Skip to main content

How strata owners corporation "solves" problems or Construction issues resolution in Sydney - Part 16



Almost 8 months passed from the time of previous post and here's how the owners corporations activities looked like to "resolve" the defects/problems:

1. Independent inspection report was ordered and completed 1st June 2015. The report confirmed the defects that were known to owners corporation already. It should be noted that in the period between December 2014 and June 2015 the only attempts by owners corporation to resolve the issues were to convince the lot owner that it's the owner's personal responsibility.

Therefore half a year gone with a couple of meetings only, because people were "on holidays", "busy" etc.

2. Between 3rd July 2015 and end of July 2015 the strata manager spent "contacting the builders for quotes". Until owner called the strata manager nothing have happend.

3. By the end of August 2015 all quotes were in place. The meeting of all owners was set up for the 7th October! Because as usual "holidays", "busy", strata manager "has sent an email" etc.

4. The meeting was held where one issue was accepted to spend money on, one got refused with the determination "to investigate further". For one issue the cheapest quote was approved, but the one that doesn't follow the independent report or fix a problem.
The path to chase the original builder in court to enforce defects rectification is declined by majority of the owners corporation.

5. The builders who were approved came out to do further investigation and provided variations to the original quotes: one because they found extra problem, another because the original quote wasn't following the instructions in the report.
Strata manager passed the information to the owner "from the executive" that it's owner's fault etc.
However the new variations were included in the AGM agenda which was set for 23rd November. However somehow the strata manager thought it was set for 26th November. So it has been mixed up and the final date set to 7th December.

6. At the meeting 7th December all variations were rejected. The investigation about one issue as proposed at the previous meeting didn't happen! The decision was made to wait for other quotes.

7. In the middle of January 2016 the other builder came out to measure the scope of work and to provide a new quote. It was received last week. Two other defects still in limbo.

The result from owners corporation so far: 13 months 0 defects fixed! Fabulous!

Read the full story

To start thinking about who is responsible for strata unit maintenance of common property check out http://strataboss.com.au

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Scrum - Team Culture and Wall Manifesto

In the Scrum framework one of the key components is the wall and daily stand-up. In some organisations I worked with the whole concept of the wall is not accepted by many developers, because of the stand-up necessity and "time waste". Very often all that methodology is used for the sake of methodology and not to achieve what we actually do - adding or creating value to our customer (usually called "The Business"). I can understand frustration that is caused by the wall and stand-up process. From the software developer perspective it is really a waste of time for the following reasons: 1. In 95% of cases developers are head down working like hell delivering valuable outcomes that they are accountable for. Extra effort to go to the wall, staying there for 15-30 minutes and listening or not listening to what others were doing yesterday and will be doing tomorrow is annoying for them; 2. The mere fact of having to do something mandatory to do that looks like

Construction issues resolution in Sydney - part 17

It's been a while since  the last post In January 2016 the owner lodged an application to NCAT against owners corporation to fix three major defects: - waterproofing of large windows in the living room and bedroom which led to windows full replacement - bathroom drain fix - planterbox fix The owners corporation didn't come to mediation and tribunal ordered to fix all defects within 2 months (the deadline was 8th July 2016). The owners corporation as usual didn't rush to comply with the order regarding two items: bathroom and planterbox. The windows works started end of April 2016. At the same time owners corporation decided to check whether it's a warranty and original builder should fix the issues. That was also related to the fact that the variation was submitted by the current contractor who started fixing the defect. So the owners corporation stopped all works in the middle and went off for a month to "make decision". The decision was mad