Body Corporate - Dispute tribunal

[clifton]

I own a flat in Wellington. My tenants in a few occasion had noisy
parties that upsetted the neighbours. I was informed in August 2008 that
I was going to be charged for damages and time spent by the property
manager.
I cooperated from the start giving 10 days notice to my tenants and not
renewing their contract: in the meantime I asked several times for
details of the charges and proof in order to re-charge those costs to my
tenants. No reply from BC: at the end I was forced to apply to the
tenancy tribunal, and at last the charges appears.
With the occasion BC charged also costs related to previous tenants that
had already left 4 months earlier. I had to negotiate at tenancy
tribunal with tenants.
I applied to dispute tribunal for the damages caused to myself and to dispute their invoices: Dispute tribunal rejected my application, the lady there was asking advice to the property manager on the unit titles act, as it seems BC have all the rights and the landlord none.
Now they want to charge me also $1500 for legal
fee, as first they issue the invoices, than ask legal advice to see if they can issue them....
I will have now to appeal also to avoid the legal expenses...

Any advice? Can the BC charge me for legal expenses?
The landlord has not rights under Unit Titles Act?? It seems a bullying BC can charge whatever they want: they charge me to provide me for an invoice...

Thanks

[ninercharlie]

The operation of a Body Corporate (BC) formed as the umbrella entity of unit title properties is prescribed by the Unit Titles Act 1972 (UTA). It can be downloaded from the government legislation site. Google “Unit Titles Act 1972”. You can download the whole Act as a pdf file (2.5 MB). Any owner of a unit title property should hold the Act either in hard copy or on a computer so that it can be referenced when issues arise. My experience is that most owners in BC situations know little of the UTA, and do not want to know, and that is one of the reasons why some BCs become dysfunctional when those running the BC spiral out of control.

It is likely that costs would have been sought from you under UTA s 34. You should have had a prompt disclosure from the BC of what the charges were for so that you could recover from the tenant at the Tenancy Tribunal hearing. In particular, I would seek details of the costs of the legal advice which should not have been necessary to defend a claim by you in the Disputes Tribunal.

If at the Disputes Tribunal hearing, the property manager had knowledge of UTA and you did not, then you are on the back foot because he/she could say what he/she liked and you would not be in a position to challenge. Perhaps there is a lesson in that.

You are a proprietor. You, and the other proprietors ARE the BC. If it is a large BC, your individual influence may be slight. If it is a small BC, it may not be too difficult to wind up enough support from other proprietors to change the way the Body Corporate operates. Try to see the BC in the first person (we) rather than the third person (they). You are not the servant of the BC. The reverse is true. The property manager and the secretary and anyone on the BC payroll are your servants. You pay them through levy. Ultimately, with support of a majority of proprietors, you can fire all of them, subject to contracts.

It may not be practicable to revisit the findings of the Disputes Tribunal but become familiar with UTA and make it work for you in the future.

[Glenn]

The unit titles amendment act is about to be passed.
It has provision in it to go to the tenancy tribunal to resolve disputes.
That is right the same court us normal landlords spend a bit of our life at.
I do wonder at how they will operate it and if the tribunal rulings on one act will influence the rules of the other act.

[clifton]

The operation of a Body Corporate (BC) formed as the umbrella entity of unit title properties is prescribed by the Unit Titles Act 1972 (UTA). It can be downloaded from the government legislation site. Google “Unit Titles Act 1972”. You can download the whole Act as a pdf file (2.5 MB). Any owner of a unit title property should hold the Act either in hard copy or on a computer so that it can be referenced when issues arise. My experience is that most owners in BC situations know little of the UTA, and do not want to know, and that is one of the reasons why some BCs become dysfunctional when those running the BC spiral out of control.

It is likely that costs would have been sought from you under UTA s 34. You should have had a prompt disclosure from the BC of what the charges were for so that you could recover from the tenant at the Tenancy Tribunal hearing. In particular, I would seek details of the costs of the legal advice which should not have been necessary to defend a claim by you in the Disputes Tribunal.

If at the Disputes Tribunal hearing, the property manager had knowledge of UTA and you did not, then you are on the back foot because he/she could say what he/she liked and you would not be in a position to challenge. Perhaps there is a lesson in that.

You are a proprietor. You, and the other proprietors ARE the BC. If it is a large BC, your individual influence may be slight. If it is a small BC, it may not be too difficult to wind up enough support from other proprietors to change the way the Body Corporate operates. Try to see the BC in the first person (we) rather than the third person (they). You are not the servant of the BC. The reverse is true. The property manager and the secretary and anyone on the BC payroll are your servants. You pay them through levy. Ultimately, with support of a majority of proprietors, you can fire all of them, subject to contracts.

It may not be practicable to revisit the findings of the Disputes Tribunal but become familiar with UTA and make it work for you in the future.

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply and analysis. The problem with our with our BC is that there is a very low attendance: there is the property manager that collect proxies and approve is own accounts, and the chair collect another majority of votes. Between the two of them they have nearly the control of AGM results.
Not much point to fight, even if a bit disgusted.
I should have gone more prepared, but you would expect that at the dispute tribunal they would assign somobody that knows about similar issues. The lady there was asking advice to the property manager about UTA: first experience with dispute tribunal and the last I believe.

Thanks again for your professional feedback.

[clifton]

The unit titles amendment act is about to be passed.
It has provision in it to go to the tenancy tribunal to resolve disputes.
That is right the same court us normal landlords spend a bit of our life at.
I do wonder at how they will operate it and if the tribunal rulings on one act will influence the rules of the other act.

Hi Glen,

I think it will be a mess as for the TT seems the tenants have to be protected, and the problem with BC is that if things go against you, the BC can charge you the time spent defending themselves at TT.
But I guess is all about how the BC is managed, the participation of landlords that will make the difference, and avoid the abuse of the law by a property manager that act like he is the BC, obviously with the help of a weak landlords' committee.

Interesting area though.