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The EC has the final say in directing what is actioned by the strata mgr. He has gone ahead and “booked” their roofing company without asking us if we would like a further 2 opinions/quotes.
Can we instruct him to place them on hold until we can arrange this? He keeps saying the work order has commenced, I assume the flashing has been cut. Are we financially obligated now if the order was given?
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If the strata manager has breached the terms of your agreement (with them) and this is not an emergency, and there is a cost attached to halting the work, you may be liable as they were acting on your behalf but then you can try to recover the money from them because they were acting without proper authority.
Remember that, apart from insurances, the strata manager is not legally obliged to get more than one quote unless specifically instructed to do so or if your scheme is “large” (more than 100 units) and the cost exceeds by more than 10 percent what has been budgeted for in the annual financial plan.
And I have just realised you are in Canberra … maybe PeterC can offer more accurate advice.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
In the ACT there is no obligation from the Act to get more than one quote for anything, or indeed any quote, though obviously not doing so would be a worry.
My immediate thought is that the manager might be accustomed to just running things for ECs that leave them to it. That is how most do it. Have you either just changed most of the personnel of the EC or just got a new managing agent within a management company?
I have found it can take a while for a new manager to realise that our EC is more hands-on than they are used to. Often the new manager is more accustomed to being criticised for not fixing things quickly than for not consulting more, but then they encounter the opposite.
So, my inclination is to not be too harsh, especially if they or you are new and not yet used to the other’s expectations. The managing agent would have a good idea of the reasonable costs for such work so you are probably getting a fair price. I suggest just talking about how you would like to handle things next time.
BTW The ACT doesn’t have NSW’s > or <100 unit distinction (On the other hand we have class A (generally flats arranged vertically) and class B (generally townhouses arranged horizontally).
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