owners corporation: This section does not apply to expenditure for emergency purposes, including (but not limited to) the following:
(a) burst or blocked water or sewerage pipes,
(b) serious damage caused by fire or storm or any other natural disaster,
(c) unexpected electrical or security system failure,
(d) glass breakages that affect the security of any building in the strata scheme or could result in damage to the inside of any such building.
Building defects rectification was not presented in the agenda.
Motions must be ruled as "out of order" as they conflicted with the Act, were unlawful, and unenforceable. According to Strata Community Association (NSW), definition of a Motion:
A proposal put forward for consideration at a meeting. A well written motion will enable the lot owner or committee member to vote yes (for) or no (against) on the matter.
A motion must clearly state the proposal to be considered at the meeting.
Motion must clearly state if an ordinary, special, or unanimous resolution is required.
Estimates must include specific amounts in relation to each item or matter on which owners corporation intended to spend money, or on which owners corporation is aware money would be likely spent in the period until next general meeting.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 (documents necessary to fully inform owner in regards to motions on the agenda).
Did not include full details of 10-Year Capital Works Plan, in spite of advance notice of flaws with the plan:
SP52948-discrepancies-in-BIV-report-for-10-Capital-Works-Fund-in-2017-and-2021
Preparing estimates for budgets at an AGM (section 79 of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015: must note any difference between the 10-year plan and these estimates and the reason for the difference.
Motion 16 – Administration and Maintenance (Repairs Discussed).
Building defects rectification was not presented in the agenda.
Motions must be ruled as "out of order" as they conflicted with the Act, were unlawful, and unenforceable. According to Strata Community Association (NSW), definition of a Motion:
A proposal put forward for consideration at a meeting. A well written motion will enable the lot owner or committee member to vote yes (for) or no (against) on the matter.
A motion must clearly state the proposal to be considered at the meeting.
Motion must clearly state if an ordinary, special, or unanimous resolution is required.
Estimates must include specific amounts in relation to each item or matter on which owners corporation intended to spend money, or on which owners corporation is aware money would be likely spent in the period until next general meeting.
Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 (documents necessary to fully inform owner in regards to motions on the agenda).
Did not include full details of 10-Year Capital Works Plan, in spite of advance notice of flaws with the plan:
SP52948-discrepancies-in-BIV-report-for-10-Capital-Works-Fund-in-2017-and-2021
Preparing estimates for budgets at an AGM (section 79 of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015: must note any difference between the 10-year plan and these estimates and the reason for the difference.
Waratah Strata Management disallowed Lot 158 Motions for AGM 2023, to prevent proper management of the complex. Waratah Strata Management received updated Lot 158 Motions for AGM 2023 and failed to respond to request to postpone the general meeting due to lack of information for owners and non-compliance with strata laws.
Multiple common property issues unresolved in Lot 158 alone, some going back to 2018:
SP52948-unresolved-common-property-maintenance-issues-in-Lot-158
Strata Plan SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA):
On 1 December 2023 Lot 158 sent initial draft of pending legal case to terminate contract with Uniqueco Property Services. Recipients of the report were: Uniqueco Property Services (Mrs. Sandra Carone and Mr. Steve Carbone), Waratah Strata Management (Mr. Robert Crosbie and Mr. Heath Crosbie), and eight committee members (Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, Mr. John Gore, Mrs. Genelle Godbee, Mr. Ramesh Desai, Mrs. Kathryn Cutler, Mr. Carlos Fornieles Montoya, Mr. Andrew Ip, and Mr. Jeffery Wang). Lot 158 also requested that all owners receive a copy of this email. They did not reply
Detailed draft of pending legal case to terminate contract with Uniqueco Property Services
As evidence, Lot 158 collected few video examples of how Uniqueco Property Services manage common property as of 3 December 2023:
SP52948-example-of-Uniqueco-Property-Services-maintenance-damaged-Block-A-fire-door-1-3Dec2023
SP52948-example-of-Uniqueco-Property-Services-maintenance-Block-C-ground-floor-faulty-emergency-exit-light-since-1Aug2023-as-of-3Dec2023 - evidence-Block-C-ground-floor-faulty-emergency-exit-light-1Aug2023
SP52948-example-of-Uniqueco-Property-Services-maintenance-hanging-wires-basement-3Dec2023
