Conveyancing

Our strata manager is acting in the best interests of the developer, What can we do?

Published in: March 2010

"Our building is quite new, and we have some defect problems with the developer. Our strata manager was appointed by the developer, and does not seem to be too energetic in having things fixed. What can we do?"

Step 1 is to see whether other owners agree with you, because you may be able to get enough votes from your fellow owners to replace the manager.

If you have the support, the sensible step is to talk to the manager, whilst advising them of your support, and see if they can be more pro-active.

If nothing else works, you can apply to the Consumer, Tenancy and Trading Tribunal (CTTT), which is part of the Department of Fair Trading. The CTTT can review your lodged application for the replacement of the Strata Manager.

An application can be lodged with the CTTT, but it will not normally proceed to deal with it until mediation has been attempted. If mediation has not been successful, the application will be referred to an Adjudicator of the CTTT, who will hear both parties and make a decision. An appeal does lie to the CTTT itself.