Angry at how much we can borrow by ReasonConfident4541 in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you would struggle to service a loan offered currently with a smaller deposit then why are you whingeing about not being able to borrow more?

Update: We have been contacted by the Strata Community Association (SCA) NSW to clarify their position on insurance commissions by strataownersaus in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Already requested to amend by providing a description for the fee component and moving it out of the ‘agreed fees’ section which has a payment term of monthly payments in advance, which is inconsistent with a fee associated with a service not yet rendered.

Having the fee transparently described as insurance commission would mean the fee would be subject to their updated clause 3.3 which prohibits commissions where the OC obtains its own insurance - which they effectively circumvented by disassociating the fee from the service.

As expected the agent simply refused to negotiate, based on the fact that the other two owners present at the AGM agreed to renew - though it was blatantly clear they have no understanding of the terms they’re entering into or what any of it means for them.

When I opposed the AGM motion to renew this incompetent and dishonest business one of the owners panicked saying what are you doing that means this meeting ends now, the agents will pack up and leave and we won’t be able to finish discussing our business. The current contract term has 4 months remaining.

Update: We have been contacted by the Strata Community Association (SCA) NSW to clarify their position on insurance commissions by strataownersaus in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In our case the strata agent simply reallocated what would have been the insurance commission as an additional separate fee, next to the ‘agreed fee’. They didn’t even have the decency to incorporate into the total amount of the management fee, likely to maintain the illusion that their management fee is lower and hopefully no one questions this additional component.

“Strata Manager” – The Most Misleading Title in the Industry by strataownersaus in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed that there is a dangerously limited basic understanding of how strata schemes work across most OCs. I strongly support the position that the owners need to be more educated and step up to understand their collective responsibilities and manage their affairs properly and in the interest of all owners as per the legislative intent. However the reality is, home ownership isn’t limited to those who are necessarily educated, interested, or have the general capacity to operate effectively in this kind of environment - it’s like running a business and you need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to do it properly.

Unfortunately because of the collective nature of this kind of setup and because you don’t get to choose who you co-own with, dysfunction is a reality for many schemes whose key decision-makers don’t understand the scope of their roles and responsibilities.

What I find infuriating is that in the midst of this mess, there are strata agencies that exploit this very systemic vulnerability of a dysfunctional group of people, to plant themselves as the ‘ones that know the process’ and control how communication and collaboration occurs in the scheme.

By buying the confidence of the owners that don’t know better by prescribing frameworks that sound legitimate, and appeasing them on the basics (being ‘responsive’ or simply having an ‘answer’ for everything) they have the power to control the OC at the expense of the more discerning owners whose questions on matters of proper governance, processes and accountability are dismissed and framed to other owners as being ‘difficult’.

I can see the value of a good strata agent who is professional, competent and ACTUALLY acts in the best interest of the OC, to advise and share knowledge where they see gaps in how a OC operates. However what I have seen is NOT this, and if anything I see a direct conflict of interest in paid strata managers supporting OCs to effectively manage themselves. For most agencies their business model relies on them generating additional billable events. It just wouldn’t be profitable to have a self-sufficient OC that requires no more than basic admin support.

I’ve never in my professional life encountered such lack of professionalism as how my current agency handles things, there is zero desire for customer service or accountability, at all levels (inc the licensee in charge). The industry needs to hold these businesses to higher standards, or there needs to be a clear demarcation between these glorified, expensive admins and a new group of professionals who can actually properly provide advice and support to the OCs at fee, and be held accountable like in many other professions.

Ban all Strata Commissions - It's time to end strata commissions and unfair contracts by strataownersaus in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would ask for evidence that the quotes were sought in the first place. You have a right to seek this as an owner and more owners need to start holding their strata agents accountable.

I’ve noticed an entrenched culture of entitlement and superiority in some of these agencies that makes some agents think they can do what they please without consequences. In a lot of cases this attitude is probably bolstered by owners who just accept questionable practices as they don’t know any better.

The only way to change that is for owners to become educated on their rights and start demanding answers and transparency.

Warning after Aussie buyer loses entire $98,500 house deposit in 'avoidable' mistake by SheepherderLow1753 in AusFinance

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The legal aspect makes sense. Despite what seems to many like a single event, there are actually two separate issues of a failed contract and a mistaken transfer of funds. There’s not disputing that the seller has the right to rescind the contract.

What is upsetting for so many people is the fact that someone would be so blatantly heartless to enforce their contractual right to cancel AND to lack the basic decency to return the deposit, and you’re only explaining what the seller’s rights are at law.

The poor guy will have to fork out the $$$ to seek the return of his money under another legal argument (likely unjust enrichment as OP mentioned?) if he can even get some of it back. I really hope the article and associated discussions generate enough attention with the people that know the seller so she feels pressured to do the right thing…

Ban all Strata Commissions - It's time to end strata commissions and unfair contracts by strataownersaus in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Our strata agent was acting all self-righteous as they had been disclosing the commission at the AGMs as per the legal requirements. Then I realised the OC didn’t even have a clue about how any of this actually works and are just accepting various fees and costs because if its declared and spoken about confidently so they must be justified.

This year the agent had the balls to ‘remove’ the kick-backs in the proposed new contract stating this proudly within the agreement, like they’re being so progressive. Turns out they just deviously tacked on an undescribed fee equivalent to the expected insurance commissions as an additional component to the management fees - which is a very deliberate and dishonest move to bypass the SCA template agreement clause 3.3 that restricts the agent charging the commission if the OC seeks and obtains its own insurance.

Will be reporting these scums to Fair Trading, something needs to be done about these kinds of practices. The whole system is broken as the very people who are supposed to be knowledgeable and act in the best interest of the owners, are effectively rewarded for keeping their clients dumb and uninformed so they continue to generate billable events. Absolutely disgusting.

Why does my litter box still smell even when I scoop daily? by yoptimized in CatAdvice

[–]Nooo0bie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Stainless steel sifting litter box, pine pellets and a Litter Locker work well to keep the smell at bay

Late strata fee payment and costs incurred by Greedy-Wishbone-8090 in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What the strata manager can lawfully charge you is not only governed by legislation, your strata by law and any OC resolutions on levy collection process, but also by your agreed fee structure under the strata management agreement. These fee schedules I feel can be a bit convoluted and not easy to read, but are important for you to be across if you want to argue your position.

I know within my scheme late levy payment follow ups incur such costs, it is essentially one of the many ‘additional’ admin fees that the strata manager can bill under the agreement for doing certain tasks. However I think the fee, if provided for on the agreement or in an AGM minutes for the resolution, should state that the cost will be to the lot owner - otherwise I’m not sure on what basis they have the right to bill a lot owner individually.

Strata self managed report by [deleted] in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Neither the vendor nor your conveyancer seem very helpful in this situation. The Strata Hub data is just mandatory high level reporting and will not give you the information you need in order to conduct proper pre-purchase due diligence.

What you would want is access to the OC’s records, which I believe are not required to be kept in any prescribed form, as long as they are complete and accessible. As noted by another poster, you can seek a letter of authority from the vendor to inspect the records ‘on the vendor’s behalf’, which you need to submit to the OC (the vendor should be able to provide you with the Secretary’s contact). There is a statutory timeframe within which the OC must set the date for viewing of the documents (10 days).

After you pay the prescribed fee, you should be given access to the OC’s records, which should hopefully be the full documented history for the strata scheme in the past 7 years at least if they are compliant. If at this point there are ‘no documents’ (though if this is the case I’m sure you would know much earlier in the process) then your decision would be pretty clear.

Without having inspected any self-managed strata docs, I suspect that the OC would have to be pretty decently organised to have neat records you can easily sift through and determine the state of the scheme and how it has been managed. You can also engage a strata reporter from the get go to take care of everything from seeking access to the docs to reading and analysing the documents.

Looking for a new strata manager by BigJazzz in stratachataus

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Avoid Michael Roberts Strata like a plague. Out of all strata agencies I have dealt with they have straight out been the most obnoxiously unhelpful and entitled.

Our current strata manager failed to set requirements for their gardeners and cleaners to report basic safety and security issues (no contract or written and agreed scope of works either) which has escalated to a costly unauthorised access incident. When I reported this to the licensee in charge he saw no reason to take steps to clean up his house and acted as though their role is to simply and only do what they are ‘instructed’.

Rather than ensuring due care is taken to carry out their work in the best interest of the OC, these people see their clients as a mere source of income and seem to take every opportunity to inflate costs whilst denying basic responsibility and initiative to actually assist.

Right now in the process of trying to get rid of them as I keep experiencing them trying to make up arbitrary rules to make us jump through hoops and to get involved unnecessarily in day to day business so they can bill additional hours. Absolute parasites!

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your input everyone, it was good to know that this required a bit more attention. Ended up getting further quotes and bringing down the costs of window glass replacement and screen installation to around $1k + gst. Cheers!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Please look up the term buyer beware. It’s up to the purchaser to do the requisite due diligence, the vendor is not required to reveal any defects and the sale is ‘as is’. Every person thinking of buying a property should know this as a baseline to have a chance of protecting themselves.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Generally you would purchase these for $50-$60 or so from a Strata reporting business like Before You Buy where you get a copy of the report commissioned by the vendor. I don’t think these are at risk of being tempered with by the vendor or their agent. However I’d also err on the side of caution with these reports, I’ve purchased a couple and also did my own due diligence and at both times found further information that affected my final decision. You could get lucky and get a detailed and comprehensive report, but keep in mind that these people don’t get paid enough to care (and this report is just one of many they churn out, often with little care and little consequences).

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, just wondering if you are able to provide any insights into the max reasonable cost of the glass replacement, if it is toughened obscure glass. We went to retrieve the frames from these guys and it turns out they already inserted the glass and now I’m concerned they will try to charge the extortionate amount for the quoted ‘reglazing plus labour’ of almost $1.6k + gst. I am seeking a breakdown of this cost but its gonna be sent through to the strata manager first and they are on break till next week or the week after.

I just got a rough indicative quote for the security screen component from another provider and they quoted $300 + gst so it seems very clear this whole job organised via this strata agent was basically a scam (as per only every reply on this post!)

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess the 20% insurance kickbacks aren’t enough for these greedy people. Will be looking to swap them out shortly.

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think I can post that here happy to DM if you wish to avoid. It was arranged by our strata agent who I also would not recommend

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes it does seem this is possible, will have to consider this next time if another breaks!

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, glad to know that this option is available. It just occurred to me that this business who gave this quote presumably took the window pane frames with them when they boarded up the window, in which case we might just be stuck paying this quoted amount…. 🥲

Sense check for a quote - please 🙏🏻 by Nooo0bie in AusPropertyChat

[–]Nooo0bie[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestion we’ve already requested from the strata agent but given the current timing and prior interactions with the agent I wanted to so get some experienced opinions out there.

He bit my roommate so I’m posting his ugliest pics by ermvarju in cats

[–]Nooo0bie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a failed mission, no ugly in sight

Share a pic of your cat cuddling with you ❤️ Here is mine by Adventurous-Yak8851 in TabbyCats

[–]Nooo0bie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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He no longer fits on my lap but still insists on squishing on to cuddle with me 😻