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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q The Managing Agent of our complex has just been voted on as a Trustee is this correct?

A The act was amended to state that a Managing Agent or their employees can be a trustee as long as they are the   owner of a unit in the complex. This amendment has been criticised as it could lead to a conflict of interest with in the complex.

Q The trustees have decided that the buildings in the complex need to be painted and just gone ahead and them painted and then raised a special levy to cover the cost of the painting. My question is can they do this.

A The trustees as per the act have this power to do this as it falls under the issues of maintenance of the complex. This is a statutory obligation, which if they fail to ensure the maintenance issues of the buildings they could be faced with a arbitration hearing. They are entitled as per act raise a special levy. In my opinion they should have informed you of the decision to have the buildings painted as it seems that the cost is quite high. The other way around this problem would be at the next A.G.M to set a limit on what the trustees can spend without consulting the Body Corporate.

Q We believe that the Body Corporate must call a meeting to discuss certain matters that we feel are urgent, but we are told that only the trustees can call this kind of meeting. Is this true and if not what can we do.

A What you must do is send a letter from 25% of the total of the participation quotas to the trustees asking for a special meeting. This letter must state what needs to be discussed at that meeting. If the trustees have not called the meeting within fourteen days of receiving the letter calling for the meeting, then the owners that asked for the meeting can call their own meeting to discuss the issues and they will have to act on what is agreed at that meeting.

Q We have just been informed that we have to remove all satellite dishes and that we also have to remove all pets from the complex what can we do to stop this.

A The simple answer is yes they can as the conduct rule 1 of the act states that a person may not keep a pet without first getting written permission from the trustees. I think in this instance you should try and have a meeting with the trustees to try and see if the problem can be resolved in a pleasant manner. The problem with the satellite dishes seems if it the same as with the pets and no one got the written permission from the trustees as conduct rule 4 which states that an owner who illegally attaches an item to the common property this item can carefully be removed and given back to them, again my advice would be to approach the trustees and ask why they are asking you to remove the dishes and can it be resolved by asking for permission in writing to leave the dishes where they are.

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