Hm, do I have any reasonable hope of going to the Dept Of Fair Trading with this?
-----------------
Summary of post:
Real estate agent organized emergency repairs to the garage door
without realizing it was common property. Strata manager refuses
to compensate me because they insist their own tradesmen should
have been used rather than the real estate's.
I own a unit in a block of flats, and rent it out. My real estate
agent pretty much handles all communication with the tenant, including
organizing all repairs.
The tenant has had the garage broken into a couple of times, and
the real estate agent contacted his locksmith in an emergency each
time to secure it again. I'm told the police were involved as well,
so it wasn't a minor incident.
Normally a strata manager claims insurance and pays
for any damage to common property,
But the strata manager refuses to do it for this one because the
real estate agent called his own locksmith to perform the fixes and
the strata manager claims the cost was too "expensive"
($110! They reckon $50 is a more reasonable amount) and that
real estate agent should have contacted them first for their approval.
Basically the strata manager said that that for damage to the common
property, one of their own tradesmen should be used, not the
real estate agent's .
After hours the strata managers are not contactable in any way,
but they did previously mail out to all owners a list of tradesmen
that they say should be used for emergency after-hour repairs
(whether to the common property or not). In that mail they did
also mention that if repairs to the common property are done without
their approval, I might not get reimbursed .
Is this reasonable and enforceable? I certainly don't think it's
reasonable for the real estate agent to have to carry around lists
of tradesmen after-hours for each strata manager that they have
to deal with.
The only thing that I can think of that may work, is for the *tenant*
to keep this list handy, and in an after-hour emergency
the tenant MUST either call only a tradesmen on that list, or advise
the real estate agent that he MUST do so.
The real estate agent has said that he often handles repairs to
the properties that he looks after, and the appropriate strata manager
then simply approves it. But he was quite taken aback with this
particular strata manager, saying that they're very difficult to deal
with (from my experience, I second that opinion).
The problem here was that the real estate agent mistakingly didn't
realize that the garage door constitutes common property. He said
so to me initially, before we found out that in fact it is. Had
he realized that, he said, he would have at least tried to contact
the strata manager before organizing repairs.
When the agent subsequently spoke to the owner of the strata managing
company, he said that he was told that I should sent the invoice to
them and that it "would" be approved. This must mean they "would" only
consider it, because the actual strata manager employee that
we've dealt with obviously did not approve it.
The strata managers did not even have the decency to contact me to say
that the reimbursement was refused. I waited for weeks until I
called them about it. It's not just the $110 -
unfortunately during that time, the garage door was broken into
a second time and this time the cost will be much higher because the
locksmith also applied some strong bolts into the ground to
prevent further break-ins. Since the real estate agent had no reason
at that time to believe that the initial $110 would be refused, he went
ahead with these repairs as well.
What choices do I have here?
a) Since the real estate agent didn't realize the garage door was
common property, he's somewhat responsible I guess. If I can't
get anywhere with the strata manager, should I try to get
at least some of the cost reimbursed from the real estate agent?
This is the only problem I've had with this agency - they're
quite good otherwise and I've had them for years.
b) The strata managers, on the other hand, are consistently bad.
I think they enjoy being this arrogant and inflexible.
The strata manager said that $110 for a garage door lock repair
was "extortion" , but the problem is that they are far from
any good themselves:
They're totally hand-in-hand with the owner of one of the other
units . Naturally, that unit has endless alleged problems
with leaking showers and busted pipes and they always
get compensated for them. The last time I made a
claim before this was about 9 years ago, and because
of an honest mistake by my real estate agent I can't even
get this current one approved now.
One year they had lawn & gardens cost at $2000, and that for a
year when the grass hardly grew. Now that's extortion!
We told them at the AGM to get this reduced and the figure
magically fell the next year to about $800.
After resolving at an AGM to NOT increase the general
administrative fund and sinking fund fees for the next year,
they sent out bills for two consecutive quarters with
charges higher than the previous year, as if we DID approve
fee increases in the meeting. When I pointed out that they
were overcharging, they sent out a letter to everyone
acknowledging this and stating that people would charged
a reduced fee for the next quarter - there was of course
no talk of them actually refunding the money or of
paying "interest" for their mistakes.
I could rant for a long while with other examples.
Can they enforce that we only use their tradesmen for common
property repairs? Does the Department of Fair Trading provide
any 'free' advice on such matters or will they immediately
refer me to the mediation process for which a fee must be paid?
(I believe the fee is quite small?)
c) Perhaps I could ask the strata manager what their own tradesmen would
have charged for these services (they reckon $50 for the first
fix, and I don't know how much they'd pretend the second fix
would cost), and try to get only that amount reimbursed?
One thing about the real estate agent - he never calls me to
approve any repairs, even ordinary non-emergency ones. Up to recently
I've had a family friend look after my flat and deal with the
real estate agent, so I'm not currently sure of the details of the
contract between myself and the real estate agent. "Should" the
real estate agent inform me before going ahead with any non-emergency
repairs? Can he refuse if I ask him to do this in the future?
-----------------
Summary of post:
Real estate agent organized emergency repairs to the garage door
without realizing it was common property. Strata manager refuses
to compensate me because they insist their own tradesmen should
have been used rather than the real estate's.
I own a unit in a block of flats, and rent it out. My real estate
agent pretty much handles all communication with the tenant, including
organizing all repairs.
The tenant has had the garage broken into a couple of times, and
the real estate agent contacted his locksmith in an emergency each
time to secure it again. I'm told the police were involved as well,
so it wasn't a minor incident.
Normally a strata manager claims insurance and pays
for any damage to common property,
But the strata manager refuses to do it for this one because the
real estate agent called his own locksmith to perform the fixes and
the strata manager claims the cost was too "expensive"
($110! They reckon $50 is a more reasonable amount) and that
real estate agent should have contacted them first for their approval.
Basically the strata manager said that that for damage to the common
property, one of their own tradesmen should be used, not the
real estate agent's .
After hours the strata managers are not contactable in any way,
but they did previously mail out to all owners a list of tradesmen
that they say should be used for emergency after-hour repairs
(whether to the common property or not). In that mail they did
also mention that if repairs to the common property are done without
their approval, I might not get reimbursed .
Is this reasonable and enforceable? I certainly don't think it's
reasonable for the real estate agent to have to carry around lists
of tradesmen after-hours for each strata manager that they have
to deal with.
The only thing that I can think of that may work, is for the *tenant*
to keep this list handy, and in an after-hour emergency
the tenant MUST either call only a tradesmen on that list, or advise
the real estate agent that he MUST do so.
The real estate agent has said that he often handles repairs to
the properties that he looks after, and the appropriate strata manager
then simply approves it. But he was quite taken aback with this
particular strata manager, saying that they're very difficult to deal
with (from my experience, I second that opinion).
The problem here was that the real estate agent mistakingly didn't
realize that the garage door constitutes common property. He said
so to me initially, before we found out that in fact it is. Had
he realized that, he said, he would have at least tried to contact
the strata manager before organizing repairs.
When the agent subsequently spoke to the owner of the strata managing
company, he said that he was told that I should sent the invoice to
them and that it "would" be approved. This must mean they "would" only
consider it, because the actual strata manager employee that
we've dealt with obviously did not approve it.
The strata managers did not even have the decency to contact me to say
that the reimbursement was refused. I waited for weeks until I
called them about it. It's not just the $110 -
unfortunately during that time, the garage door was broken into
a second time and this time the cost will be much higher because the
locksmith also applied some strong bolts into the ground to
prevent further break-ins. Since the real estate agent had no reason
at that time to believe that the initial $110 would be refused, he went
ahead with these repairs as well.
What choices do I have here?
a) Since the real estate agent didn't realize the garage door was
common property, he's somewhat responsible I guess. If I can't
get anywhere with the strata manager, should I try to get
at least some of the cost reimbursed from the real estate agent?
This is the only problem I've had with this agency - they're
quite good otherwise and I've had them for years.
b) The strata managers, on the other hand, are consistently bad.
I think they enjoy being this arrogant and inflexible.
The strata manager said that $110 for a garage door lock repair
was "extortion" , but the problem is that they are far from
any good themselves:
They're totally hand-in-hand with the owner of one of the other
units . Naturally, that unit has endless alleged problems
with leaking showers and busted pipes and they always
get compensated for them. The last time I made a
claim before this was about 9 years ago, and because
of an honest mistake by my real estate agent I can't even
get this current one approved now.
One year they had lawn & gardens cost at $2000, and that for a
year when the grass hardly grew. Now that's extortion!
We told them at the AGM to get this reduced and the figure
magically fell the next year to about $800.
After resolving at an AGM to NOT increase the general
administrative fund and sinking fund fees for the next year,
they sent out bills for two consecutive quarters with
charges higher than the previous year, as if we DID approve
fee increases in the meeting. When I pointed out that they
were overcharging, they sent out a letter to everyone
acknowledging this and stating that people would charged
a reduced fee for the next quarter - there was of course
no talk of them actually refunding the money or of
paying "interest" for their mistakes.
I could rant for a long while with other examples.
Can they enforce that we only use their tradesmen for common
property repairs? Does the Department of Fair Trading provide
any 'free' advice on such matters or will they immediately
refer me to the mediation process for which a fee must be paid?
(I believe the fee is quite small?)
c) Perhaps I could ask the strata manager what their own tradesmen would
have charged for these services (they reckon $50 for the first
fix, and I don't know how much they'd pretend the second fix
would cost), and try to get only that amount reimbursed?
One thing about the real estate agent - he never calls me to
approve any repairs, even ordinary non-emergency ones. Up to recently
I've had a family friend look after my flat and deal with the
real estate agent, so I'm not currently sure of the details of the
contract between myself and the real estate agent. "Should" the
real estate agent inform me before going ahead with any non-emergency
repairs? Can he refuse if I ask him to do this in the future?
