Further comments worth sharing and serious negative trends with Admin Fund balances: Our large strata plan had Admin Fund negative balance of $203,914.85 on 27 October 2022 - day of Annual General Meeting. That information was seemingly withheld from owners (nothing was listed in the minutes of the meeting), in spite of our efforts to get the strata manager to share it with everybody.

Let these figures talk about how Admin Fund progressed with negative trend from 1 February 2017 when Waratah Strata Management took office. The columns define dates, status of Admin Fund on the day (figures with "-" in front of them are for negative balances), and important comments:

31/01/2017, $129,704.57, Change BCS Strata Management to Waratah Strata Management 30/04/2017, $135,012.17, End of FY quarter 31/07/2017, $152,916.30, End of FY quarter 31/10/2017, $100,815.56, End of FY quarter 31/01/2018, $108,936.47, End of FY quarter 30/04/2018, $123,012.91, End of FY quarter 31/07/2018, $145,119.88, End of FY quarter 31/10/2018, $80,599.23, End of FY quarter 31/01/2019, $84,559.32, End of FY quarter 30/04/2019, $99,934.95, End of FY quarter 31/07/2019, $148,247.36, End of FY quarter 17/10/2019, -$131,852.25, Day of Annual General Meeting 31/10/2019, $37,259.31, End of FY quarter 31/01/2020, $81,654.32, End of FY quarter 30/04/2020, $85,707.93, End of FY quarter 31/07/2020, $96,907.38, End of FY quarter 31/10/2020, $8,368.92, End of FY quarter 31/01/2021, -$18,794.90, End of FY quarter 25/04/2021, -$24,560.03 31/07/2021, -$22,323.34, End of FY quarter 28/10/2021, $1,019.14, Day of Annual General Meeting 31/10/2021, -$120,210.65, Three days after Annual General Meeting, End of FY quarter 31/01/2022, -$123,708.05, End of FY quarter 30/04/2022 -$93,147.13, End of FY quarter 31/07/2022 -$61,290.46, End of FY quarter 27/10/2022 -$203,914.85, Day of Annual General Meeting 31/10/2022 -$203,913.63, End of FY quarter 14/11/2022 -$60,224.67, 16 days after collection of new levies in amount of $187,502.16

As of 16 November 2022, Admin Fund had negative balance of $60,224.67, in spite of collecting $187,502.16 in period from 1 November 2022 (new quarter). In 26-year history of the complex, this will be the first time that Admin Fund will have negative balance for the whole period of 90 days (next collection of levies is on 1 February 2023).

The above spreadsheet (with data covering period up to August 2022), was presented by an owner as Motion at Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022 for ratification by owners corporation. Waratah Strata Management and Solicitor (the same Solicitor failed to comply with CTTT/NCAT orders six times in period 2021 to 2021 - refer to cases SCS 12/32675 and 20/33352), did not even allow owners corporation to ratify these figures.

This is extract from Minutes of Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2020:

BEGIN QUOTE The Owners Corporation incurred legal fees of $1,391.50 to have Solicitor review the validity of the motions requisitioned by an owner. Solicitor's advised that all of the motions submitted (except one) should be ruled out of order by the chairperson on the grounds that:

(a) The motions, if carried, would be unenforceable; or (b) The motions, are in fact, not motions at all but rather statements of opinion that do not require any decision to be made.

The Chairman ruled Motions, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16 out of order as advised. END QUOTE

Capital Works Fund: Minutes of committee meeting on 23 September 2021 - shortage of $1,515,541.00 in Capital Works Fund against the forecast in April 2017 that was allegedly "approved" without general meeting. Annual General Meeting was held on 28 October 2021, and no owner received email or printed copy of rushed updates to Capital Works Fund which simply delayed all major repairs, effectively made balance looked artificially positive. Agenda for AGM 2021 was dispatched on 7 October 2021 and BIV's updated Capital Works Fund plan was created a day earlier but not presented to owners corporation to approve or vote at general meeting on 28 October 2021. No owner in the complex has approved this "updated" version of the Capital Works Fund, which is based on completely arbitrary estimates, without any serious review of actual needs. It is important to highlight that Waratah Strata Management did not provide Auditor's Report in agenda for the general meeting and even as late as 16 November 2022, 20 days after the annual general meeting, such report was not made available on Waratah website; at the same time Waratah Strata Management was asking for its contract renewal without any tender or disclosure that three previous contracts had been signed by unfinancial owners who were allowed to vote and be on the committee in full non-compliance with strata laws and regulations.

Anyone who doubts the above statement can ask for proof. They can easily be provided.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Conduct of meetings: As recently as 28 November 2018, amendments to the Interpretation Act (section 76(1)(b)) saw the ‘postage’ time period extended from 4 business days to 7 business days. The ‘postage’ period must be calculated before applying the meeting notice period. It is based on the Interpretation Act detailed in a circular issued by Australia Post in 2016 stating 7 business days for Standard Delivery.

Refer to NSW Strata Community and Fair Trading NSW summary of strata meeting requirements.

Annual General Meeting 2022 Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022 failed to meet required time frames (making the whole meeting invalid and void), as shown by postage date on the envelope sent to owners on 11 October 2022 at 23:53 hours (the envelope is now kept as evidence for court).

The following applies:

Calculation Day And Date, Weekday, Service Calculation Event 1 11/10/2022, Tuesday, Notice posted 2 12/10/2022, Wednesday, First working day 3 13/10/2022, Thursday, Second working day 4 14/10/2022, Friday, Third working day 5 15/10/2022, Saturday, Weekend 6 16/16/2022, Sunday, Weekend 7 17/10/2022, Monday, Fourth working day 8 18/10/2022, Tuesday, Fifth working day 9 19/10/2022, Wednesday, Sixth working day 10 20/10/2022, Thursday, Seventh working day - notice effective 11 21/10/2022, Friday, First notice day 12 22/10/2022, Saturday, Second notice day 13 23/10/2022, Sunday, Third notice day 14 24/10/2022, Monday, Fourth notice day 15 25/10/2022, Tuesday, Fifth notice day 16 26/10/2022, Wednesday, Sixth notice day 17 27/10/2022, Thursday, Date of meeting

Annual General Meeting 2019 Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019 failed to meet required time frames:

Owner sent Motions for AGM 2019 on Saturday 28 September 2019 at 21:09 hours. At earliest, Waratah Strata Management would have dealt with it on Monday, 30 September 2019 and sent notices to owners in early October. Waratah Strata Management refused to prove the date they sent the letters.

There is full photo evidence that notice boards in the complex did not have ANY information about AGM even as late as 11 October 2019.

If notices were sent on 1 October 2019 (the best-case scenario for Waratah Strata Management), the following would apply:

1 October 2019 not counted (day of postage) 7 October 2019 not counted (Labour Day in ACT, NSW & SA) 17 October 2019 not counted (day of the meeting)

... leaving the following calculation:

Seven working days as per Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) are: 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 October 2019

Days for notice of AGM: 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 October 2019 (five days, 17 October 2019 is NOT counted (day of AGM))

Calculation Day And Date, Weekday, Service Calculation Event 1 1/10/2019, Tuesday, Notice posted 2 2/10/2019, Wednesday, First working day 3 3/10/2019, Thursday, Second working day 4 4/10/2019, Friday, Third working day 5 5/10/2019, Saturday, Weekend 6 6/10/2019, Sunday, Weekend 7 7/10/2019, Monday, Public holiday (Labour Day) 8 8/10/2019, Tuesday, Fourth working day 9 9/10/2019, Wednesday, Fifth working day 10 10/10/2019, Thursday, Sixth working day 11 11/10/2019, Friday, Seventh working day - notice effective 12 12/10/2019, Saturday, First notice day 13 13/10/2019, Sunday, Second notice day 14 14/10/2019, Monday, Third notice day 15 15/10/2019, Tuesday, Fourth notice day 16 16/10/2019, Wednesday, Fifth notice day 17 17/10/2019, Thursday, Date of meeting

All these items made AGM 2019 non-compliant, along with other strong reasons like quorum miscalculation, unfinancial owners allowed to vote, owner's Motions not presented for voting with any legally- valid reasons to justify it, lack of tender for strata management contract renewal, non-disclosure of alleged losses of invoices, emails, and other financial documents, non-disclosure of owners who were allowed to be committee members whilst unfinancial, and much more If notices were sent by post on any other after 1 October 2019 (most probable scenario), the non-compliance is even more drastic.

Let public judge how well NCAT dealt with this issue. Extracts from NCAT case SC 20/33352 (note that Waratah Strata Management and committee members had four-month advance notice of the Hearing and full access to all files but refused to look at them - and further more, none of them attended the Hearing). The following extract contains typing errors as written by the Tribunal member (multiple complaints about his conducts have been publicly listed by different clients in various forums):

BEGIN QUOTE The owners corporation did not file and serve any documentary evidence; nor did the individual strata committee members.

The Tribunal did not investigate any of the links provided by an owner as it would have been clearly procedurally unfair to the owners corporation for the Tribunal to view material which had not been filed and served in the proceedings and which the owners corporation could not see at the hearing as the hearing was conducted by telephone.

Even if irregularities (i.e. the meetings did not comply with the SSMA or the SSMA Regulations) were established, the Tribunal would not exercise its discretion under s 24 of the SSMA to declare all of the Motions passed at such meetings invalid. Such an order would have a profound and deleterious effect on Lot owners and third parties. For example, Motions passed and acted upon involving the appointment of contractors to perform works to common property would be retrospectively declared invalid; and insurance entered into by the owners corporation would also be retrospectively declared invalid. There are overwhelming discretionary considerations against making the order sought by the applicant even if any breach was established. END QUOTE

Ordinary strata committee meetings Since 1 February 2017, when Waratah Strata Management took office, no ordinary meeting satisfied regulations and requirements as defined by SSMA 2015 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Two examples:

a) Committee meeting dated 10 February 2022, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Agenda was created on 7 February 2022 and scheduled for 10 February 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.

Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to some owners at all.

Notice of paper committee meeting, without designated venue was published on notice boards as late as 13:30 hours on 8 February 2022, and scheduled for 10 February 2022, without venue and time.

Owners were prevented from having any information about NCAT case SC 20/33352.

Minutes of the committee meeting were not published on notice boards. Photo evidence exists.

b) Committee meeting dated 3 March 2022, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Agenda was created on 25 February 2022 and scheduled for 3 March 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.

Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to some owners.

Committee Meeting on 3 March 2022 did not disclose the expenses accrued by Solicitor (above $30,000,00 in 2021 and 2022). Owner requested that owners be notified about current status of NCAT case 20/33352 and Solicitor’s engagement, but Waratah Strata Management and committee members declined. Legal costs had six versions of total expenses for Solicitor’s alleged work. This was proposed to the committee for inclusion in the Agenda on the meeting scheduled for 3 March 2022, but not allowed by Waratah Strata Management.

Anyone who doubts the above statement can ask for proof. They can easily be provided.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 21 September 2022, insurance premiums increased by significant amount of 49.33% (from $108,193.26 in 2021 to $161,569.59 in 2022 - all GST inclusive), without disclosure to owners, while even as late as 3 October 2022 Income & expenditure Report still did not list any payments for insurance policy.

One of good initiatives by ex-Chairperson was to disallow strata agencies to claim rebates and commissions for insurance renewals, as listed in his submission to CTTT on 10 March 2012. After Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017, they started receiving significant rebates and commissions for insurance renewals (all syntax errors are as listed in original CTTT submission):

BEGIN QUOTE The current MA's (Managing Agent) current contract specifically precludes receiving rebates and commissions on insurance (they are not returned to the OC. In this respect our MA contract is different from the standard Institute of Body Corporate Managers NSW contract. I point to the material savings in insurance premiums since 2003 when this change was first effected. This removes any possible conflict of interest in raising the sum insured which have been determined by a professional and un-conflicted valuer. END QUOTE

The following table contains four columns:

Financial Year (between 1 September and 31 August the following year) Insurance Premiums (years 1997 to 2016 are GST exclusive and from 2017 GST inclusive) Difference in Insurance Premiums to Previous Year (in %) Comment - Insurance Commissions Paid to Strata Manager

Note that Waratah Strata Management took office with our complex on 1 February 2017, so the following table contains historical data for previous years too.

1997, $34,128.00

1998,

1999, $33,799.00, 0.00%

2000, $33,721.00, -0.23%

2001, $45,277.65, 34.27%

2002, $46,879.00, 3.54%

2003, $52,841.00, 12.72%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2004, $49,044.00, -7.19%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2005, $40,002.00, -18.44%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2006, $43,139.41, 7.84%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2007, $42,962.77, -0.41%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2008, $38,583.00, -10.19%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2009, $42,940.00, 11.29%, Raine & Horne Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2010, $43,324.00, 0.89%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2011, $44,558.00, 2.85%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2012, $48,410.00, 8.64%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2013, $78,409.00, 61.97%, Two insurers declined to quote due to high risks, four insurance claims for Solicitor who created four versions of the same Standard Costs Agreement, secret change of the insurance policy for Solicitor's costs and then claimed amount of $24,919.31 (plus GST) for non-existent "defence" of Lot 3 at CTTT case SCS 12/32675 in 2012/2013 without owners corporation full disclosure or decision at any general meeting and CHU Insurance forced partial repayment in amount of $8,800.00 without having full access to strata files and evidence in 2017; BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2014, $69,649.00, -11.17%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2015, $70,925.00, 1.83%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2016, $64,395.00, -9.21%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2017, $72,500.00, 12.59%, BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions

2018, $83,053.51, 14.56%, Insurance commisison paid in amount of $6,084.84 paid to Waratah Strata Management

2019, $89,520.33, 7.79%, Insurance commisison paid in amount of $6,570.16 paid to Waratah Strata Management

2020, $81,921.44, -8.49%, Insurance commisison paid in amount of $6,084.84 paid to Waratah Strata Management

2021, $96,145.39, 17.36%, Solicitor fully involved in forcing insurance claims for his alleged work; insurance commission paid in amount of $5,633.62 to Waratah Strata Management

2022, $108,193.26, 12.53%, Insurance claim for Solicitor (on 25 March 2022 Waratah Strata Management listed revenue from insurance claims for Solicitor's costs in amount of $19,758.14 in Income & Expenditure Report). Insurance broker forced owners corporation to pay extra $1,617.37 as per invoice dated 9 August 2022, which Waratah Strata Management did not pay in FY 2022, but moved into new financial year starting 1 September 2022; insurance commission paid in amount of $6,541.55 to Waratah Strata Management

2023, $161,569.59, 49.33%, Insurance renewal was due on 21 September 2022 but paid on 26 September 2022 (creating risk of uncovered common property for period of six days; insurance commission paid in amount of $6,541.55 paid Waratah Strata Management

Five insurance claims for the legal costs of the same Solicitor in CTTT case SCS 12/32675 and NCAT case SC 20/33352. The same Solicitor failed to comply with Tribunal orders six times in period 2012 to 2021.

For the sake of precision, it is worth reporting that insurance claims are often rejected by the companies. An example: amount of $13,497.00 was rejected by SUU on 9 February 2021 due to long term fatigue of window frame (it fell from level 7 to ground). That was third incident with complete window frame (along with glass) falling out from sun rooms in three different units in last 20 years.

BCS Strata Management (in period 2012 to 2016) and Waratah Strata Management (2017 onwards) failed to inform owners about insurance policy signed before Annual General Meeting 2012 with excess for each and every water damage, burst pipe, and exploratory cost in amount of $10,000.00.

Anyone who doubts the above statement can ask for proof. They can easily be provided.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Examples of care for customers' safety and well-being by Waratah Strata Management. a) 18 complaints about problems with smoking near unit or garage of an owner with serious health issues were ignored by Waratah Strata Management (problem is still persistent).

Eight requests to obtain access to CCTV recordings for stalking, harassment, intimidation, and threats against owners were silently ignored by Waratah Strata Management, committee members, and maintenance staff (even Police did not get access to them) since 2018. Examples:

a1) Incident on 13 February 2020 for period 08:30 and 09:05 hours in the morning,

a2) Police Event dated 11 August 2019

a3) Incident on 1 November 2021: Tenant's non-compliance with By-Law 3 - unsafe bike riding and unnecessary harassment of owner in basement area

a4) Waratah Strata Management allowed CCTV evidence to be overwritten on 23 July 2020. Strata manager waited a month after the request had been sent to him and then responded to owner with this email. It did not make any sense his explanation that CCTV recording was available for an earlier date (10 June 2020) but not later one (29 June 2020):

BEGIN QUOTE Please note that only the footage of the incident 10 June 2020 is available and not that from the 29th June 2020 as the footage overwrites after 18 days and advice to keep that footage was not noted. END QUOTE

The missing CCTV footage was related to a complaint about unfinancial committee member (who did not pay full levies for gas heating since 1999) for non-compliance with COVID-19 recommendations and non-compliance with By-Law 6.

b) On 18 February 2018, female owner wrote the following email to Waratah Strata Management. No response has ever been received and number of police events for her stalking, intimidation, and harassment followed:

BEGIN QUOTE To Waratah Strata Management Team,

I am writing this letter as a plea from one human being to another, and only ask that you and your contractors manage to perform the maintenance work with quality and with respect to all of the residents.

My husband and I are owners.

My husband has tried on numerous occasions in the past few years to inform the staff on the state of the gardens, walls and public property in relation to their disrepair.

In these attempts I have felt harassed and intimidated in the complex I live in by maintenance staff (four in particular).

This has become such a heightened situation that I am required (upon advice from the police) to record my movements when I am alone in the complex and feel insecure. The agenda issued on the 7th of February incorrectly indicates I video staff while they work, which is not the case.

I ask for the following:

A written confirmation that this behavior from maintenance staff will cease This matter will be clarified and noted at the next EC Meeting

Kind Regards, END QUOTE

c) Waratah Strata Management silently refused to provide any assistance in the following events:

Police Event E66107079 on 31 August 2017 - continuous stalking of female owner by building manager's staff,

Police Event E244254697 on 26 March 2018 - one week after the alleged assault committed by an owner who protected his wife was dismissed in court, same building manager's staff again followed female owner and caused harassment, intimidation, and fear which ended with her being taken to hospital with blood pressure above 220,

Police event E69860959 on 26 October 2018 - building manager's staff tried to intimidate female owner by taking photos/videos of her on his mobile phone without valid reason and acting in threatening manner towards her,

Police event E265804296 on 14 November 2018 - two building manager's staff members tried to intimidate an owner whilst he was collecting video and photo evidence of poor maintenance of the complex and fire safety non-compliance with state regulations (four years later as of December 2022, Waratah Strata Management and building manager still have not complied with Ryde Council fire orders in full),

Police event E372820993 on 11 August 2019 - building manager's staff stalked and tried to intimidate an owner whilst they were collecting video and photo evidence of damages to tennis court,

Police event E72924428 on 11 October 2019 – car of female owner was deliberately damaged whilst parked on common property,

Police event E74640451 on 17 October 2019 - executive committee member illegal recording of an owner on his mobile phone at Annual General Meeting (it took three attempts to force him to stop - he ignored email sent to him after the meeting; Waratah Strata Management refused to put this incident in minutes of the general meeting),

Police event E145042401 on 10 June 2020 - deliberate attempt by committee member (unfinancial since 2001 due to unpaid full levies for gas heating) to cause fear by ignoring request from female owner not to enter elevator after her.

Anyone who doubts the above statements can ask for proof. They can easily be provided.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. That is what the law prescribes.

Waratah Strata Management in last five years failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 three times, whilst in other two years the Auditor's Report in our complex was highly dubious and questionable.

Nothing speaks better that exact figures and evidence:

1) Many times an owner in a large strata complex requested access to strata files, including Auditor's Reports. Waratah Strata Management never responded:

REQUEST FOR OFFICIAL RESPONSE Contact details of auditor for FY 2017 and 2018 on 10 May 2019

REQUEST FOR OFFICIAL RESPONSE Contact details of auditor for FY 2017 and 2018 on 13 May 2019

IMMEDIATE REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS - Auditor reports, Cash Receipts, Bank Statements for AGM 2019 on 9 October 2019

FOR OFFICIAL RECORDS Misleading and misconstrued strata files including serious problems with Auditor's reports and expired contract with strata agency due to non-compliant AGM 2019 on 19 March 2020

SUMMARY Owner legal member of the EC and overpaid document searches on 15 February 2020

FAILED DOCUMENT ACCESS Missing insurance policy as of 2 February 2021

SUMMARY Incomplete insurance policy and validity of legal costs claims as of 21 March 2021

Suspected insurance fraud - Strata Plan in amount of $19,758.14 on 2 June 2022

TEAMVIEWER SUPPORT STAFF CONFIRMED - Document viewing for owner was timing out due to WRONG type of access provided by Waratah Strata Management on 8 July 2022

SUMMARY - Missing insurance policy and second payment $5,000.00 completed on 27 September 2022

IMMEDIATE REQUEST TO STOP SMOKING - Lot visitor in courtyard and troublesome financials on 30 December 2022

Silence was Waratah Strata Management response.

2) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2017 was not attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2017.

In two strata document searches (31 May 2019 and 20 September 2019), Auditor's Report for FY 2017 was not found and Waratah Strata Management staff ignored the complaint about it. Two document searches on 31 May 2019 and 20 October 2019 did not locate Cash Receipts reports for last seven years, with special emphasis on FY 2017, 2018, and 2019 and they were also not included in the agenda for relevant general meetings.

Auditor's Report for FY 2017 was not available on Waratah Strata website for two and half years, even as late as 8 March 2020 (screenshots of website is available to anyone upon request).

In April 2018, Waratah Strata Management urged the Police to "not waste time on these false allegations". Detective Sargeant from Ryde Proactive Crime Team lost all evidence on USB key and hid that incident for almost a year, whilst frantically trying to obtain another copy of the USB key from Waratah Strata Management and BCS Strata Management. When he could not get the evidence, he simply closed the case, without notifying the reporting party, and moved to a promoted role within the Police force.

In Fair Trading NSW case (Reference Number 9363613) on 19 May 2019, evidence was provided that Waratah Strata Management failed to provide audited reports for two years.

Extract from Waratah Strata Management Director's secret email to Fair Trading NSW shows he urged them not to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement on 17 May 2019. Fair Trading NSW complied with Director's wishes and did nothing.

Even on the day of Annual General Meeting, Auditor's Report was not provided to owners on 24 October 2017.

Two-page Auditor's Report for FY 2017 suddenly showed up on Waratah Strata website in late April 2020 (two and half years after the deadline). The report did not contain any details of which Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report it audited. Even more, Auditor's Report was allegedly signed on 20 October 2017, but Waratah Strata Management backdated it on their website to 31 August 2017. Auditor's Report did not have any company logo of the auditor, it simply gave name of the person (redacted) and contained title "Registered Company Auditor 1275").

3) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2017 was not attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2017.

Alleged Auditor's Report was published on Waratah Strata Management website on 31 August 2018 and cannot be considered to have valid date because the PDF file contained auditor's signed statement dated 18 October 2018 (same date as the Annual General Meeting), which would make the report dated 31 August 2018 achieving "travel to the future". Amazing scientific achievement.

Auditor's Report for FY 2018 contained Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report dated 16 October 2018 at 16:05 hours, whilst Economos signed it only two days later on 18 October 2018.

In two strata document searches (31 May 2019 and 20 September 2019), Auditor's report for FY 2018 was not found and Waratah Strata Management staff ignored the complaint about it. Two document searches on 31 May 2019 and 20 October 2019 did not locate Cash Receipts reports for last seven years, with special emphasis on FY 2017, 2018, and 2019 and they were also not included in the agenda for relevant general meetings.

Even on the day of Annual General Meeting, Auditor's Report was not provided to owners on 18 October 2018.

4) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2019 was attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in 2019. Auditor's report contained Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report dated 20 September 2019 at 12:37 hours, whilst Economos signed it on the same day on 20 September 2019.

Copy of detailed income was not attached to the agenda.

Admin Fund had negative balance (deficit) of $131,852.25 on the day of Annual General Meeting on 17 October 2019. Waratah Strata Management declined to notify owners about it.

An owner hired Criminal Solicitors and requested access to strata files, including Auditor's Reports. Here is what Solicitor, hired by Waratah Strata Management, wrote in his response (he denied access to strata files and even admitted they were not available):

BEGIN QUOTE Turning to the requests set out in your letter, the representatives of the owners corporation have instructed us to reject them.

This owner (name redacted) has undertaken repeated inspections of the records of the owners corporation. The representatives of the owners corporation consider that all available records of the owners corporation were made available to them during those inspections as a result of which if they do not have any records that they desires that is because those records are likely not available.

Equally importantly, if this owner is truly prepared to confine his communications to matters relating to the maintenance and repair of this owner only, and to cease and desist from disseminating what the representatives of the owners corporation consider to be defamatory material about them, then what is the purpose of them pressing for the records to be produced to him?

In the circumstances, the representatives of the owners corporation do not consider that there is any merit in their request for those records to be provided to them and they are not prepared to agree to the request.

The strata legislation imposes on the owners corporation a duty to maintain and repair the common property. This means there is no need for the Deed to be amended to give them the same rights in relation to the maintenance of his property as the rights that are enjoyed by other owners. END QUOTE

Special note for public, as of January 2023, there are still four outstanding repairs of common property in the owner's unit, which Waratah Strata Management ignores. Further more, fire safety orders for major repairs are still outstanding, two years after their issue by City of Ryde Council. Waratah Strata Management refuses to provide owners with copy of the orders.

5) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2020 was not attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in 2020. Auditor's report contained undated Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report. Economos signed it on 3 November 2020.

Even on the day of Annual General Meeting, Auditor's Report was not provided to owners on 22 October 2020.

Auditor's Report for FY 2020 was signed on 3 November 2020, 12 days after the general meeting. Three versions of Balance Sheet exist, which raise questions of quality of reporting and auditing (Waratah Strata Management and Economos were approached many times to explain their dubious data in accounting - they never replied)

Balance-Sheet-extract-31Aug2020-at-1943-hours Admin Fund Current Period Previous Year $233,330.15 $300,506.22 Capital Works Fund $709,724.06 $848,932.54

Balance-Sheet-extract-dated-4Sep2020-sent-in-agenda-for-AGM-on-30Sep2020 Admin Fund Current Period Previous Year $232,620.15 $300,506.22 Capital Works Fund $699,824.06 $848,932.54

Balance-Sheet-extract-allegedly-approved-by-Economos-3Nov2020 Admin Fund Current Period Previous Year $231,788.69 $300,506.22 Capital Works Fund $699,824.06 $848,932.54

6) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2021 was attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2021.

Copy of detailed income was not attached to the agenda.

Admin Fund had balance of only $1,019.14 on the day of Annual General Meeting on 28 October 2021. Waratah Strata Management declined to notify owners about it. Three days later, Admin Fund balance jumped to massive negative amount (deficit) of $120,210.65.

Auditor's Report contained undated Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report. Economos signed the report on 29 September 2021.

7) Alleged Auditor's Report for FY 2022 was not attached to agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2022.

Auditor's Report contained undated Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Report. Economos signed the report on 7 December 2022.

Admin Fund had negative balance (deficit) of $203,914.85 on the day of Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022. Waratah Strata Management declined to notify owners about it.

In Income & Expenditure Reports in July 2022, Waratah Strata Management listed $4,545.45 (GST exclusive) as revenue in accounting code 144000 Miscellaneous Income--Admin, and $19,758.14 (GST exclusive) in accounting code 142000 Insurance Claims. Waratah Strata Management charged insurance company and an owner for the same alleged legal costs for Solicitor who was illegally engaged in NCAT case SC 20/33352 (Solicitor was not approved at any legally-convened general meeting). In all Income & Expenditure Reports in August 2022 Waratah Strata Management hid $4,545.45 (GST exclusive) revenue and also hid reimbursement to insurance company in the same amount. On 30 August 2022, insurance company was notified about it.

Amount of $4,545.45 (GST exclusive) was listed as miscellaneous income during July 2022 but this income disappeared in August's financial reports and was not listed in allegedly signed Auditor's report 42 days after the general meeting!

Auditor's Report for FY 2022 was signed on 7 December 2022, 42 days after the Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022.

Strata committee meeting dated 28 July 2022 (last committee meeting in FY 2022), as organized by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Agenda was created on 26 July 2022 and scheduled for 28 July 2022. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, NO DAYS were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.

Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to all owners.

Owners did not receive any information about double charging for alleged Solicitor's costs: from an owner and insurance company. Accounting statement showed that insurance company was seemingly still not reimbursed for legal costs.

Admin Fund had negative balance of $61,290.57 on 31 July 2022, one day before next collection of levies on 1 August 2022 (owners did not receive any information about financial status).

Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 28 July 2022.

Waratah Strata Management website listed only one committee meeting for whole 2022.

Waratah Strata Management still refuses to inform owners about insurance claims and reimbursements.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Update worth sharing on 24 January 2023 when negative balance (shortage) in Admin Fund reported $135,796.66. In itself, that is bad news for all owners and investors.

Further more, Admin Fund and Income & Expenditure Reports are missing significant expenses for January 2023:

a) Building manager payment of around $28,000.00.

b) Reimbursement to insurance company in amount of $4,545.45 (overdue since 3 January 2023).

c) Any other we do not even know about?

There are only two possibilities to explain these missing payments:

d) Let's use Australian common phase: Shoddy accounting practices (to hide real negative balance in Admin Fund),

or

d) Contractors were not paid for their invoices.

e) On 30 December 2022, we predicted such actions and sent this email to Waratah Strata Management:

BEGIN QUOTE Waratah Strata Management is requested to:

1. Provide evidence that Notice to Comply was sent to another repeat offender, who continues to smoke in his garage below Block A.

2. Organize Extraordinary General Meeting to overturn decisions made at AGM 2022 due to lack of financial auditor's report before the meeting (it was created 43 days after the meeting, in non-compliance with strata laws), lack of compliance for sending notices of the meeting withing prescribed time-frame, and failure to provide fully-costed tenders for all fire safety rectification work (overdue to comply with City of Ryde orders).

It is worth stating that on the day of general meeting, 27 October 2022, strata plan had Admin Fund negative balance of $203,914.85 (it appears such information was hidden from owners and certainly not included in the Minutes of the meeting). As of 25 December 2022, Admin Fund had negative balance of $130,200.95. For the first time in history of strata complex whole three-month financial period will have negative balance in Admin Fund (1 November 2022 to 31 January 2023).

3. Prepare new 10-Year Capital Works plan and present to all owners for voting. Current one is useless. Extract from minutes of EC meeting on 23 September 2021 - shortage of $1,515,541.00 in Capital Works Fund against the forecast in April 2017 that was allegedly approved without general meeting. Annual General Meeting was held on 28 October 2021, and no owner received email or printed copy of rushed updates to Capital Works Fund which simply delayed all major repairs, effectively made balance looked artificially positive.

Frequent failures to maintain common property, high-risk legal cases, failed insurance claims, and lack of proper enforcement of by-laws, generate serious problems. And the risks can come in any form due to failure to disclose problems in the complex:

Supreme Court ruling in Western Australia in May 2022 has proven many factors can completely derail a house sale, making it something both buyers and sellers need to be aware of:

Supreme Court of Western Australia - HILLAGARATNAM -v- DOAN [2022] WASC 185 (27 May 2022)

The ruling, handed down at the end of May this year, saw the sale of a $390,000 apartment in Perth disintegrate.

The buyer successfully sued the vendor for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation of the property after the sellers signed a contract claiming: “The seller does not know of anything which will materially affect the buyer’s use or enjoyment of the strata lot or of the common property comprised in the strata scheme.”

4. Organize overdue repairs in units, as per previous reports.

5. Update By-Law on smoking, to include better technical definition of common property - prepare a well-drafted by-law so that owners corporation can comprehensively deal with the issue: the use of all tobacco types, including cigarettes, pipes and cigars, vaping, debris created by these practices, and the issue of “smoke-drift”. END QUOTE

Waratah Strata Management failed to respond.

f) On 31 January 2023 negative balance (shortage) in Admin Fund reported $166,111.44.

But, that is not the whole story.

Differences between Admin Fund income on 31 January 2023 and 2 February 2023 show that new quarterly collection of levies happened (started on 1 February 2023) in amount of $207,502.16, making total revenue in period from 1 September 2022 to 2 February 2023 amount to $405,419.81.

Differences between Admin Fund expenses on 31 January 2023 and 2 February 2023 show that they grew in amount of $44,065.47, including $27,157.50 for Utility - Water & Sewerage and overdue reimbursements to insurance company in amount of $4,828.00. Question for reasonable person: what is the probability that Waratah Strata Management received invoices in amount of $44,065.47 and paid them in one day, or could, perhaps, these payments be belated from earlier periods - January 2023 or before!

For the record, this large strata complex is now in second historical quarter with continuous negative balance in Admin Fund. As of 11 February 2023, Admin Fund balance is already negative $6,372.04. Agenda for committee meeting in February 2023 had no details about strata funds. Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission imposes penalties for anti-competitive behaviour. Let the public decide if the evidence submitted below falls into that category.

Let readers decide if Waratah Strata Management complies with Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022 (previously Property, Stock and Business Agents Act 2002), Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016, Code of Ethics - Strata Community Association (NSW), strata By-Laws, and other applicable laws. Does Waratah Strata Management meet the monetary obligations required for strata complexes such as the payment of dues and proper collection of levies? Does Waratah Strata Management upholds the highest standards of integrity, responsible behaviour, and ethical conduct in professional activities, treat all persons fairly and with respect, not engage in harassment or discrimination, and avoid injuring others?

There is no suggestion that any of the elevator vendors listed below were themselves involved in any wrongdoings. They are simply "parties in the events".

a) Waratah Strata Management had full knowledge that Ryan Strata was prevented from competing against them at Annual General Meeting in 2016, when they won the contract in our large complex for the first time, without significant competition (their predecessor, BCS Strata Management, was rejected by an overwhelming majority at the meeting due to history of appalling management).

b) Waratah Strata Management was directly involved in disallowing Complete Building Management Group from tendering at Annual General Meeting in 2017.

c) Waratah Strata Management was directly involved in disallowing these companies from tendering at Annual General Meeting in 2020:

Curtis Strata Cleaning Forte Asset Services Clean and Secure Building Management Strata Excellence Strata Title Management Netstrata

d) The following timeline shows how Waratah Strata Management prevented these companies from fair competition for major elevator upgrades and maintenance at Annual General Meeting in 2017:

Electra Lift Schindler Lifts ThyssenKrupp Otis Elevator

Some of voluminous facts about long-term status of elevators in our complex:

1) Elevator maintenance contract was renewed with Liftronic in 2005 without consultation with committee members, without additional quotes, and without decision at a general meeting (at that time BCS Strata Management was our strata manager). By Chairperson’s own admission, it turned out to be very expensive contract for period of five years.

2) Liftronic lost contract with our complex due to high cost in amount of $31,228.00 per year in 2010.

Elevator maintenance contract was secretly approved and signed off by BCS Strata Management and a single committee member with ThyssenKrupp in 2010 for seven years, under unfavourable conditions (but at much lower costs).

3) Waratah Strata Management became our strata manager on 1 February 2017.

4) Waratah Strata Management sent letter to ThyssenKrupp on 23 March 2017 with contract termination set to 30 June 2017 (end of seven-year contract).

5) Around the same time in March 2017, 10-year Capital Works Plan was commissioned from Biv Reports Pty Ltd and the elevator upgrades were scheduled for year 2026, at cost of around $339,831.00. It turns out, just two years later, real cost of the upgrades in 2019 were $880,000.00 (plus GST) - granted to Liftronic.

How Waratah Strata Management commissioned 10-year Capital Works reports in 2017 and 2021 (with Biv Reports Pty Ltd) without general meeting or approval at any other meeting - that will be shown in future report, for the sake of public education.

6) Waratah Strata Management sent request for remediation work to ThyssenKrupp on 19 April 2017.

7) Minutes of committee meeting on 16 March 2017 confirmed elevator contract was expiring on 30 June 2017.

8) Minutes of committee meeting on 20 April 2017 asked consultancy services company to conduct tender and oversee remediation work by ThyssenKrupp before their contract ended.

9) Alleged notice of EC meeting dated 26 June 2017 was never sent to owners or listed on notice boards by Waratah Strata Management. Nobody knew about the meeting scheduled for 30 June 2017.

10) Paper committee meeting on 30 June 2017 approved Liftronic contract in amount of $24,400.00 plus GST without having the contract details, on Friday (non-standard day for meetings in our complex) and at time when no owner could attend (11:00 hours in the morning).

Waratah Strata Management withheld this information from 218 owners, Fair Trading NSW, and NCAT:

Out of nine members of the committee, only five attended paper committee meeting, of which two were unfinancial to vote or be elected on the committee due to unpaid levies. 11) As early as 4 July 2017, Liftronic staff put maintenance tags with their name in four elevators.

12) Secret email from Waratah Strata Management to Thomson Elevator Consultancy Services on 10 July 2017 confirmed that they were not able to open the Liftronic contract sent to Thomson Elevator Consultancy Services on 30 July 2017 which consultancy services company only forwarded to Waratah Strata Management on 10 July 2017.

That mean the alleged paper committee meeting on 30 June 2017 had no information on Liftronic quote for the upgrades and maintenance renewal.

13) There was a secret note by Waratah Strata Management for committee meeting scheduled for 20 July 2017, with his intention:

Not to do any work to recover overdue unpaid levies for gas heating connections,

Pre-approved Waratah Strata Management to sign the Liftronic contract and send the original of the contract to one only one (of nine) committee members who was not financial due to unpaid full levies for gas heating,

Confirmation that ThyssenKrupp was paid for period 1 July 2017 to 30 September 2017 in spite of contract ended on 30 June 2017.

14) Agenda of committee meeting sent to owners on 13 July 2017 contained "intention" to discuss elevator maintenance contract at meeting scheduled for 20 July 2017, although Liftronic had already been engaged without even having a copy of the contract.

15) Minutes of the committee meeting on 20 July 2017 show that eight (out of nine) committee members attended.

Waratah Strata Management withheld this information from 218 owners, Fair Trading NSW, and NCAT:

Out of nine members of the committee, eight attended paper committee meeting, of which four were UNFINANCIAL to vote or be elected on the committee due to unpaid levies or overdue levies. 16) In secret email on 13 September 2017, Waratah Strata Management admitted that they overpaid ThyssenKrupp in spite of advanced knowledge of cancelled contract five and a half months earlier.

17) Waratah Strata Management discovered Liftronic contract was not signed as of 15 September 2017 and secretly asked for revised contract which they signed without owners corporation approval at any meeting.

Waratah Strata Management withheld this information from 218 owners, Fair Trading NSW, and NCAT.

18) An owner request for a copy of elevator contract with Liftronic on 27 November 2017. Waratah Strata Management silently declined.

19) Liftronic upgrades were confirmed as of 9 May 2019 but kept secret from owners till late June 2019.

Owners not notified about elevator upgrades but internet websites were full of information since early June 2019.

20) Owner's Motion about undisclosed reports and lack of elevator maintenance as recommended by professional assessors were not included by BCS Strata Management at Annual General Meeting in 2016, and Waratah Strata Management at Annual General Meetings in 2017 and 2018:

Napier & Blakely assessment for elevators in July 2012 ThyssenKrupp Elevator Australia assessment and quote for elevator major works in December 2013 Vertical Transport Management Services assessment and quote for elevator major works in February 2014 Thomson Elevator Consultancy Services report in March 2017

21) Some of repetitive problems that BCS Strata Management and Waratah Strata Management delayed to act upon and did not allow owners to have knowledge of: 30 July 2014: trapped passenger in elevator 3 22 November 2014: Intermittently trapped passengers in elevator 2 15 December 2014: Trapped passenger in elevator 3 10 May 2017: Hoisting rope in elevator 4 replaced more than three years after the Vertical Transport Management Services recommendation in February 2014

22) Consultancy services company assessment and quote for elevator major works sent to Waratah Strata Management on 16 November 2017 but presented to owners the expired quote one year later in agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2018.

23) Waratah Strata Management ignored reported problems with the alleged tender for elevator upgrades at Annual General Meeting in 2018:

Quorum for AGM 2018. Official summary by Waratah Strata Management on 16 October 2018:

Unfinancial owners: 20, UE 914 Financial owners: 198, UE 9086 Total owners: 218, UE 10000 Required quorum (25%): 50, UE 2500

Total listed as valid in minutes of the meeting by Waratah Strata Management: 70

Counted as valid to vote owners with gas heating in spite of unpaid levies (as confirmed one year later at AGM 2019): 11 owners.

Proxies given to unfinancial owner 1: 1 Proxies given to unfinancial owner 2: 3 Proxies given to unfinancial owner 3: 8 Proxies given to unfinancial owner 4: 9 Proxy listed from one owner was not valid due to owner’s presence at meeting.

Real count of valid owners present in proxies and in person at AGM 2018: 70 - 34 = 36

Waratah Strata Management conducted Annual General Meeting in 2018 without valid quorum and disallowed owners to have information about Liftronic contract at AGM 2019.

24) Amendments for Minutes of AGM 2018 were not included or published for owners at AGM 2019. Some of major items:

Three vendors allegedly submitted the quotes for the tender: Liftronic, Schindler Lifts, and ThyssenKrupp.

Failed to document that unfinancial owner cannot vote at a meeting on a motion (except a motion requiring an unanimous resolution) if the owner of the lot was an unfinancial owner at the date notice of the meeting was given and did not pay the amounts owing before the meeting, as per SSMA 2015, Schedule 1, c23(8).

Failed to inform owners corporation that SSMA 2015, Schedule 2, c9(4) states: voting rights cannot be exercised if contributions not paid - member of the strata committee is not entitled to vote on any motion put or proposed to be put to the strata committee if the member was, or was nominated as a member by a member who was, an unfinancial owner of a lot in the strata scheme at the date notice of the meeting was given and the amounts owed by the unfinancial owner were not paid before the meeting.

Quorum for AGM 2018 not satisfied as per SSMA 2015, Schedule 1, c17(2)(a) and c17(2)(b).

Members of the strata committee must disclose any direct or indirect financial interest the member has in a matter to be considered by the strata committee where that interest appears to raise a conflict with the member’s duties (SSMA 2015, Schedule 2, c18(1)).

The member must not be present during the deliberation of the matter or take part in a decision, unless the strata committee otherwise determines (SSMA 2015, Schedule 2, clause 18(4)).

An owner of a lot in a strata scheme who was an unfinancial owner at the date notice was given of the meeting at which the election of a strata committee is to be held and who did not pay the amounts owing by the owner before the meeting is not eligible for appointment or election to the strata committee (SSMA, Section 32(2)).

SSMA 2015, Section 260 makes members of the strata committee and officers of an owners corporation personally liable for their actions unless they acted in good faith. They are personally responsible for actions such as: dishonest, fraudulent, or dishonest acts, acts in conflict of interest, acts outside the scope of committee’s authority, acts causing death, personal injury or damage, or loss to property.

Auditor's report for the period ended 31/08/2018 was not considered to be adopted because it was allegedly signed on the day of the AGM 2018 and not presented to any owner for viewing before, at, or after the meeting.

Three members of the committee allowed in spite of available evidence of having second gas connections and not fully paying prescribed levies (including 10% simple interest per year).

One owner had five votes for committee membership in the ballot, making them legal member of the committee but Waratah Strata Management disallowed him to be elected.

The quotes obtained by consultancy services company dated 16 of November 2017 were expired: they were more than 10 months old (from the date of tender), making it invalid for proper consideration by owners as the tender was open for 30 days from 16 November 2017. Due to expired quotes (they were 11 months old!), at Annual General Meeting in October 2018 Waratah Strata Management and committee members themselves increased the estimate for Liftronic bid and refused to limit further increases if "necessary", without giving Otis, Electra, or any other vendor any chance to compete or make amendments in their quotes.

The original plan by Waratah Strata Management and EC members was to approve quote by Liftronic in amount of $550.000.00 (plus GST), for elevator upgrades that excluded Option E and F on 25 December 2017.

Consultancy services company wrongly listed art E and F as Optional expenses. Both of them were compulsory: Part E: replacement for lift mains of lifts 1, 2, and 3 due to non-compliance with fire rating requirements, Part F: replacement of lift machines including ropes.

Failed to notify owners in the agenda for AGM 2018 that ropes for lift 4 in Block A were replaced on 10 May 2017 and that was the only lift which had such work done in 22 years.

After discussion at the meeting, which agreed to include Options E and F, committee members arbitrarily raised the allegedly approved value of the contract with Liftronic from $766,371.00 to $900,000.00 (plus GST), an increase above 17%. This information was not presented in the minutes of the AGM 2018 by Waratah Strata Management.

Failed to disclose to owners corporation in Minutes of AGM 2018 that one owner, due to high value of $900,000.00 which was not planned before AGM 2018, requested to convene general meeting if the elevator upgrades exceed $900,000.00 by any amount, to prevent further up to 10% increases that SSMA 2015 Section 102 (2) allows.

Elevator travelling cable is a specialised multi-conductor cable continually in motion with generally accepted lifespan of 20 years or 3,000,000 flex cycles. In 2018, the complex was 22 years old, without any major upgrades of works done on four elevators.

Failed to disclose to owners the Liftronic Standard Terms & Conditions, which included these day labour and engineering rates in the tender: Normal time: $217.00, Time & Half: $268.00, Double time: $319.00.   Failed to disclose to owners that Liftronic may take photos or video of its equipment for the purposes of advertising and promotion or training. Owners corporation, by default, gives permission to Liftronic to use these images in printed, digital and on social media platforms. Liftronic would allegedly arrange with owners mutually agreeable times for access for the capturing of any images.

Consultancy services company listed maintenance for the new equipment be done only during business hours without charge for the first 12 months.

Consultancy services company listed that Liftronic, may, at its discretion, act as an agent for the owners corporation where delivery is requested and all costs for cartage and insurance would be for the owners corporation to cover.

Consultancy services company listed that changes to drawings would incur extra costs to owners corporation.

Consultancy services company listed that only one inspection prior to hand-over would be free. Costs of additional inspections would be for the owners corporation to cover.

Consultancy services company listed that rectification of warranty-identified defects would be done without charge by Liftronic personnel or contractors during normal business hours.

If maintenance and/or service calls are required to be provided outside of Liftronic normal working hours then these will be subject to additional charge to owners corporation.

Consultancy services company listed that the warranty was conditional upon the installation being maintained by Liftronic, hence preventing competitive services by any other company.

Consultancy services company did not list precise details of the warranty periods.

Consultancy services company listed that Liftronic would be entitled to an extension of time for all delays beyond its control and if the delay was due to act, default, or omission of the owners corporation, Liftronic would be entitled to claim additional cost which it incurred (act of government, industrial dispute, lockouts, malicious damage, fire, explosion, flood, riot, terrorism, tsunami, storm, Act of God, or any Force Majure event).

Consultancy services company listed that Liftronic reserved the right to adjust the contract price for imported materials without specifying if and how much of the equipment was planned from imports.

25) In period close to start of upgrades, during the upgrades, and soon afterwards, number of problems were reported to Waratah Strata Management. Each of them was ignored by Waratah Strata Management:

REQUEST FOR MAINTENANCE: Elevator in Block A caused tenants in to travel in wrong direction three times in two months and elevator did not settle level with the floor of the building several times - 25Dec2018 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A caused tenant to travel in wrong direction again on 6Jan2019 SUMMARY: NSW Fair Trading Reference 9125004 - Waratah Strata Management and Building Manager safety risks due to lack of proper elevator upgrades and maintenance on 8Jan2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A caused tenant to travel in wrong direction again on 21Jan2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A caused tenants to travel in wrong direction sixth time on 28Jan2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block C took three times to open and close door automatically before travelling on 9Feb2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block C and Block A additional issues on 10 and 17 February 2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A additional issues on 21 February and 1 March 2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A on 9 May 2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A on 18 May 2019 FOR CONSIDERATION AND OFFICIAL RESPONSE: Elevator in Block A on 20 May 2019 SUMMARY: Owners and tenants not notified about pending elevator upgrades but Internet sites published information - Jun2019 INTERIM REPORT: Possibility of unfair tender for elevator contract affecting fair assessment of ThyssenKrupp bid in 2017 INTERIM REPORT: Possibility of unfair tender for elevator contract affecting fair assessment of Schindler bid in 2017 INTERIM REPORT: Possibility of unfair tender for elevator contract affecting fair assessment of Otis bid in 2017 INTERIM REPORT: Possibility of unfair tender for elevator contract affecting fair assessment of Electra bid in 2018 CONTINUOUS SAFETY PROBLEM: Fire doors opened during elevator upgrades outside designated hours - 5Aug2019 FOR STRATA RECORDS: Smoking in garage area continues, exposed wiring on elevators panels, and some owner complaining to security guard - status on 6Oct2019 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D broken second time in two weeks and decreased security due to wide-open Fire Door 2 and 3 on 7 December 2019 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block A out of order just couple of weeks since major upgrade - 12Dec2019 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block A out of order again - 24Dec2019 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block A out of order again - third time in six weeks - 23Jan2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator panel poorly and unprofessionally installed after upgrades - 23Jan2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least nine hours and still not operational as of 17:03 hours - 11Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least 36 hours and still not operational as of 18:33 hours - 11Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least 59 hours and still not operational as of 17:36 hours - 13Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least 85 hours and still not operational as of 19:30 hours - 14Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least 96 hours and still not operational as of 07:07 hours - 15Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block D out of order for at least 156 hours and still not operational as of 18:25 hours - 17Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block A out of service and delayed Liftronic work for two and half months in spite of documented problems - 19Feb2020 TWO PROBLEM REPORTS: Elevator in Block A and Block B out of service - 26Feb2020 PROBLEM REPORT: Elevator in Block A very loud noise when door opening and closing on level 2 - 11Jul2020 PROBLEM REPORTS: Elevator in Block C out of service on 13Jan2021 PROBLEM REPORT Block A elevator voice warning about faulty phone on 9 and 10 April 2021 PROBLEM REPORT Block A elevator voice warning about faulty phone line - 18Apr2021 PROBLEM REPORT Elevator displays in four buildings are set up differently on 18Apr2021

26) On 12 February 2020, after brand new elevator in Block D was faulty for 50 hours, the following hand-written note was shyly put on wall in a secluded area so that many owners could not see it:

BEGIN QUOTE D Block residents Sorry for Elevator Disruption Liftronic Company aware of problem and working on fixing it. END QUOTE

On 14 February 2020, after Block D elevator being offline for 85 hours, angry owner added this comment:

BEGIN QUOTE We need an update - No communication brings frustration END QUOTE

27) On 13 February 2020, Waratah Strata Management conducted non-compliant committee meeting (did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW)), which published the following information on 19 February 2020:

BEGIN QUOTE Lift Refurbishment Project - (name withheld) from Thomson Elevator Consultancy Services has provided a current status report on the lift upgrade project which identifies a number of items requiring attention on each lift. There is currently an issue with Building D lift which Liftronic are working on fixing, however the main computer drive that drives the motor has failed and obtaining a replacement drive is proving difficult due to current restrictions on airfreighting parts out of China due to Coronavirus. Liftronic are getting a new drive from another job and hope to have the lift operating by Friday 14 February. Payment of the current $110,000 progress payment invoice is to withheld until these issues are resolved and the payment has been approved by Thomson's. END QUOTE

Block D elevator was finally repaired on 18 February 2020 after around 170 hours of downtime, against alleged promise by Waratah Strata Management that it would be completed by 14 February 2020.

28) Upon our persistent complaints and photo/video evidence of elevator problems in four buildings, the following was published on notice boards on 18 February 2020:

BEGIN QUOTE Liftronic will be onsite from Wednesday 19 February 2020 - Friday 21 February 2020 from 9:30 am - 3:30 pm to conduct final inspection and carry out any necessary work. END QUOTE

Public should note that all four elevators were upgraded by October 2019.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Waratah Strata Management and their actions in relation to unpaid levies... Evidence has been collected that Waratah Strata Management is involved in selective rules for different owners: some are chased to pay overdue levies, some are free from paying interest for overdue levies without special resolution at general meetings, and some are allowed to not pay at all.

An example below is illustrative:

Waratah Strata Management too office in our large strata complex on 1 February 2017, without disclosure that two of their main officers (Director and one strata manager) had worked for BCS Strata Management, which were actually removed from managing our complex at Annual General Meeting in October 2016 due to poor performance.

a) One of the problems Waratah Strata Management inherited were unpaid levies for number of owners: as an example, since 1999, a group of around dozen owners did not pay proper levies for gas heating in amount of $200.00 (when GST was introduced, it became $220.00 in July 2000).

b) Based on simple mathematics, when 10% simple interest is calculated for each year of unpaid gas heating levies, here is how much these owners were in debt:

Lot A (committee member in some years) undeclared unpaid levies $6,870.50 for second gas connections – 1999 to 2016 Lot B (committee member since 1999) undeclared unpaid levies $5,644.00 for second gas connections – 1999 to 2016 Lot C (ex-committee member) undeclared unpaid levies $4,746.50 for second gas connections – 2001 to 2016 Lot D (ex-committee member) undeclared unpaid levies $5,572.50 for second gas connections – 1999 to 2016 Lot E undeclared unpaid levies $4,015.00 for second gas connections – 2003 to 2016 Lot F undeclared unpaid levies $2,475.00 for second gas connections – 2007 to 2016 Lot G undeclared unpaid levies $4,356.00 for second gas connections – 2004 to 2016 Lot H (ex-committee member) undeclared unpaid levies $2,475.00 for second gas connections – 2007 to 2016 Lot I undeclared unpaid levies $4,317.50 for second gas connections – 2003 to 2016

c) Waratah Strata Management was fully aware of these issues from the beginning of their contract.

d) As regulated by Fair Trading:

1. Each owner and/or property manager needs to be aware of their owners corporation levy cycle.

2. If money is not received to the trust account at the end of one month after it is due and payable, it b ears interest at the rate of 10% (as prescribed by the regulations) from the due date until it is paid.

3. Owners corporation may, by special resolution at general meeting, determine (either generally or in particular case) that a contribution is to bear no interest.

4. Strata manager does not have authority to waive the interest as it is not money owing to the strata manager.

5. The Courts have determined that non-receipt of a levy notice is not a sufficient reason for non-payment.

6. If a lot is sold and there are unpaid levies, then both the owner at the time the contributions were levies and the new owner are jointly and severally liable for the payment of the contribution and the interest payable.

7. If a lot is sold and there are unpaid levies, then both the owner at the time the contributions were levies and the new owner are jointly and severally liable for the payment of the contribution and the interest payable.

e) Waratah Strata Management was repeatedly warned about the following, which they ignored, and in FY 2017 alone, allowed four UNFINANCIAL owners to be committee members. Two of them signed Waratah Strata Management contract three times in period from late 2016 to 2020 and even increased the value of contract without owners corporation decision at any meeting.

Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 – unfinancial owners and conflict of interest:

1. An owner will be able to require that a motion be included on the agenda for a general meeting of an owners corporation even though the owner cannot vote because of unpaid strata contributions (Schedule 1, clause 4). Any requirement given by an owner must include an explanation of the motion of not more than 300 words in length (Schedule 1, clause 4).

2. An owner will be able to nominate a candidate for election to the strata committee even though the owner is unfinancial (Schedule 1, clause 5).

3. An unfinancial owner will not eligible for appointment or election to the strata committee (section 32).

4. An unfinancial owner will still not be allowed to vote at general meetings (Schedule 1, clause 23).

5. A member of the strata committee will not be entitled to vote on any motion put or proposed to be put to the strata committee if the member was, or was nominated as a member by a member who was, an unfinancial owner at the date notice of the meeting was given and the amounts owed by the unfinancial owner were not paid before the meeting (Schedule 2, clause 9).

6. A committee member will not be entitled to move a motion at a committee meeting unless the person is entitled to vote on the motion (Schedule 2, clause 14).

7. Members of a strata committee will need to disclose any pecuniary interest in a matter that is being or is about to be considered at a meeting of the committee and, unless the committee otherwise determines, must not be present for any deliberations on the matter or vote on the matter (Schedule 2, clause 18).

f) At the non-compliant committee meeting on 20 July 2017, which was attended by eight committee members, of which four were unfinancial, Waratah Strata Management wrote the following in the minutes, very clearly indicating they did not collect proper levies for gas heating and that decision what to do would be left for Annual general Meeting (such general meetings are always held in late October or early November of each year in our complex):

BEGIN QUOTE Motion 5 GAS CHARGES The historical charges to lot owners for additional gas points was discussed. The strata manager advised that a thorough review of the BCS records has been carried out, including a request for further information from BCS, and it is still not possible to accurately confirm the amounts that have been charged to and paid by the respective lot owners. It is the view of the strata committee that the cost of carrying out a forensic audit of the strata accounts over many years would far exceed the amount of any unpaid additional gas charges and therefore the cost of this exercise could not be justified. Resolved that a motion is to be included on the Annual General Meeting agenda to allow owners to vote on whether a forensic audit of the gas charges is to be carried out or whether it will be deemed that all gas charges are paid up to date. (Note: In the accounts provided by BCS at the change of strata manager they indicate General Debtors in relation to gas charges totalling $1,411.66, of which only $91.66 relates to strata committee members. The committee do not believe this information is accurate but have deferred this decision to be made at the AGM so there is no question of a conflict of interest by the committee.)

The issue of gas supply and gas usage charges was also discussed. Waratah Strata Management were previously instructed to only reimburse gas usage and not gas supply charges. It has been raised by various owners that this is inconsistent with what previously occurred and amended Special By-Law 13. It was discussed that the unit owners only pay a supply charge for the gas used for hot water and not cooking, and that the townhouse owners should therefore also not pay the supply charges for their gas used for cooking. Resolved that the townhouse owners are to be reimbursed the gas supply and gas usage charges. Waratah Strata are to reimburse owners the gas supply charges on any previously claimed expenses as part of the next reimbursement paid. END QUOTE

g) Not only Waratah Strata Management did not do anything to collect full levies, but allowed unfinancial owners to vote and me members of committee in all subsequent years.

In addition, an offer for FREE independent forensic auditors that Lot Z proposed, was silently rejected by Waratah Strata Management and committee members.

Roll time two and half years later - notice of Annual General Meeting held on 17 October 2019, where unfinancial committee member (unpaid full levies for gas heating since 2001) proposed that Motion 14 be voted BEFORE Motion 4. An unfinancial owner proposed to swap Motion 4 with Motion 14, and allowed unfinancial owners who did not pay full levies for gas heating to waive their debt.

These were the Motions (special emphasis is that these were not special resolutions):

BEGIN QUOTE Motion 4 STRATA COMMITTEE That the owners corporation: (a) Call for nominations for members of the strata committee; (b) The candidates for election to the strata committee disclose any connections with the original owner or building manager for the scheme; (c) Determine the number of members of the strata committee; and (d) Elect the strata committee

Motion 14 ADDITIONAL GAS POINT CHARGES That the Owners Corporation will take no further action to investigate or audit the history of additional gas point charges and all lots are deemed to be paid in full.

Explanatory Note: Due to repeated public allegations that have been made by the owners of Lot Z in relation to the charges that have been made to those owners with additional gas outlets, the strata manager and strata committee have conducted a thorough investigation of the available records going back to 1999. Chairperson of the committee, owner of Lot B, provided a detailed history of all relevant invoices he had received from Raine & Horne Strata, BCS Strata and Waratah Strata and of all payments made. As a result of that review it has been found that Lot B has not been issued with gas point charge invoices of $55 for the quarter 1/12/15 - 28/2/16 and $55 for the quarter 1/6/16 - 31/8/16. A further $18.34 was short paid during 2015. In summary Lot B has short paid $128.34 of which $110 has never been invoiced.

There are a further 12-15 lots with additional gas points whose detailed records are not available to review. Many owners will be unwilling or unable to provide the detailed financial records required to review their gas charge payments. Some of the owners of these lots will have changed so it will not be possible to audit records or recover funds from those owners. It is considered that the cost of conducting a forensic audit of the strata records would far exceed the amount of any funds that may be recovered. It is therefore proposed by the strata committee to approve the above motion. END QUOTE

In small print, Waratah Strata Management gave this notice in the agenda for Annual General Meeting in 2019:

BEGIN QUOTE You, your company nominee or any person having authority to vote in respect of you cannot vote on a motion (other than a motion requiring a unanimous resolution) unless the following amounts have been paid before the meeting:

• all contributions levied by the owners' corporation that are payable at the date of this notice; and • any other money that is recoverable by the owners corporation from you at the date of this notice END QUOTE

h) Not collecting full levies, in addition to many other concerns, directly contributed to these serious negative balances in Admin Fund since Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017:

31/01/2017, $129,704.57, Change BCS Strata Management to Waratah Strata Management 30/04/2017, $135,012.17, End of FY quarter 31/07/2017, $152,916.30, End of FY quarter 31/10/2017, $100,815.56, End of FY quarter 31/01/2018, $108,936.47, End of FY quarter 30/04/2018, $123,012.91, End of FY quarter 31/07/2018, $145,119.88, End of FY quarter 31/10/2018, $80,599.23, End of FY quarter 31/01/2019, $84,559.32, End of FY quarter 30/04/2019, $99,934.95, End of FY quarter 31/07/2019, $148,247.36, End of FY quarter 17/10/2019, -$131,852.25, Day of Annual General Meeting (undisclosed to owners) 31/10/2019, $37,259.31, End of FY quarter 31/01/2020, $81,654.32, End of FY quarter 30/04/2020, $85,707.93, End of FY quarter 31/07/2020, $96,907.38, End of FY quarter 31/10/2020, $8,368.92, End of FY quarter 31/01/2021, -$18,794.90, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 31/07/2021, -$22,323.34, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 28/10/2021, $1,019.14, Day of Annual General Meeting 31/10/2021, -$120,210.65, Three days after Annual General Meeting, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 31/01/2022, -$123,708.05, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 30/04/2022 -$93,147.13, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 31/07/2022 -$61,290.46, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 27/10/2022 -$203,914.85, Day of Annual General Meeting (undisclosed to owners) 31/10/2022 -$203,913.63, End of FY quarter (undisclosed to owners) 31/01/2023 -$166,111.44 (undisclosed to owners) 5/03/2023 -$53,528.53 (undisclosed to owners)

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

An example of how Waratah Strata Management two times refused to allow owners to prevent racial profiling of Asian community since 2017. The history of racial discrimination goes a long way in this complex (as an example, In 2013, when BCS Strata Management was the strata agency, a dignified owner was prevented from peacefully celebrating Diwali, whilst owners from other background were allowed to display their religious signs without limitations).

This was the Motion which Waratah Strata Management prevented from being published in agenda for annual general meetings in 2017 and 2018:

BEGIN QUOTE Secretary of the committee and acting Chairperson (Waratah Strata Management) failed to include this Motion at AGM 2017, in non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Schedule 1, c(4).

BCS Strata Management, maintenance staff, and committee members submitted specific Asian community to unnecessary racial profiling by displaying messages on notice boards exclusively in their language three times in period 2015/2016.

1. Strata Managing Agent, maintenance staff, and committee members shall not approve or publish any communication on behalf of owners corporation in other languages unless the same note is displayed in English for the duration of the display.

2. Owners and/or tenants of non-English speaking background shall be approached privately by Strata Managing Agent, maintenance staff, and committee members, and appropriate communication established if required.

3. Owners corporation condemns every attempt to racially or in any other way discriminate or profile owners, their community, nationality, or religion. END QUOTE

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

An example of how Waratah Strata Management in 2017 prevented Motions from an owner who was legally valid committee member (four other committee members were unfinancial due to unpaid gas heating levies, without Waratah Strata Management ever disclosing it to owners). The plan consisted of a secret template sent to Waratah Strata Management by a Solicitor two months before strata plan 52948 general meeting, with strict instruction that such notice had to be sent to an owner close to the general meeting so that any objections would have to be ignored.

a) On 23 August 2017, Solicitor <name withheld>, who later refused to co-operate with the Police, Fair Trading NSW, NCAT, and Supreme Court (even provided misleading and false statements) sent to Waratah Strata Management instructions to reply to an owner as close to Annual General Meeting (late October 2017) so that there would be no time to update agenda for the meeting.

b) Some of the Motions for AGM 2017, which tried to enforce proper management of the complex, equitable rights for all owners, and recovery of lost revenues:

Undisclosed Contact Details for Waratah Strata Management Confirm undisclosed insurance claims for Lot 3 in 2012/2013 with evidence of illegal activities Undisclosed conflict of interest by committee members at AGMs for gas heating levies Undisclosed tender for Building Manager’s contract in 2014 and 2016 Retrospective payments into common funds as per Special By-Law 12 “Control of common gas supply” Illegal usage of city council land for parking Ignored request for Extraordinary General Meeting by Waratah Strata Management and committee members in June 2017 Uniqueco Property Services failure to comply with Section 6.4 of the contract with owners corporation Eliminate racial profiling of Asian community Better financial reporting with enforcement of all payments in prescribed timeframes Lack of Proper 10-Year Sinking Fund – Now Called Capital Works Fund Motion 15 for supervision of painting contract at AGM 2016 failed to disclose evidence Roof membranes on Block A and C overdue for repairs Confirm Payments to Solicitor <name withheld> Confirm missing and misquoted Motions at AGM 2016 Lodge complaint against BCS Strata Management with Strata Community Australia (NSW) Non-Compliance with Motion 17 carried at AGM 2014 and lodge complaint against BigAir with Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Confirm lack of tenders for elevator maintenance contract in 2005 and 2010 Confirm inequitable and excessive water and gas reimbursements to selective townhouse owners Confirm owners prevented from reviewing Ryan Strata tender at AGM 2016 Confirm prior relationship between Waratah Strata Management and BCS Strata Management Confirm undisclosed payments to BCS Strata Management for non-compliant committee meetings in 2016 Dispute Resolution Process Recovery of lost revenue from BCS Strata Management for illegal operation by ISP BigAir Recovery of lost revenue from BCS Strata Management for failing to enforce warranties for garden bed repairs Recovery of Lost Revenue from BCS Strata Management for Failing to Comply with Loyalty Discount Agreed by Private Negotiations Involving COO on 24 October 2011 Undisclosed Secret Cash Advance from PICA Group – Parent Company of BCS Strata Management Public commitment by Pica Group to investigate BCS Strata Management misleading and undelivered Register of items excluded from common-property listing Undisclosed Motion recommended by Department of Fair Trading for AGM 2015

c) Solicitor's secret letter on 23 August 2017 stated:

BEGIN QUOTE Dear Sir,

Re: Request for Inclusion of Motions in Agenda of General Meeting

We write as the strata managing agent of the Owners - Strata Plan No. 52948.

We are writing in relation to your recent requests for a series of motions to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting of the owners corporation.

We regret to advise that your requests for those motions to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting generally do not comply with the strata legislation as a result of which the overwhelming majority of the material contained in your requests will not be included in the agenda of the next general meeting.

Yours faithfully,

Waratah Strata Management END QUOTE

d) Extract from Waratah Strata Management minutes of committee meeting on 18 September 2017, with misleading and false statement to owners that owner's Motions were being considered for agenda for Annual General Meeting:

BEGIN QUOTE Owner has recently provided an updated 83 page document listing motions he requires to be placed on the agenda of the forthcoming AGM. These motions are currently being considered. END QUOTE

e) Waratah Strata Management waited until 10 October 2017, when they sent identical letter, as instructed by the Solicitor two months earlier, to owner:

BEGIN QUOTE Dear Sir,

Re: Request for Inclusion of Motions in Agenda of General Meeting

We write as the strata managing agent of the Owners - Strata Plan No. 52948.

We are writing in relation to your recent requests for a series of motions to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting of the owners corporation.

We regret to advise that your requests for those motions to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting generally do not comply with the strata legislation as a result of which the overwhelming majority of the material contained in your requests will not be included in the agenda of the next general meeting.

Yours faithfully,

Waratah Strata Management Strata Manager <name withheld> END QUOTE

f) At Annual General Meeting 2017, auditor's report was missing, contract with Waratah Strata Management renewed with increased costs and without any tender or contract details, contract with Uniqueco Property Services renewed with increased costs and without any tender or contract details, and three unfinancial owners allowed to vote and be even elected on the committee again.

Contract with Waratah Strata Management was signed by two unfinancial owners the same day when Annual General Meeting happened - 24 October 2017. The meeting ended at 20:15 hours in the evening, so it was a very expedient contract renewal, assuming that those two owners did not sign it before the general meeting.

For the sake of precision, these are the details of the building management base cost increases (GST exclusive), without any tender, since they took office in 2015 (Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017 and is responsible for all contract management since from FY 2017 onward):

FY 2015 $275,838.00 (difference to previous year: 8.78%) FY 2016 $292,912.00 (difference to previous year: 6.00%) FY 2017 $291,507.13 (difference to previous year: -0.48%) FY 2018 $306,837.99 (difference to previous year: 5.12%) FY 2019 $293,031.44 (difference to previous year: -4.60%) FY 2020 $330,986.89 (difference to previous year: 12.16%) FY 2021 $339,249.60 (difference to previous year: 2.46%) FY 2022 $339,741.00 (difference to previous year: 0.14%) FY 2023 (increase of 2%, without disclosure to owners at non-compliant committee meeting on 9 February 2023)

The increase of building management base contract value on 9 February 2023 did not allow owners to have information that Admin Fund had negative balance of -$203,914.85 on the day of Annual General Meeting on 27 October 2022, and negative balance of -$166,111.44 on 31 January 2023 (end of FY quarter). In addition, third reimbursement to insurance company in amount of $4,545.45 (GS exclusive) was not listed in accounting files by Waratah Strata Management for January 2023.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Let the public gain more insight about Annual General Meeting in 2018, which Waratah Strata Management organised for our large strata complex.

a) Quorum was not satisfied, due to unfinancial owners who were not only allowed to vote, but also acted as proxies and were elected on the committee.

In quorum summary dated 18 October 2018 at 13:55 hours (day of the general meeting), Director of Waratah Strata Management made the handwritten notes accepting:

9 proxy votes for an owner who was unfinancial since 1999 8 proxy votes for an owner who was unfinancial since 2001 3 proxy votes for an owner who was unfinancial since 2013 1 proxy vote for an owner who was unfinancial since 1998

In addition, Waratah Strata Management accepted proxy votes from other 6 owners who failed to pay due levies for gas heating levy.

In total, the number of owner who were invalid to vote due to unpaid gas heating levies amounted to 31.

Waratah Strata Management's secret calculation had the following summary:

Unfinancial owners: 20 Financial owners: 198 Total: 218 Quorum (25%): 50 (UE 2,500)

70 owners attended the general meeting in person or via proxy votes and 31 of them were invalid, without disclosure to owners.

b) Owner's Motions at general meeting 2018 were disallowed, and owners did not even have an opportunity to discuss, or vote on them.

In FY 2018, the Solicitor <name withheld>, charged $5,550.00 (plus GST) for services which include attempt to silence an owner through so-called "Bylaw Prohibiting Unreasonable Communication". None of the owners were notified about the amount of costs incurred by the Solicitor. The registration of the By-Laws was illegal because there was no quorum to approve them at the general meeting.

c) Two of the most critical Motions at AGM 2018 were to force the Solicitor and Waratah Strata Management to assist the Police investigations, which they prevented:

BEGIN QUOTE MOTION 1: Order strata documents to be handed over by Solicitor <name withheld>

The Owners Corporation by ORDINARY RESOLUTION confirms and approves the following:

* Section 192E of the Crimes Act 1900 states that a person who, by any deception, dishonestly obtains property belonging to another, or obtains any financial advantage or causes any financial disadvantage, is guilty of the offence of fraud, with maximum penalty of imprisonment for 10 years.

* Section 316 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) makes the knowing concealment of information relating to a "serious indictable offence" a crime punishable by up to 2 years imprisonment.

Section 4 of that Act defines "serious indictable offence" to mean an indictable offence that is punishable by imprisonment for life or for a term of 5 years or more. Subject to certain exclusions this generally includes the fraud offences in Part 4AA of that Act as well as stealing and similar offences in Part 4.

Section 316(1) states if a person has committed a serious indictable offence and another person who knows or believes that the offence has been committed and that he or she has information which might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension of the offender or the prosecution or conviction of the offender for it fails without reasonable excuse to bring that information to the attention of a member of the Police Force or other appropriate authority, that other person is liable to imprisonment for 2 years.

* There is currently no maximum elapsed time period for indictable offences in NSW.

* After owners corporation was forced to repay $8,800.00 to CHU Insurance for insurance claims in first quarter of 2017 for events that occurred in 2012/2013, Fraud Report E65804633 dated 9 September 2017 was submitted, with Police investigations and interviews starting in late 2017 and continuing in 2018.

Issues in the investigations include alleged false statements by BCS Strata Management in Statutory Declaration to CTTT on 19 April 2013, four different versions of the same Standard Costs Agreement with Solicitor <name withheld>, secret change of the insurance policy and then claiming amount of $24,919.31 (plus GST) for alleged "defense" of Lot 3 at CTTT in 2012/2013 without owners corporation full disclosure or decision at any general meeting, false written statements to CTTT by selective EC members, invoice paid for insurance premiums to Gallagher Australia on 21 September 2012 in amount of $84,414.77, which was 74.38% higher than in September 2011, losses to an owner in amount of close to $29,000.00.

Solicitor <name withheld>, was actively involved in the creation of the Statutory Declaration, against the wishes of owners corporation or approval at any general meeting or disclosure, caused excessive courier costs to owners corporation in amount of $851.56 on 19 April 2013 and was based on rushed EC meeting seven days ahead of scheduled date, without owners being able to respond, comment, or complain.

* Secretary of the committee <name withheld> and acting Chairperson <name withheld> failed to include Motion at AGM 2017 confirm payments to Solicitor <name withheld>, in non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Schedule 1, c(4):

Solicitor <name withheld> was engaged 14 times in period March 2012 and September 2016 without disclosure of expenses in any financial statement given to owners corporation at general meetings.

Solicitor <name withheld> was paid $63,318.77 (GST included), with full details for 2017 and 2018 undisclosed to owners by Waratah Strata Management:

Creditor Name Doc. Ref. No. Doc. Date Doc. Total Chq. Date Solicitor <name withheld> 78428 5/09/2016 $1,100.00 19/09/2016 Solicitor <name withheld> 69179 28/10/2014 $742.50 30/10/2014 Solicitor <name withheld> 67976 29/07/2014 $484.00 31/07/2014 Solicitor <name withheld> 65777 6/03/2014 $242.00 25/03/2014 Solicitor <name withheld> 65461 14/02/2014 $20,624.75 05/03/2014 Solicitor <name withheld> 65483 18/02/2014 $6,980.28 04/03/2014 Solicitor <name withheld> 64289 8/11/2013 $484.00 19/11/2013 Solicitor <name withheld> 61904 24/06/2013 $1,452.00 04/07/2013 Solicitor <name withheld> 61223 10/05/2013 $11,568.72 20/05/2013 Solicitor <name withheld> 60252 6/03/2013 $1,452.00 22/03/2013 Solicitor <name withheld> 58762 15/11/2012 $13,986.12 27/11/2012 Solicitor <name withheld> 57380 10/08/2012 $1,504.40 22/08/2012 Solicitor <name withheld> 56130 28/05/2012 $198.00 31/05/2012 Solicitor <name withheld> 55003 13/03/2012 $2,500.00 27/03/2012

Solicitor <name withheld> was allegedly engaged to provide legal advice at an estimated cost of $3,500.00 + GST and review owner’s motions for AGM 2017 at an estimated cost of $1,750.00 + GST (documented in the Minutes of EC meeting on 20 July 2017).

* For missing documents that are critical to proving false statements by BCS Strata Management staff in Statutory Declaration to CTTT on 19 April 2013, Police requested access to strata files from BCS Strata Management and Solicitor <name withheld> (separate Motion for AGM 2018 deals with Waratah Strata Management).

* Based on latest update from the Police dated 22 August 2018, none of the parties provided copies of eight emails, with statement that <name withheld> attempted to find them but failed to locate them.

* Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015, under the Legal Profession Uniform Law, the following applies to legal profession:

4.1 A solicitor with designated responsibility for a client’s matter, must ensure that, upon completion or termination of the law practice’s engagement:

14.1.1 the client or former client, or 14.1.2 another person authorised by the client or former client, is given any client documents, (or if they are electronic documents copies of those documents), as soon as reasonably possible when requested to do so by the client, unless there is an effective lien.

14.2 A solicitor or law practice may destroy client documents after a period of 7 years has elapsed since the completion or termination of the engagement, except where there are client instructions or legislation to the contrary.

* As 7-year period expires in February 2021 (from the completion of the law practice engagement in 2014), owners corporation issues an order to Solicitor <name withheld> to give all strata documents to current Secretary of the Executive Committee at no cost, who shall ensure that Police receives the copies of missing eight emails.

* If Solicitor <name withheld> fails to comply, owners corporation shall raise a complaint with the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC), which already had a caution against <name withheld> for not following legal practices in 2013, and raise a further complaint with the Department of Fair Trading.

MOTION 2: Order to Waratah Strata Management to produce eight copies of emails to Police and an owner

The Owners Corporation by ORDINARY RESOLUTION confirms and approves the following:

* Fraud Report E65804633 dated 9 September 2017 initiated Police investigations and interviews in late 2017 and during 2018.

For missing documents that are critical to proving false statements by BCS Strata Management staff in Statutory Declaration to CTTT on 19 April 2013, Police requested access to strata files from Waratah Strata Management.

Waratah Strata Management provided incomplete strata files and none of the eight crucial documents (copies of emails) were included.

* Two written reports from BCS Strata Management claim that all strata documents were provided to Waratah Strata Management before end of their contract on 30 January 2017:

Representative of Pica Group (parent company of BCS Strata Management) in email on 13 February 2018.

BCS Strata Management Licensee-in-Charge <name withheld> in email on 20 July 2018.

* Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 180 prescribes that certain records of strata plan must be retained for period of seven years, and that includes all correspondence and emails.

* In accordance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 181, owners corporation issues a request to Waratah Strata Management to produce eight emails no later than 14 days after the notice. The emails shall then be handed over to the Police.

* Owners corporation shall hand over copies of eight missing emails (and other strata documents as listed for the members of the EC and Waratah Strata Management) that an owner did not get in spite of paid document search on 13 June 2017.

* Owners corporation acknowledges that refusal to provide the documents might incur additional costs at owners' expense and force NCAT Tribunal’s orders. END QUOTE

d) Other Motions which Waratah Strata Management prevented at AGM 2018. Their titles alone are descriptive enough to display the size and nature of serious problems:

Motion: Undisclosed and poorly prepared registration of Consolidated By-Laws on 30 October 2017 Motion: Reimbursements to owner for costs incurred for Consolidated By-Laws Motion: Reimbursements to owner for discrimination, failure to maintain common property, and lack of equal rights Motion: Australia Post found no problems with letter deliveries to owner as implied by Waratah Strata Management Motion: Quorum miscalculation and undisclosed SSMA 2015 legal requirements at AGM 2017 Motion: Secretary failed to declare requirements for members of the strata committee and announce disclosures at AGM 2017 and other meetings during 2017 and 2018 Motion: Retrospective payments into common funds as per Special By-Law 12 “Control of common gas supply” Motion: Owners corporation failed to ensure safety of female owner and supported stalking, intimidation, bullying and fear Motion: Undisclosed competitive quotes and undisclosed contact details with 11.5% increase for Waratah Strata Management Motion: Repeal Special By-Law 12 “Control of common gas supply” Motion: Repeal Special By-Law 13 “Sharing of water and gas costs” Motion: Repeal Special By-Law 9 “Control of excessive water usage” Motion: Equitable Sharing of Gas Usage Costs for Townhouse Owners Motion: Equitable sharing of water usage costs for townhouse owners Motion: Amend Special By-Law 6 “Telecommunications Infrastructure” Motion: Confirm lack of quorum at two Extraordinary General Meetings on 4 December 2013 and 20 December 2013, and invalidate decisions made at them unless full disclosure provided to all owners Motion: Confirm inequitable, excessive and unapproved water and gas reimbursements to selective townhouse owners Motion: Undisclosed Motion - reimbursements of 192 owners in buildings for excessive levies at AGM 2015, AGM 2016, and AGM 2017 Motion: Eliminate racial profiling of Asian community Motion: Levy increases and its growth pattern undisclosed to owners Motion: Better financial reporting with enforcement of all payments in prescribed timeframes Motion: Lack of proper 10-Year Sinking Fund - now Capital Works Fund Motion: Motion 15 for supervision of painting contract at AGM 2016 failed to disclose evidence of poor project delivery in 2004-2006 Motion: Undisclosed costs and warranties, work not completed in complex painting project in 2017, and unexplained alleged costs for townhouses in amount of $92,950.00 Motion: Fire services maintenance contract and undisclosed increase in cost of around 57% in 2016 Motion: Roof membranes on Block A and C overdue for repairs and undisclosed second tender in 2014 with savings of around $30,000.00 per single building Motion: Non-Compliance with Motion 17 carried at AGM 2014 and huge losses due to lack of actions by strata managers and EC members for managing Wireless ISP WHome and BigAir Motion: Confirm lack of details of tenders for elevator maintenance contract in 2005, 2010, and 2017 Motion: Register of items excluded from common-property listing Motion: Undisclosed pending major water leak repairs in Block A Motion: Owners corporation regularly failed to display Minutes and Agendas of Executive Committee meetings on Notice Boards Motion: Insurance and safety risk with night shift duties attended by unlicensed security guards, cut working hours of security guards, and periods without staff on site in early morning Motion: Health and Safety hazard – faulty ventilation in Block A and incomplete repairs since May 2018 and evidence of exhaust fans secretly repaired for selective owners from common funds Motion: Building manager failed to comply with Motion 24 at AGM 2017 - window washing still outstanding Motion: Undisclosed reports and lack of maintenance as recommended by Professional Assessors Motion: Electricity supply contract signed three months before its expiration without evidence of tender and without disclosure to owners corporation in 2015 and undisclosed electricity supply conditions since July 2018 Motion: Regular fire safety reports show complex is non-compliant with Australian Standards Motion: Owners corporation had no official Office Bearers for four months in FY 2018 Motion: Five townhouse owners occupy common property without owners corporation approval Motion: Non-compliance with SSMA 1996 S108 and SSMA 2015 S182 for paid document searches Motion: Illegal usage of city council land for parking with high insurance risks and attempts to reuse again Motion: Discrimination against Lot 83 and undisclosed privileges for three owners in their garages Motion: Missing proof of quotes for hot water system in Block C costing above $30,000.00 in 2017 Motion: Owners corporation failed to show proof or seek yearly evidence of public liability insurance compliance for Lot 3, 136, and 137

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

a) Today is 7 May 2023, exactly three years since Waratah Strata Management was ordered by SP52948 committee to respond to owner's legal representative (O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors letter dated 24 April 2020) who requested responses on the following issues:

Legality of Committee Owner a Member of The Committee Defamation Mediation Access to Documents

Waratah Strata Management and the Solicitor <name withheld>, who was engaged by Waratah Strata Management and had long history with this large strata plan, failed to comply with owners' decision whilst collecting significant earnings from common funds:

BEGIN QUOTE Legal advice regarding owner <name withheld>, including acceptance of barrister fee proposal - Subject to amendments required to the content of the costs agreement, the strata manager is instructed to sign the costs agreement under common seal for and on behalf of the Owners Corporation. The barrister is also to be requested to respond to the letter received from O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors on behalf of this owner. END QUOTE

b) The same Solicitor was reported five times for professional misconduct to Office of Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC):

OLSC 41366 in May 2013 (Solicitor presented false statements to OLSC and CTTT in cases SCS 12/32675 and SCS 12/50460)

OLSC 56561 on 24 January 2019 (whether coincidentally or not, a week later, Waratah Strata Management allegedly suffered a major ransomware attack and lost many strata files on 1 February 2019). Waratah Strata Management failed to offer assistance and co-operation with Australian Cyber Security Centre report CIRS-20190810-40 in relation to alleged ransomware attack on Waratah Strata Management computers in February 2019. It took Waratah Strata Management six weeks to report data losses to owners and three and half months to report it Fair Trading NSW. Waratah Strata Management declined to provide details of any insurance claims and Police reports. Owners were not informed about an unknown third-party paying Bitcoin ransom to the threat actor in amount of $5,052.03. Owners were not given copy of Sententia’s ransomware attack, which has many holes with dubious statements. Written confirmations from Microsoft about alleged email and strata file losses (including invoices) in Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Azure shows that Microsoft was not notified about them when the event allegedly happened (at least that is their statement). Even more, had Waratah Strata Management notified Microsoft about email losses, they had capability to restore files within 90 days. Sententia report on alleged ransomware attack commissioned in March 2019 did not mention any data losses in Office 365 and Microsoft Azure and was not disclosed to owners. Written statement was obtained from Rockend who confirmed that they provide lookatmystrata.com.au domain but they do not store, hold, access, or release any information related to that domain. All such information is held and managed by Waratah Strata Management. There are multiple versions of ransomware attack that Waratah Strata Management presented to different parties (which do not match). Waratah Strata Management was repeatedly asked for evidence of their statements - they silently declined.

OLSC CAS005901 on 29 November 2021

OLSC CAS006791 on 16 February 2022

OLSC CAS009763 on 21 September 2022

Waratah Strata Management repeatedly refused to offer assistance to OLSC, Police, and NCAT.

c) The same Solicitor was involved in four insurance claims for his legal costs in amount of $24,919.31 (plus GST) for non-existent "defence" of Lot 3 at CTTT in case SCS 12/32675 in 2012/2013 without owners corporation full disclosure or decision at any general meeting.

CHU Insurance forced partial repayment in amount of $8,800.00 without having full access to strata files and evidence in 2017.

d) The same Solicitor was involved in insurance claim for his legal costs in amount of $19,758.14 (plus GST) in March 2022. Insurance broker forced owners corporation to pay extra $1,617.37 as per invoice dated 9 August 2022, which Waratah Strata Management did not pay in FY 2022, but moved into new financial year starting 1 September 2022.

In total, five insurance claims for the legal costs of the same Solicitor in CTTT case SCS 12/32675 and NCAT case SC 20/33352. The same Solicitor failed to comply with Tribunal orders six times in period 2012 to 2021.

As of 7 May 2023, insurance company forced repayments in amount of $16,774.15, which Waratah Strata Management registered in accounting code 169400 which neither is related to "insurance repair" nor "excess":

Maint Bldg--Insurance Repairs &/or Excess

It is worth stating that insurance premiums increased by 49.33% for FY 2023 ($161,569.59). Insurance renewal was due on 21 September 2022 but paid on 26 September 2022 (creating risk of uncovered common property for period of six days; insurance commission paid in amount of $6,541.55 paid Waratah Strata Management.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Another meeting, and another non-compliance with laws in large strata complex SP52948 (218 lots). On their website, in document "Complaint-Handling-Policy-Lodgement-Document.pdf", Waratah Strata Management states:

BEGIN QUOTE Our Licensee in charge will be responsible for:

1. Registering the complaint: • registering the complaint in your companies’ complaints register • informing the complainant that their complaint has been received and providing them with information about the process and time frame

2. Investigating the complaint: • We will examine the complaint within 5 working days of the complaint being received • We will inform the complainant via email within 10 working days of the complaint being received of what is being done to investigate and resolve the complaint, and the expected time frame for resolution. As far as possible, complaints or appeals will be investigated and resolved within 20 working days of being received. If this time frame cannot be met, the complainant will be informed of the reasons why and of the alternative time frame for resolution.

3. Resolving the complaint: • Deciding or referring to the appropriate people for a decision within 20 working days of the complaint being received • Informing the complainant of the outcome and any options for further action if required

4. What if I am unhappy with the resolution? • If you are not happy with the outcomes of a complaint, you may be able to lodge a complaint with Strata Community Association (NSW) or Fair Trading, their office will determine if it has the power to investigate your complaint. SCA (NSW) Code of Ethics (Constitution Rule 40) END QUOTE

Very decent promise to customers. Let's see how it applies in practice.

This is a summary of highly problematic Extraordinary General Meeting in SP52948, which was documented in email to Waratah Strata Management on 4 May 2023. Was there any reply from them: NO! Was there any action in relation to problems with the meeting: NO!

Here is a full copy of the email dated 4 May 2023 which was silently ignored by Waratah Strata Management. The subject line of the email was:

SUMMARY Another discrimination of owners in SP52948 - Non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 27Apr2023

BEGIN QUOTE Summary on deliberate manipulation of owners and tenants in SP52948, persistent discrimination, and non-complaint Extraordinary General Meeting on 27 April 2023.

A summary is sent for the sake of evidence. Response is not expected, as typical for Waratah Strata Management style of management.

A group of 12 owners (five committee members that allegedly also attended the Extraordinary General Meeting) were exploited to vote for approving three major repairs in the complex, without having the following knowledge, which was deliberately withheld from them (and other owners) by Waratah Strata Management and possibly building manager (who had duty to publish notices of meetings on six notice boards in the complex).

Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds. Negative balance in Admin Fund at end of April 2023 amounted to $170,670.75. For the first time in history of SP52948, Admin Fund balances were negative for whole two financial quarters. That is a horrible news for owners and investors. Attachments have full details.

Owners were also not informed that Annual General Meeting 2022 failed to comply with strata regulations and laws. One extraordinary example of abuse of laws: Auditor failed to comply with STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 95 and STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT REGULATION 2016 – REG 21 (auditor report not prepared BEFORE general meeting).

SP52948 had Admin Fund negative balance of $203,914.85 on 27 October 2022 - day of Annual General Meeting, and one owner provided the instructions to its proxy, Lot 151 how to vote on 27 October 2022 (it is important to highlight that Waratah Strata Management did not provide Auditor's Report in agenda for the general meeting and it was published as late as 9 December 2022, 43 days after the Annual General Meeting).

Waratah Strata Management is aware that credibility of Economos auditor is now being investigated by Chartered Accountants. But, that is just one part of three-prone investigations and submissions to relevant enforcement organizations currently underway.

a) Strata Plan SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 27 April 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.

This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.

Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.

PDF metadata shows notice was created on 11 April 2023 at 18:04 hours, making it impossible to be sent by post on that day:

The following applies:

Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 12/04/2023 Wednesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/04/2023 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/04/2023 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/04/2023 Friday Third working day 5, 15/04/2023 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/04/2023 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/04/2023 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/04/2023 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/04/2023 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/04/2023 Friday First notice day 12, 22/04/2023 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/04/2023 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/04/2023 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/04/2023 Tuesday Anzac day - Fifth notice day 16, 26/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing 17, 27/04/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)

b) Agenda was not sent to this owner. That is an irrefutable statement.

This owner is regularly discriminated for not being given notices of meetings (Waratah was given full details for all meetings in period 2017 to 2023)

c) Notice does not contain information whether motions require a special resolution or a unanimous resolution to be passed. Hence, the Motions are invalid.

d) There is no evidence that a copy of the minutes of the previous general meeting (27 October 2022) was given to owners with notice of a meeting when the owner had not previously been given a copy of the minutes or had requested but not received a copy before the notice was given (SSMA 2015 Schedule 1 8(2)):

Apartment 123, sold for $910,000 on 3 Dec 2022 Apartment 87, sold for $865,000.00 on 17 February 2022 Apartment 18, sold on 30 November 2022 Apartment 53, sold for $860,000.00 on 25 October 2022 Apartment 147, sold on 21 October 2022 Apartment 30, sold for $777,000.00 on 19 October 2022 Apartment 162, sold for $835,000.00 on 14 October 2022

e) The meeting was attended by only 17 owners (out of 218 in the complex), and initially failed to establish a quorum. Of those 17, two were owners who requested approvals for major renovations (Lot 27 and 103), and two were from Lots 136 and 137 who in 2013 obtained approval to connect the two lots (exclusive rights to common property) without properly organized Extraordinary General Meeting whilst failing to cover full costs of the general meeting and Special By-Law registration.

It means that "approval" for the major repairs was completed by only 8.37% of owners.

This fits very well with discrimination attitude by SP52948 committee and Waratah Strata Management, as two (of many) examples can prove:

Submission by now-deceased committee member to CTTT in file SCS 11/00711 dated 14 February 2011:

"Also as Australia is a democracy it is a free decision of each owner whether to attend the meetings or not, not a dictatorship one owner was educated under by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia."

In secret email to Fair Trading NSW on 17 May 2019, Waratah Strata Management stated the following, suggesting to Fair Trading not to waste time on investigating owner's complaints:

"An Owners Corporation is a democracy - everyone has a say and everyone a vote and the majority rules.... One owner thinks all of the other owners are idiots or thieves. Why should the OC and SC have to continue to respond to and waste its time and resources on one recalcitrant, obsessive owner?"

Four out of nine committee members did not attend:

Lot 88 Lot 133 Lot 170 Lot 218

f) Extraordinary General Meeting was exclusively related to two owners requesting major renovations: Lot 27 and Lot 103. There is no information if these two owners will cover all costs for this special meeting which benefits only them:

Full costs of organizing the Extraordinary General Meeting,which includes postage, printing, and so on,

Costs of updating the schedule of Major Renovations on the Certificate of Title to authorize the carrying out of the Major Renovations.

Minutes of the meeting did not confirm that Lot 27 and 103 would cover costs of general meeting and updates of the Special By-Law 13, because these costs only benefit the two owners - this is even more crucial since Admin Fund for the whole complex had negative balance above $170,000.00 on the day of the meeting.

g) According to SP52948 Special By-Law, an owner must not undertake "Major Renovations" or "Minor Renovations" without providing the Strata Committee documentary evidence.

What owners were not told:

Lot 27 and 103 already had pre-approved schedule for major upgrades, as shown by notices in Block B and D dated 23 and 25 April 2023. Basically, the whole Extraordinary General Meeting was just a shameful abuse of other owners who were coerced to "approve" the major repairs: photo evidence in SP52948-major-renovations-started-before-decisions-at-general-meeting-25Apr2023).

Owners were not told that there are other owners who had major renovations without approval at general meetings:

Lot 140 in Block D in November 2022 Lot 87 in Block C in May 2023

Attachments: SP52948-second-letterbox-notice-board-without-information-about-Extraordinary-General-Meeting-scheduled-for-27Apr2023-photo-1-taken-on-27Apr2023 202 KB SP52948-Block-A-notice-board-without-information-about-Extraordinary-General-Meeting-scheduled-for-27Apr2023-photo-1-taken-on-27Apr2023 94.3 KB SP52948-graph-of-Admin-Fund-negative-balances-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023 66.8 KB SP52948-first-time-in-history-Admin-Fund-continuous-negative-balances-for-two-FY-quarters-Apr2023 46.0 KB SP52948-Admin-Fund-negative-balances-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023 128 KB SP52948-Balance-Sheet-30Apr2023 68.2 KB SP52948-Block-D-Lot-140-major-renovations-with-prolonged-jackhammering-noise-photo-1-13Nov2022 365 KB SP52948-Block-C-notice-Lot-87-replacing-timber-floor-and-kitchen-renovation-photo-1-3May2023 111 KB SP52948-extract-from-email-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-to-Fair-Trading-NSW-case-9761719-part-1-17May2019 423 KB SP52948-extract-from-email-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-to-Fair-Trading-NSW-case-9761719-part-2-17May2019 508 KB END QUOTE

In addition, minutes of this Extraordinary General Meeting were not published on any of six notice boards within the complex. Photo evidence was taken every day since the meeting on 27 April 2023. Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 24 May 2023, two staff at Waratah Strata Management were sent an email with subject line: SUMMARY AND INQUIRY - SP52948 repayments to insurance company for Policy QUSS042715 - BCB Ref 94537

Very serious evidence was provided about insurance claims for alleged legal costs. Waratah Strata Management failed to reply or show evidence of their compliance with laws.

BEGIN QUOTE Tomorrow is alleged committee meeting of strata plan SP52948. Like all other meetings since 2017, it fails to comply with requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Agenda was not sent and could not have reached this owner or any other owner and tenant who had requested deliveries by post.

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-organised-non-compliant-ordinary-committee-meetings-in-period-2017-to-2023

Please confirm if all repayments to insurance company are now completed. According to today's report (attachment "SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2022-to-24May2023.pdf"), in this financial year insurance company was paid back $15,200.15 (GST excl), and including FY 2022 total amounts to $16,774.15 (GST excl), which is well below $19,758.14 (GST excl) AIG paid to SP52948 on 25 March 2022. At the same time, you collected $20,000.00 from the owner (GST exclusive, as it does not apply).

Other most pressing issues are:

Negative trends in Admin and 10-Year Capital Works Funds, negligence of common property (separate email abut current risks and request to notify insurance company about them will be submitted to Waratah Strata Management).

Some of drastic examples:

SP52948 Balance Status on 26 October 2022, Admin Fund had negative balance of $203,914.85 (hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management)

SP52948 Balance Status on 30 April 2023, Admin Fund had negative balance of $170,670.75 (hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management)

SP52948 Balance Status on 24 May 2023, Admin Fund has negative balance of $13,615.50 (three weeks after collection of quarterly levies - hidden from owners)

Attachments:

SP52948-effects-of-Waratah-Strata-Management-on-Balance-Sheet-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023

SP52948-first-time-in-history-Admin-Fund-continuous-negative-balances-for-two-FY-quarters-Apr2023

SP52948-graph-of-Admin-Fund-negative-balances-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023

SP52948-spreadsheet-of-insurance-premium-changes-1997-to-11Oct2022

20230504-SUMMARY Another discrimination of owners in SP52948 - Non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 27Apr2023-45959

1) On 16 October 2020, Waratah Strata Management <name withheld> sent a short response to BCB insurance broker <name withheld> with the following contents:

I will wait until the fee proposal for Solicitor <name withheld> is formally accepted at the AGM next week before fully responding, however the earliest date we were officially aware of this claim was the date the NCAT application was lodged & notified to us. There have been ongoing disputes with this owner for years, with numerous threats that applications would be lodged. These have never been taken seriously until the NCAT notification was received.

2) On 7 February 2022, BCB staff member <name withheld> notified Waratah Strata Management <name withheld> about their letter to AIG, who in the response did not agree to recovery based on recently supplied information. From AIG perspective, it did not make sense to spend $14,000.00 (and probably more if the strata plan intended to commence bankruptcy proceedings) to try to recover $15,000.00 - $20,000.00. AIG noted that the bill for legal costs was $25,157.14 which already exceeded the $25,000.00 limit set by AIG.

At that point, AIG requested all Solicitor's invoices for their consideration.

3) On 4 March 2022, Waratah Strata Management <name withheld> was notified by BCB insurance broker <name withheld> about Solicitor <name withheld> invoices in amount of $22.833.95, where AIG was not willing to pay GST, and also deducted $181.50 from invoice 103514 (this cost related to the recovery costs which AIG did not consent to).

4) On 5 March 2022, Solicitor <name withheld> sent email to Waratah Strata Management, which they forwarded to BCB insurance broker <name withheld> on 8 March 2022, asking that AIG review their decision on the legal fee hourly rate and justification to use it in their assessment.

5) On 25 March 2022, Waratah Strata Management notified members of the strata committee that they received funds from the insurance claim. Waratah Strata Management also clearly stated that if legal costs were recovered from an owner, Waratah Strata Management would need to "advise the insurance company and likely refund a portion of the insurance claim".

It is very important to emphasize that Waratah Strata Management:

Did not intend to notify the insurance company IF LEGAL COSTS WERE NOT RECOVERED FROM AN OWNER,

Intended to refund only part of the insurance claim.

6) On 25 March 2022 Waratah Strata Management listed revenue from insurance claims for alleged legal costs of Solicitor <name withheld> in Income & Expenditure Report in amount of $19,758.14 (GST exclusive).

This information was not disclosed to owners, Office of Legal Services Commissioner, or Supreme Court.

7) Based on falsified statements by Solicitor <name withheld> and evidence he failed to disclose, Supreme Court Costs Assessor forced an owner to repay strata plan SP52948 amount of $23,744.72 (GST exclusive) as reimbursement for Solicitor's costs.

8) On 21 September 2022, insurance premiums increased by significant amount of 49.33% (from $108,193.26 in 2021 to $161,569.59 in 2022 - all GST inclusive), without disclosure to owners, while even as late as of 3 October 2022 Income & expenditure Report still did not list any payments for insurance policy.

Waratah Strata Management did not disclose to owners that they delayed additional payments for insurance policy dated 8 August 2022 in amount of $1,617.37, as shown in reminder sent on 19 September 2022. This payment should have been included in FY 2022 accounting data (financial year ending on 31 August 2022).

9) Based on Income & Expenditure Reports, in accounting code 169400 (Maint Bldg--Insurance Repairs &/or Excess), as of 24 May 2023, insurance company was reimbursed for alleged legal costs of Solicitor <name withheld> in amount of:

$1,574.00 (GST exclusive) $15,200.15 (GST exclusive)

... amounting to $16,774.15 (GST exclusive)

10) Owner was forced to pay $20,000.00 (GST exclusive, as it does not apply) to strata plan SP52948 so far. Attachment "SP52948-insurance-reimbursements-and-blackmail-payments-for-alleged-legal-costs-of-Solicitor-2022-and-2023.png".

11) First payment in amount of $5.000.00 was on 2 July 2022. Attachment "Owner-payment-to-SP52948-for-Solicitor-blackmail-and-fraudulent-activities-in-NCAT-case-SC-20-33352-2Jul2022.png".

That was listed in SP52948 accounting data until code 144000 (Miscellaneous Income--Admin) until around 4 August 2022. Attachment "SP52948-first-blackmail-insurance-payment-in-amount-of-5000-dollars-4Aug2022.webp".

Around 8 August 2022, this payment disappeared. Attachment "SP52948-first-blackmail-insurance-payment-in-amount-of-5000-dollars-disappeared-8Aug2022.webp".

12) Second payment in amount of $5.000.00 was on 27 September 2022. Attachment "Owner-payment-to-SP52948-for-Solicitor-blackmail-and-fraudulent-activities-in-NCAT-case-SC-20-33352-27Sep2022.png".

13) Third payment in amount of $5.000.00 was on 3 January 2022. Attachment "Owner-payment-to-SP52948-for-Solicitor-blackmail-and-fraudulent-activities-in-NCAT-case-SC-20-33352-3Jan2023.png".

14) Fourth payment in amount of $5.000.00 was on 3 April 2022. Attachment "Owner-payment-to-SP52948-for-Solicitor-blackmail-and-fraudulent-activities-in-NCAT-case-SC-20-33352-3Apr2023.png".

15) So far, Solicitor <name withheld> and Waratah Strata Management actively prevent an owner from access to strata documents and even try to prevent other actions (attachment "SP52948-Solicitor-letter-27Jun2022.pdf").

The Uniform Law defines a client as including “a person to whom or from whom legal services are provided.” There is also a term in the Uniform Law for a person who is a “third-party payer”. These persons are not the client but have an obligation to pay all or part of the legal costs for the legal services provided to the client. In respect of client identification and payment of fees, an “associated third party payer” is a person who is under a liability to pay the law practice the fees on behalf of the client. Such a person must have legal rights and obligations disclosed to them as if they were the client.

16) For the second time in last three years, Economos completed alleged financial audits in non-compliance with the laws.

Audit requirements are prescribed by the Strata Schemes Management Act and Regulation – large schemes and those with a budget exceeding $250k (budget defined under regulations). STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 95 and STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT REGULATION 2016 – REG 21.

Very obvious discrepancies and concerns for audited accounts for the previous years were collected and given to Economos (and a reply never received - part of opened investigation against the auditors). Auditor's report for FY 2020 was signed on 3 November 2020, 12 days AFTER the general meeting.

43 days after the general meeting, on 9 December 2022, Auditor's report for FY 2022 was finally made available.

17) SP52948 is now recorded as involved in two insurance frauds. More drastic examples of legal costs:

On 4 July 2012, owners corporation had no funds to pay $14,056.90 which was approved by BCS Strata Management <name withheld> for creditor code 69633, so BCS Strata Management secretly ordered injection of $50,000.00 from an MBL account (several days later, at alleged committee meeting in Lot 181 unit, who was unfinancial at the time, approved engagement of Solicitor <name withheld> without owners corporation knowledge - that meeting was later found out to be completely illegal and to this day agenda and minutes of the meeting do not exist in strata files).

BCS Strata Management, in full co-operation with committee members and Solicitor <name withheld>, made four insurance claims for non-existent "Defence of Lot 3" whilst Solicitor <name withheld> illegally represented SP52948 in CTTT cases SCS 12/32675 and 12/50460:

SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-1-31Aug2012 SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-2-7Dec2012 SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-3-2May2013 SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-4-4Jun2013

Four years later, CHU Insurance forced owners corporation to repay $8,800.00. END QUOTE

No response from Waratah Strata Management, who also failed to inform the 218 owners in the complex. Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 8 and 19 June 2023, two staff members of Waratah Strata Management received the following high-priority concerns about strata plan SP52948 insurance risks and serious maintenance issues.

The emails contained unredacted photos, videos, and various strata documents, and other references. Every opportunity was repeatedly given to Waratah Strata Management many times to refute (with evidence to disprove these statements), or acknowledge, or take corrective actions since February 2017.

BEGIN QUOTE Latest efforts to hide financial status, spend money owners do not have, high-cost water-leak related repairs (pending $55,000.00 expense), attempts to install EC charging stations without proper processes and evaluation of risks (and even trying to do it in places that must be inaccessible to children).

Current Admin Fund negative balance is $52,367.24 ($23,489.26 in today's Balance Sheet and pending expenditure for monthly fees for building manager in amount of $28,877.98). Waratah Strata Management continues to mislead and misinform owners about financial status as only this was listed in the minutes:

FINANCIAL REPORT Resolved that the financial reports for the current financial year were tabled and discussed.

Did Waratah Strata Management ever use a prudent rule of thumb, on behalf of large strata plan SP52948, to draft the notifications to insurance companies and brokers as explicitly and widely as possible on the following matters? If and when notifiable circumstances have arisen, SP52948 must seek immediate and early advice from the insurance broker, with a view to notifying the insurers.

It would be a criminal offense to use insurance claims for what is a complete lack of duty of care and compliance with the laws. Insurance company must not be used for such claims, as ordinary law-abiding people would indirectly pay the price for these claims:

Attachment Waratah-Strata-Management-Effects-on-SP52948-Insurance-Premiums

a) Repetitive long-term maintenance problems, and delays in maintaining common property (including fire safety),

b) Five highly dubious insurance claims,

c) 10-Year Capital Works Fund without proper professional assessments or approval by owners corporation at any general meeting,

d) Long-term pattern of poor financial status in Admin Fund,

e) Long-term inequitable (discriminatory) benefits to selective owners for their private gas and water usage,

g) Issues with physical safety of occupants, racism, and discrimination, with documented Police Events.

Frequent failures to maintain common property, high-risk legal cases, dubious insurance claims, and lack of proper enforcement of by-laws, generate serious problems. And the risks can come in any form due to failure to disclose problems in the complex. Supreme Court ruling in Western Australia in May 2022 has proven many factors can completely derail a house sale, making it something both buyers and sellers need to be aware of: Supreme Court of Western Australia - HILLAGARATNAM -v- DOAN [2022] WASC 185 (27 May 2022). The ruling, handed down at the end of May this year, saw the sale of a $390,000 apartment in Perth disintegrate. The buyer successfully sued the vendor for breach of contract and misrepresentation of the property after the sellers signed a contract claiming: “The seller does not know of anything which will materially affect the buyer’s use or enjoyment of the strata lot or of the common property comprised in the strata scheme.”

How dangerous lack of proper maintenance is shown in latest news: a young owner has been hit with $60.000.00 special levy. Her entire apartment block in Alexandria has been slapped with a $7.85 million bill – due to waterproofing issues. Special levy has been issued for $2.2 million for the administration fund and $5.65 million for the capital works fund, according to strata documents seen by News Corp.

In strata plan SP46733, Waratah Strata Management was involved in NCAT case recently.

Some of selective examples of risks, as of June 2023, which, almost surely, insurance broker and insurance company, along with other relevant organizations, have not been notified by Waratah Strata Management:

1. Five dubious insurance claims for alleged legal costs, with falsified statements to courts and insurance companies.

On 4 July 2012, owners corporation had no funds to pay $14,056.90 which was approved by BCS Strata Management <name withheld> for creditor code 69633, so BCS Strata Management secretly ordered injection of $50,000.00 from an MBL account (several days later, at alleged committee meeting in Lot 181 unit, who was unfinancial at the time, approved engagement of Solicitor <name withheld> without owners corporation knowledge - that meeting was later found out to be completely illegal and to this day agenda and minutes of the meeting do not exist in strata files)

BCS Strata Management, in full co-operation with committee members and Solicitor <name withheld>, made four insurance claims for non-existent "Defence of Lot 3" whilst Solicitor <name withheld> illegally represented SP52948 in CTTT cases SCS 12/32675 and 12/50460:

SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-1-31Aug2012

SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-2-7Dec2012

SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-3-2May2013

SP52948-Lot-3-Insurance-Claim-4-4Jun2013

Four years later, CHU Insurance forced owners corporation to repay $8,800.00.

As of June 2023, insurance company was paid back $15,200.15 (GST excl), and including FY 2022 total amounts to $16,774.15 (GST excl), which is well below $19,758.14 (GST excl) AIG paid to SP52948 for alleged legal costs of Solicitor <name withheld> on 25 March 2022, without disclosure to owners and courts. At the same time, SP52948 collected $20,000.00 from an owner (GST excl).

Evidence now exists, BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT, that Solicitor <name withheld> forged statements in Statutory Declaration for BCS Strata Management <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013 in CTTT case SCS 12/32675 and that these emails never existed:

Email from Solicitor <name withheld> to BCS Strata Management Branch Manager at Epping <name withheld> dated 5 July 2012 at 04:41 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email from BCS Strata Management Branch Manager <name withheld> to BCS Strata Management Strata Manager <name withheld> dated 5 July 2012 at 04:57 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email to EC members from BCS Strata Management <name withheld> dated 6 July 2012 at 08:32 am (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email to EC members and two staff members at BCS Strata Management from SP52948 Chairperson <name withheld> dated 6 July 2012 at 12:48 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email to EC members and two staff members at BCS Strata Management from SP52948 Chairperson <name withheld> dated 9 July 2012 at 10:18 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email from Solicitor <name withheld> to BCS Strata Management <name withheld> dated 16 July 2012 at 6:52 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email from BCS Strata Management <name withheld> to Solicitor <name withheld> dated 25 July 2012 at 2:13 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Email from BCS Strata Management <name withheld> to EC members dated 16 April 2013 at 1:52 pm (listed in Statutory Declaration to CTTT by strata manager <name withheld> dated 19 April 2013)

Evidence exists, BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT, that Solicitor <name withheld> knowingly presented false statements in Affidavit by BCS Strata Management <name withheld> dated 31 January 2014 in District Court case 2013/360456.

Similar applies to Solicitor's representation in two other cases: NCAT SC 20/33352 and Supreme Court CAS006791.

References:

Waratah-Strata-Management-ignored-concerns-about-SP52948-repayments-to-insurance-company-for-legal-costs-of-Solicitor-Policy-QUSS042715-BCB-Ref-94537-24May2023

Submission-to-court-strong-case-for-Solicitor-being-accessory-before-and-after-insurance-fraud-five-times-CTTT-12-32675-and-NCAT-20-33352

SP52948-questionable-legal-costs-in-FY-2020

SP52948-Solicitor-failed-to-comply-with-Tribunal-orders-six-times-whilst-not-authorised-to-represent-owners-corporation-in-period-2012-to-2021

Submission-to-Supreme-Court-CAS006791_1-Questions-on-Validity-of-Solicitor-Legal-Cost-Items-NCAT-20-33352

SP52948-cost-submission-reply-ignored-by-Solicitor-in-Supreme-Court-27Feb2022

SP52948-notification-to-Supreme-Court-about-double-claims-for-Solicitor-alleged-work-22Jun2022

20190618-WITHOUT PREJUDICE_ Request to stop wasting strata funds on legal expenses that cannot succeed - 18Jun2019

Brief-evidence-of-Solicitor-involvement-in-activities-in-CTTT-case-SCS-12_32675

SP52948-strata-manager-Statutory-Declaration-for-CTTT-case-12-32675-fully-prepared-by-Solicitor-and-signed-on-19Apr2013

Brief-evidence-of-Solicitor-involvement-in-activities-in-CTTT-case-SCS-12_50460

District-Court-case-13-360456-Affidavit-ignored-by-Solicitor-4Feb2014

SP52948-scanned-submission-with-Statutory-Declaration-SCS-13-50737-18Dec2013

SP52948-statutory-declaration-for-NCAT-case-20-33352-which-Waratah-Strata-Management-refused-to-provide-to-owners-Aug2020

BCS-Strata-Management-direct-involvement-in-falsified-Statutory-Declaration-and-Affidavit-to-CTTT-and-District-Court

SP52948-No-response-from-BCS-Strata-Management-about-insurance-for-Lot-3-and-dubious-insurance-claims-and-litigation-risks-for-one-year-and-five-months-9Nov2013

SP52948-Examples-of-Police-Waratah-Strata-Management-Solicitor-secret-and-desperate-attempts-to-find-another-copy-of-lost-USB-key-with-strata-files-from-BCS-Strata-Management-April-to-November-2018

SP52948-undisclosed-Fair-Trading-NSW-case-9761719-costs-for-Solicitor-possibly-creeping-up-towards-90000-dollars-without-owners-knowledge-or-approval-and-high-risk-of-strata-complex-running-out-of-money-29Jun2019

2. False statement about last Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Strata Hub NSW with risks of penalties for outdated and wrong information.

It claims that SP52948 had last AGM on 1 January 2022.

Last AGM was held on 27 October 2022, which failed to comply with strata laws, like all other meetings since 2017.

Penalties of up to $5,500.00 may apply if strata schemes do not complete their 2022 report by 30 June 2023.

Owners corporation must keep information up to date.

Penalties of up to $2,200.00 may apply if a strata scheme becomes aware that the reported information is outdated or incorrect and does not update it on the Strata Hub within 28 days.

Reference:

SP52948-NSW-strata-registration-15May2023-screenshot-taken-on-7Jun2023

3. Unauthorized major renovations and legally non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 27 April 2023, with risks for work being done by unprofessional companies.

Reference:

SUMMARY-Another-discrimination-of-owners-in-SP52948-Non-compliant-Extraordinary-General-Meeting-on-27Apr2023 4. All committee meetings since 1 February 2017, when Waratah Strata Management took office, failed to comply with strata laws and regulations.

Reference:

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-organised-non-compliant-ordinary-committee-meetings-in-period-2017-to-2023

5. Negative trends in Admin Fund, with special emphasis on period since Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017.

It is worth stating that on the day of general meeting, 27 October 2022, SP52948 had Admin Fund negative balance of $203,914.85 (it appears such information was hidden from owners and certainly not included in the Minutes of the meeting). Waratah Strata Management and committee members still refuse to inform owners corporation about it.

For first time in history of strata complex SP52948, thanks to Waratah Strata Management, Admin Fund had continuous negative balance in whole two FY quarters (1 November 2022 to 30 April 2023).

References:

SP52948-effects-of-Waratah-Strata-Management-on-Balance-Sheet-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023

SP52948-negative-trends-with-Admin-Fund-under-Waratah-Strata-Management

SP52948-graph-of-Admin-Fund-negative-balances-from-31Jan2017-to-30Apr2023

SP52948-first-time-in-history-Admin-Fund-continuous-negative-balances-for-two-FY-quarters-Apr2023

6. Missing spare panel for entrance gate in basement of Block B, which already happened once in 2018 and owner forced its return to rightful owners. As of May 2023, the spare panel is missing again. The entrance gate repairs typically cost between $3,500.00 and now $5.000.00.

References:

SP52948-spare-panel-for-entrance-door-missing-in-basement-Block-B-photo-1-21May2023

SP52948-evidence-of-spare-panel-for-entrance-gate-in-2020-and-2022

SP52948-cost-of-repair-entrance-gate-increased-from-3500-to-5000-dollars-since-October-2022-new-notice-21May2023

SP52948-entrance-gate-bottom-panel-suddenly-reappeared-four-months-after-inquiry-9Jan2019

7. Information about insurance policy excesses are kept secret from owners by ex-strata manager BCS Strata Management and current strata manager Waratah Strata Management.

Since 2012, owners were deliberately not informed about $10,000.00 excess for every water-related damage or exploration work.

References:

SP52948-Examples-of-Repetitive-Water-Leak-Repairs-without-Permanent-Results-in-one-unit-alone-2011-Sep2018

SP52948-incomplete-insurance-policy-disclosures-to-owners-in-period-2012-to-2023

SP52948-Agenda-AGM-2022

8. Highly dubious allegations of ransomware attack against Waratah Strata Management in 2019, with strong suspicion of fraud and money laundering.

An alleged ransomware attack against Waratah Strata Management occurred on 1 February 2019, just a week after owner's submission to Office of Legal Services Commissioner for Solicitor's misconduct. Sententia report, dated 26 March 2019 stated (undisclosed by Waratah Strata Management to 218 owners):

Their investigation had limited access to event logs.

Deeper understanding of the exact actions by the treat actor was not possible due to lack of evidence and an incomplete audit trail.

Based on incomplete logs, the encryption attack most likely occurred on 2 February 2019 at 12:08:56 hours.

Threat actor achieved brute-force success with the Administrator account on server WSMHS1, a malicious toolkit was then used to create www account on 1 February 2019 at 11:58:53 hours.

Incomplete audit logs from terminal services show the first login occurred at 23:59 hours on 1 February 2019 and session ended at 03:33 hours on 2 February 2019.

There was no conclusive evidence to suggest any data exfiltration occurred (simply based on available usage data logs that did not take into account possibility of using data compression for file transfers, or selective file transfers of targeted files).

In timeframe from 1 February 2019 up to around 15 and 17 February 2019, Waratah Strata Management was still at high risk, due to unpatched servers and continuous attacks with brute-force access. Lack of remediation actions to close all non-essential inbound ports continued to create risks.

Bitcoin ransom was subsequently paid by a third-party known to Waratah Strata Management to the threat actor in the equivalent amount of $5,052.03.

After this payment, there was no response from the threat actor.

The attack allegedly occurred due to misconfigured routers that allowed RDP protocol.

Sententia did not take into account possibility of data being transferred through screenshots, which is one of the valid attacks.

Waratah Strata Management recovered their data via a re-image procedure (mostly untrue, as per separate admission by Waratah Strata Management to Fair Trading and owners in emails with different explanations).

It was recommended to use more secure method of connectivity, such as MFA VPN.

Sententia report in March 2019 does not report any data losses in Office 365 or Azure cloud, therefore no record of files being destroyed by ransomware attack on Microsoft public systems that Waratah Strata Management uses for SP52948.

Owner obtained official statement by Rockend that they provide the Lookatmystrata domain as a service. However, Rockend does not store, hold, access, or release any information related to that domain. All such information is held, exclusively managed, and complete responsibility of Waratah Strata Management.

Owner obtained official statement by Microsoft that they had never been notified about data loss and/or ransomware attack in Office 365 that keeps emails for Waratah Strata Management.

Microsoft also stated that had anybody reported loss of emails in Office 365, Microsoft would have had ability to restore them within 90 days after the incident. That obviously did not happen as Microsoft seemingly has no record of such actions.

Microsoft found no trace of any complaint, ticket, or report for data losses for Waratah Strata Management in Office 365 during 2019 or 2020.

The only event related to Waratah Strata Management was ticket in June 2019 (case number 14941752) - problem with sending emails.

Microsoft has not been involved in any investigation of alleged ransomware attack or data losses that Waratah Strata Management reported for emails in Office 365.

References:

Sententia-brief-analysis-with-limited-evidence-ransomware-attack-against-Waratah-Strata-Management-undislosed-to-owners-of-strata-plan-SP52948

SP52948-extracts-from-Waratah-Strata-Management-email-to-Fair-Trading-NSW-admitting-losing-most-of-electronic-files-in-February-2019-due-to-ransomware-attack-17May2019

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-statement-about-lost-files-due-to-alleged-ransomware-attack-warning-owner-before-strata-document-search-9May2019

SP52948-request-to-disclose-information-submitted-to-Waratah-Strata-Management-if-EC-members-were-notified-about-two-events-for-loss-of-strata-files-in-a-timely-manner-11Aug2019

SP52948-Interim-report-sent-to-Waratah-Strata-Management-with-request-to-provide-information-about-alleged-data-breach-at-strata-agency-and-loss-of-strata-files-17Feb2020

9. Ongoing fire and OH&S problems. In spite of Ryde Council orders, such work is being for more than two years, and these problems have plagued SP52948 since 2012.

At legally non-compliant committee meeting on 1 June 2023, the following was reported, showing further delays and lack of ownership of tasks:

FIRE SAFETY REPORT Resolved that the draft Fire Safety Upgrade Brief prepared by Austech Consulting Pty Ltd was tabled and discussed as follows: • The strata manager is to discuss with Austech what further work is required for them to be able to complete the Scope of Works so that the required work can be placed out to tender. • Austech are to advise whether there are items that can be requested that Council remove from the Fire Order. • Austech are to advise whether the sealing of the penetrations between floors is part of the scope of works or if that has been missed from the report. • Austech are to provide an estimated timeline for the progress of the works. • Austech are to confirm that they have been keeping Council fully informed on the progress of the works. • That a meeting is to be arranged between Austech and the strata committee should these issues need to be discussed further.

References:

SP52948-continuous-delays-with-fire-and-OHS-problems

SP52948-updated-concerns-reported-to-Waratah-Strata-Management-Fire-NSW-FRN16_829-BFS20_252-and-Fair-Trading-Files-9363613-and-9761719-persistent-fire-safety-issues-and-lack-of-actions-3Apr2020

SP52948-BCS-Strata-Management-ignored-report-on-costly-delays-in-rectifying-fire-safety-problems-31Jul2013

SP52948-BCS-Strata-Management-ignored-repeated-request-to-prepare-report-on-buildings-and-fire-safety-for-AGM-2013-6Sep2013

SP52948-minutes-EC-meeting-1Jun2023

10. 10-Year Capital Works Fund poorly planned, never approved by owners corporation at any general meeting, with shortage of funds in amount of $1,515,541.00 as per committee meeting on 23 September 2021.

In agenda for AGM 2022 on 10 October 2022, owners received concerns about financial status and levies, without getting any picture of long-term problems with planning the levies and future costs.

References:

SP52948-discrepancies-in-BIV-report-for-10-Capital-Works-Fund-in-2017-and-2021

SP52948-warning-about-1.5-million-deficit-in-Capital-Works-Fund-1Oct2021

SP52948-warning-about-special-levies-looming-in-the-future-ignored-by-BCS-Strata-Management-22Mar2015

SP52948-failed-assessment-for-Sinking-and-Capital-Works-Funds-in-period-2001-to-2030-without-approval-at-general-meetings

SP52948-Leary-and-Partners-Sinking-Fund-Plan-May1998-undisclosed-to-owners

SP52948-BIV-report-Capital-Works-Fund-6Oct2021

SP52948-extract-from-agenda-AGM-2022-undisclosed-information-about-financial-issues-and-costs-10Oct2022

11. Ongoing physical threats, racism, discrimination.

SP52948-endangering-life-and-safety-of-owner-to-prevent-their-investigations-about-mismanagement-of-strata-complex

12. Inequitable privileges for selective owners.

Since late 2010, when owner uncovered secret payments to selective townhouse owners for private water and gas usage (which included three past or current committee members at the time), attempts to enforce equal rights for all owners were ignored by BCS Strata Management, Waratah Strata Management, and committee members.

References:

SP52948-extract-from-submission-to-CTTT-case-SCS-11-00711-27Feb2011

SP52948-extract-from-submission-to-CTTT-case-SCS-11-00711-part-2-27Feb2011

SP52948-extract-from-submission-to-CTTT-case-SCS-12-05845-10Mar2012

SP52948-extract-from-submission-to-CTTT-case-SCS-12-05845-part-2-10Mar2012

SP52948-extract-from-submission-to-CTTT-case-SCS-12-05845-part-3-10Mar2012

SP52948-Lot-217-complaint-to-BCS-Strata-Management-about-seven-years-of-no-knowledge-of-private-water-and-gas-usage-financial-reimbursements-to-selective-townhouse-owners-28Feb2008

SP52948-BCS-Strata-Management-and-committee-members-ignored-report-about-unfair-and-inequitable-water-and-gas-costs-sharing-17Sep2013

SP52948-repeatedly-ignored-evidence-of-discrimination-of-owners-by-providing-inequitable-water-and-gas-reimbursements-for-private-use-to-selective-townhouse-owners-25Aug2017

SP52948-BCS-Strata-Management-Undisclosed-and-inequitable-gas-and-water-private-usage-cost-reimbursements-for-selective-townhouses-1997-to-2016-public-version

SP52948-extract-from-Waratah-Strata-Management-agenda-AGM-2021-private-water-usage-reimbursements-for-18-townhouse-owners

SP52948-Solicitor-prevented-Motion-and-disallowed-owners-to-vote-on-removing-discriminatory-and-inequitable-Special-By-Law-12-at-AGM-2017

SP52948-Motions-in-attempt-to-enforce-equitable-gas-and-water-reimbursements-and-levies-AGM-2020

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-declined-to-notify-owners-corporation-about-continuous-discrimination-of-owners-incurring-high-costs-without-approval-and-lack-of-proper-care-of-the-complex-26Aug2018

13. Smoking continues to be a major issue, not only increasing risks of fire, but also causing health risks and nuisance. Waratah Strata management and committee members refuse to take decisive measures.

Waratah Strata Management was urged to update By-Law on smoking, to include better technical definition of common property - prepare a well-drafted by-law so that owners corporation can comprehensively deal with the issue: the use of all tobacco types, including cigarettes, pipes and cigars, vaping, debris created by these practices, and the issue of “smoke-drift”. No response ever received.

References:

SP52948-notice-about-repetitive-complaints-about-smoking-in-three-buildings-23Mar2023

SP52948-continuous-problems-with-smoking-and-health-hazards

SP52948-request-to-ex-committee-member-to-prevent-her-visitor-from-smoking-30Dec2022

SP52948-notice-about-repetitive-complaints-about-smoking-in-three-buildings-5Jun2023

14. Secrecy about Lot 1 legal case.

Extract from alleged committee meeting on 28 July 2022 showed that owners were poorly informed about problems with Lot 1, and mediation at Fair Trading NSW was undisclosed to owners.

Lot 1 and other owners were deliberately not informed by Waratah Strata Management that there are owners who receive special privileges. An example is Lot 157, who in 2014, had significant damage caused by illegal committee member at the time Mr.

SP52948-extract-from-EC-meeting-Lot-1-mediation-without-disclosure-to-owners-28Jul2022

SP52948-extract-from-EC-meeting-no-mention-of-Lot-1-mediation-29Sep2022

SP52948-extract-from-agenda-AGM-2022-undisclosed-information-about-Lot-1-issues-10Oct2022

SP52948-Sydney-Wet-Carpet-Unit-157-carpet-flooding-10Dec2014BCS9598748

SP52948-confirmation-by-building-manager-that-carpet-drying-was-paid-from-common-funds-to-Lot-157-23Dec2014

15. Serious pool and spa repairs due to long-term lack of proper maintenance.

At legally non-complaint meeting on 25 May 2023 (which was never published on notice boards too), it was allegedly decided (without general meeting) to approve expenditure in amount of $55,000.00. No owner saw details of the alleged multiple quotes from four companies:

POOL & SPA REPAIR Resolved that quote 100223 supplied by Fibrestyle Pool Resurfacing be approved for work. Further resolved the contractor be requested of the following:

• To accommodate scheduling work in second half of July. • Terms of payment amended and paid on dates either side of financial year end (to split costs across each reporting period). • In consultation with Building Management, include quotation for textured/non slip surface alongside Gym, Pool and Spa area. • Advise on applying non slip surface to top of stairs, shallow area and spa shelf.

Since 2017, Waratah Strata Management website does not have any quotes for owners to review.

Waratah Strata Management website lists number of unresolved repairs, going back to 2017.

References:

SP52948-notice-EC-meeting-22May2023

SP52948-minutes-EC-meeting-25May2023

SP52948-waratahstrata-website-Open-and-Closed-Quotes-do-not-exist-6Jun2023

SP52948-waratahstrata-website-Maintenance-Open-Work-Orders-page-1-6Jun2023

SP52948-waratahstrata-website-Documents-folder-page-1-6Jun2023

16. EV charging station plans without full disclosure to owners or assessments (costs, user-charging model, insurance risks, by-law, tax implications, council approval and costs, and much more).

Waratah Strata Management and committee members completely ignored NSW requirements and recommendations for EV charging station adoption which include five step process:

Step 1 - Survey Step 2 - Enery assessment Step 3 - Evaluate options Step 4 - Evaluating payment options Step 5 - Plan approval processes and identify funding solution

A Current Affair reported that as many as 450 fires has been linked to the batteries in the past 18 months.

In February 2023, residents of an apartment building in Sydney’s southwest were forced to evacuate when an e-scooter caught alight. Combined with EV owners taking care of their battery – that is, servicing when required, following manufacturer-recommended charging habits (typically charging up to 80 per cent only and not discharging too deep), and mainly AC slow charging (avoiding frequent DC fast charging) – there’s a reduced likelihood of things going awry, not to mention maintaining a healthier battery.

When the integrity of lithium-ion batteries is compromised, the energy they store is released as heat, known as 'thermal runaway'.

Electric scooter charging stations should be located in a clean and dry place within the strata complex, meeting the relevant Australian standards. Owners corporation should ensure there is appropriate fire protection in place including intervention and suppression resources nearby (e.g., hydrants, hose reels, extinguishers, ventilation, and sprinklers). Chargers should be located away from proximate fuel loads and other flammable liquids.

The charging stations should also be accessible to Emergency Services in the event of a fire, which means they may need to be installed on common property. The charging stations should also be inaccessible to children. For added protection, one should consider:

Fire detection and early warning intercommunication systems Smoke management and air handling systems Fire resistance of proximate construction Clarify who is responsible for maintaining them

In local council areas in NSW where the apartment building is in a leviable area (e.g. there are parking meters outside the apartment building on the street), then if the Owners Corporation wants to convert an existing visitor car space inside the building to an EV charging space, then this is classified as a "change of use" of that car parking space. After the Owners Corporation goes through an approval process with the local council to get the use of the car parking space changed, then this will trigger an ongoing NSW land tax which has to be paid by the Owners Corporation from that point on.

If complex has an existing embedded network, owners may be required to seek approval of the Embedded Network Manager (ENM) or energy retailer, where this party maintains ownership of the electricity meters in your strata building under a multi-year contract.

Any EV Charging infrastructure project which costs more than $5,000.00 will require a signed contract. Furthermore, in states such as NSW where there is a Home Building Insurance scheme, ANY works in the building which are over $20,000.00 will require the EV charging installer to take out insurance under this scheme. When one Sydney based strata scheme inquired with their strata insurance company about any adjustments which had to be made, they were informed that an automated foam retardant system needed to be installed above every car space where an EV might be charging, in case the electric vehicle catches on fire while charging. Another Sydney based strata building was told that they couldn't get insurance if they did a whole-of-building EV charging infrastructure. Another Sydney building was able to get insurance as long as the number of EV's per floor of car park did not exceed 4 EV's. Some other requirements dictated by some insurers are that any EV charging should be in an area which is well-lit, does not have children in it, must have the car space painted and an EV charging sign erected, shouldn't have more than 4 electric vehicles charging adjacent to each other and is preferably in a separate room/area and on top of a plinth. It would be recommended to shop around for a different strata insurer to find one which has more reasonable requirements if you encounter this with your existing strata insurer.

DNSP or grid provider will need to provide approval for any increase of capacity from the local sub-station servicing the building.

At legally non-compliant committee meeting on 1 June 2023, the following was reported:

EV CHARGING Resolved that proposals received from electric vehicle charging installers were tabled and discussed as follows: • It is proposed that 2 EV charging stations be installed, one in a visitor parking space and one next to the bike storage area. • It is likely that a 3rd charging station can be installed next to the current visitor parking space at a later date if demand requires. • The quote provided by EVSE has been accepted in principle. • The strata manager is to obtain fee proposals from 2 solicitors to prepare a suitable By-Law. A further voting-paper-only committee meeting will be held to accept one of the solicitors fee proposals. • Once the By-Law is received a general meeting will be required to allow the Owners Corporation to consider/approve the By-Law and then to confirm the acceptance of an installation quote.

References:

SP52948-minutes-EC-meeting-1Jun2023

17. Roof membranes on four buildings need overdue maintenance, where Kintyre decreased warranties for half of roof in Block B and whole roof in Block D to five years instead on standard 15 years due to long-term lack of maintenance.

Planning for maintenance of roofs is allegedly delayed until year 2023 in 10-Year Capital Works Fund Plan in March 2017 without consultation with owners corporation. Waratah Strata Management and EC members, without consultation with owners corporation allegedly approved the 10-Year Capital Works Fund plan in March 2017, which, among the other concerns, delayed maintenance of roofs until year 2023 (directly discriminating against owners in Block A and C, because half of Block B and whole Block D were completed in 2015/2016).

The most revealing figures are related to when to rectify roof problems (major issue in the complex):

In BIV’s plan in March 2017, it was recommended to complete the work in August 2023 at estimated cost of $571,275.00.

In BIV’s plan in October 2021, it was recommended to delay the work to September 2031 at estimated cost of $900,722.00.

Kintyre completed patchy roof membrane repairs without tender, warranties, and without approval by owners corporation at any meeting at cost of $28,892.00 in March 2012, and Napier & Blakely report in July 2012 clearly dismissed it as improperly done job.

Since July 2012, full repairs of roof membrane on Block A, as listed in Napier & Blakeley's professional report at cost of $12,144.00, were listed as important maintenance task that has not been completed yet.

That makes Block A roof not properly maintained for almost 22 years now, which is against professional recommendations to do it around every 10 years.

Half of Block B and whole Block D received full root membrane replacement in 2015/2016 without tender that was "won" by Kintyre:

$7,785.00 Block D: roof membrane - fourth part

$25,000.00 Block D: roof membrane - third part

$32,786.00 Block D: roof membrane - second part

$43,714.00 Block D: roof membrane - first part

$35,613.60 Block B: roof membrane - second part

$23,742.40 Block B: roof membrane - first part

Waterproofing one whole roof in Block D cost SP52948 around $107,000.00 (GST inclusive). One a half roofs were done at cost of around $170.000,00.

Waratah Strata Management and maintenance staff were contacted to submit this information to owners multiple times since 2018, which they declined.

Due to long-term neglect of roofs, Kintyre decreased warranties for roof membranes on half of Block B and whole Block D to only five years (down from originally expected 15 years).

In period from AGM in October 2016 to February 2017 the complex was dysfunctional because it did not have Secretary, Treasurer, and Chairperson elected from the Executive Committee members. Waratah Strata Management, by alleged contractual obligations, took all those roles.

At least 24 repairs for water-related issues in Lot 191 were completed in period September 2011 to January 2019, of which six were reported in lift of Block A since Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017. The cost estimate (strata managers hide information for few of the events) is above $20,000.00 from owners corporation funds.

Number of water leaks on the roof of Block A and other lots on top floor of Block A( 189 and 190 as examples). The costs for repetitive repairs without proper warranties also goes in thousands.

It increased our insurance risk, which was evident from 2012.

One of the claims for water damage was for Lot 188 in amount of $1,294.55 on 25 July 2011.

Warning by NCS Plumbing about major work required in Lots 189, 190, 191, and 192 on 24 February 2016 which maintenance staff, BCS Strata Management, and Waratah Strata Management deliberately withheld from owners.

Reference:

SP52948-REQUEST-to-Waratah-Strata-Management-FOR-PROPER-AND-OVERDUE-MAINTENANCE-Roof-membrane-and-water-leaks-in-Block-A-2Feb2019

18. Many more risks and proofs of mismanagement of the complex.

References:

SP52948-extract-from-secret-Napier-Blakeley-professional-building-report-Jul2012

SP52948-basement-under-four-buildings-concrete-cancer-due-to-water-leaks-unresolved-since-2013

SP52948-Block-B-basement-concrete-cancer-due-to-water-leaks-unresolved-since-2013

SP52948-roof-status-1Mar2017

ANNOTATED-SUMMARY-for-Waratah-Strata-Management-on-SP52948-Open-Issues-and-still-undisclosed-Special-By-Law-for-Lot-3-and-photos-of-the-complex-17Mar2017

SP52948-basement-louvres-neglected-since-2016

SP52948-garden-bed-walls-with-risks-to-children-playing-every-day-neglected-since-2013

SP52948-Block-A-basement-rusted-fire-door-since-2013

SP52948-Block-D-basement-rusted-fire-door-since-2013-part-2

SP52948-experiences-with-Waratah-Strata-Management-from-customer-perspective

19. In relation to insurance repayments in FY 2022, we actually deliberately set a subtle test for the committee members and Waratah Strata Management in item 1. below. Part of our submission withheld few details, to verify their response. This is how at least $10,000.00 (GST incl) was hidden in audited accounts for FY 2022. A case has been opened to investigate if Economos Auditor was part of this fraud, or innocent party who was "lured" to sign such documents.

Economos Auditor was coerced (or was accessory) to sign SP52948 financials for FY 2022 43 days after the due date without income in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) in code 144000 (Miscellaneous Income – Admin).

Economos Auditor was coerced (or was accessory) to sign SP52948 financials for FY 2022 43 days after the due date without expense (repayment to insurance company) in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) in code 169400 (Maint Bldg -- Insurance Repairs &/or Excess).

Extracts from Income & expenditure Report for 26 September 2022 and 30 September 2022: show significant discrepancies for Miscellaneous Income -- Admin (code 144000), and Maint Bldg -- Insurance Repairs &/or Excess (code 169400). For period of almost two months (from around 4-8 August 2022, to around 30 September 2022), the income and expense (repayment to insurance company) for alleged legal costs of Solicitor <name withheld> were hidden in accounting data from owners and insurance company.

Figures for FY 2022 as listed in FY 2023 reports do not match for alleged legal costs of Solicitor <name withheld> in audited report for FY 2022: total revenue in Admin Fund, Miscellaneous Income -- Admin (code 144000), and Maint Bldg -- Insurance Repairs &/or Excess (code 169400).

Full evidence is in attachment "SP52948-discrepancies-between-Solicitor-legal-and-insurance-payments-FY-2022-and-2023.pdf".

Auditor's report for FY 2020 was signed on 3 November 2020, 12 days AFTER the general meeting:

SP52948-Economos-Audit-report-FY-ending-31Aug2020

Auditor's report for FY 2022 was signed on 7 December 2022, 43 days AFTER the general meeting:

SP52948-Economos-Audit-report-FY-2022-two-months-after-general-meeting-7Dec2022

Accounting errors, without corrections or disclosure to owners or courts, and even falsified audit in 2017 (appeared two and half years after the financial year was completed, without evidence of which accounting books were audited), are sound proofs of professional misconduct and criminal activities by Waratah Strata Management:

Waratah-Strata-Management-non-compliance-of-SP52948-Auditor-reports

SP52948-warning-to-Waratah-Strata-Management-about-misleading-and-misconstrued-strata-files-including-serious-problems-with-Auditor-reports-and-expired-contract-with-strata-agency-due-to-non-compliant-AGM-2019-19Mar2020

SP52948-Audit-Report-FY-2017-appeared-after-two-and-half-years

SP52948-differences-for-income-and-expenditure-FY2018-audited-figures-provided-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-for-AGM-2018-and-FY2019

SP52948-REQUEST-FOR-OFFICIAL-RESPONSE-from-Waratah-Strata-Management-contact-details-of-SP52948-auditor-for-FY-2017-and-2018-11May2019

SP52948-EC-member-refused-to-provide-auditor-details-for-FY-2017-and-2018-on-13May2019

SP52948-Solicitor-prevented-Motion-about-Fair-Trading-NSW-recommendations-to-engage-financial-auditors-at-AGM-2017

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-ignored-request-to-provide-auditor-reports-for-FY-2017-and-2018-cash-receipts-and-bank-statements-for-AGM-2019-9Oct2019

20. SP52948 insurance policy for SP52948 expired on 21 September 2022, but renewal delayed for five days and was not published for owners and costs were not included in Income & Expenditure Report even as late as 3 October 2022.

Insurance renewal was paid on 26 September 2022, leaving SP52948 uninsured for five days, without disclosure to owners. It also created risk of being unable to make any claims in that period, should any incident have happened.

Waratah Strata Management possibly ignored overdue payment in amount of $1,617.37 on 8 August 2022, and waited till September to pay it, in spite of warning that the insurance policy HAD EXPIRED. No owner was notified about it by committee members of Waratah Strata Management.

In the end, insurance premium was increased to $161,569.59 (GST incl) at 49.33% jump compared to FY 2022 and $6,541.55 was paid to Waratah Strata Management for insurance commission.

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-and-undeclared-expired-insurance-in-FY-2022

SP52948-missing-insurance-policy-and-payments-27Sep2022

SP52948-overdue-payment-insurance-policy-Sep2022

SP52948-discrepancies-between-Solicitor-legal-and-insurance-payments-FY-2022-and-2023

21. Missing evidence of where $92,950.00 was allegedly spent on townhouse upgrades and maintenance in 2017/2018.

Appearance of townhouses and its surroundings show that no major work was done in many years, including pergolas (we have evidence that, for example, there was a secret pergola replacement for Lot 196 one-and-half years after major upgrades in the complex - May2019), colorbond fences, wooden fences towards neighboring property (part of wooden fence was finally replaced in 2020 at separate costs and part of it is still outstanding, window frames, doors, garage doors, townhouse carport lattices (one year later, Lot 209 submitted Motion at AGM 2018, to remove and replace the townhouse carport lattices, which was rejected at the meeting), bollards, and roofs.

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-silent-about-failed-maintenance-and-unexplained-costs-of-around-92950.00-for-alleged-major-townhouse-upgrades-3Feb2021

SP52948-glass-from-blown-window-frame-not-cleaned-in-garden-bed-for-three-months-9Feb2021

SP52948-warning-about-1.5-million-deficit-in-Capital-Works-Fund-1Oct2021

22. Missing timber for half of fence behind townhouses.

Waratah Strata Management and four committee members were asked about it on 14 November 2021, and none of them ever replied:

SP52948-inquiry-about-disappeared-timber-behind-townhouses-14Nov2021

Appearance of neglected part of the fence was documented on 14 June 2023 where it was easy to figure out where the repairs were done in 2021 and where they were still missing:

SP52948-neglected-wooden-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-1-9Jun2023

SP52948-neglected-wooden-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-4-9Jun2023

SP52948-appearance-of-timber-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-8-14Jun2023

SP52948-appearance-of-timber-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-12-14Jun2023

SP52948-appearance-of-timber-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-18-14Jun2023

SP52948-appearance-of-timber-fence-behind-townhouses-photo-22-14Jun2023

23. Unattached or damaged colorbond fences, some unresolved for eight years:

SP52948-Lot-147-unattached-colorbond-fence-photo-1-22May2023

SP52948-townhouse-colorbond-fence-unmaintained-for-more-than-eight-years-photo-1-9Jun2023

SP52948-townhouse-colorbond-fence-unmaintained-for-more-than-eight-years-photo-2-9Jun2023 END QUOTE

No response from Waratah Strata Management, who also failed to inform the 218 owners in the complex.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 18 August 2023, two staff members of Waratah Strata Management received additional high-priority concerns about strata plan SP52948 insurance risks and serious maintenance issues. No reply was received.

Several weeks ago, NSW Fair Trading opened case 11138875 to investigate Waratah Strata Management, with special emphasis on information about how Waratah Strata Management asked various agencies not to "waste their time" on reviewing the submissions of strata managers' misconduct and mismanagement.

Some of major issues:

a) Waratah Strata Management actively preventing and coercing Police, Fair Trading NSW, City of Ryde, NCAT, Office of Legal Services Commissioner, and Supreme Court from investigating their activities whilst "winning" contract with SP52948 four times without any tenders, of which three previous contracts had been signed by two unfinancial owners who were allowed to vote and be on the committee in full non-compliance with strata laws and regulations.

b) In four out of six last general meetings (2017 to 2022), Waratah Strata Management ensured that Auditor's reports were not prepared before general meetings and not provided to any owner whilst obtaining personal financial benefits through strata management contract renewals without tenders or disclosure of contract costs and full conditions:

Date of signed auditor's report: 20 October 2017 Date of Annual General Meeting: 24 October 2017 auditor's report published two and half years after due date without any financial details in late April 2020 but backdated on Waratah Strata Management website to 31 August 2017, Solicitor rejected strata files access to O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors, including auditor's reports for 2017 and 2018, on 14 November 2019, claiming that they were "likely not available" and asking "what was the purpose pressing for the records to be produced", general meeting did not satisfy requirements for quorum and allowed unfinancial owners to vote and be elected as committee members; Waratah Strata Management complied with secret plan by Solicitor to prevent owner (who was legally valid member of the committee) Motions at the general meeting, Waratah Strata Management contract renewed without tender or disclosure of contract details, and signed by two unfinancial committee members on same day as the general meeting - the same two illegal committee members voted and signed Waratah Strata Management contract at general meeting in 2016 and secretly increased base value from $21,800.00, as approved at the general meeting, to $23,110.00 without owners knowledge on 14 December 2016; Waratah Strata Management even carried seven proxy votes approving their own contract and undeclared base salary increase of 11.5% at AGM 2017, RB auditor's report (only two pages, without any details of what financial was checked) was never sent to any owner

Date of signed auditor's report: 18 October 2018 Date of Annual General Meeting: 18 October 2018 auditor's report was one day after due date - but not published even as late as 29 May 2019, and Solicitor rejected strata files access to O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors, including auditor's reports for 2017 and 2018, on 14 November 2019, claiming that they were "likely not available" and asking "what was the purpose pressing for the records to be produced", general meeting did not satisfy requirements for quorum and allowed unfinancial owners to vote and be elected as committee members, Waratah Strata Management complied with plan by Solicitor to prevent owner (who was legally valid member of the committee) Motions at the general meeting, Waratah Strata Management and Police failed to inform owners about massive data losses due to lost USB key for investigations in Police Event E65804633, while Waratah Strata Management and Economos Auditor failed to respond to inquiries about dubious utility expenses and financial accounting data for FY 2018 with unexplained differences for income and expenditure FY 2018 audited figures provided for AGM 2018 and AGM 2019, Economos auditor's report was never sent to any owner

Date of signed auditor's report: 20 September 2019 Date of Annual General Meeting: 17 October 2019 general meeting did not satisfy requirements for quorum and allowed unfinancial owners to vote and be elected as committee members - Waratah Strata Management even allowed Motion 14 to be voted before Motion 4, allowing unfinancial owners yet again to be elected on the committee and declined to report it in the minutes of the meeting, Waratah Strata Management complied with plan by Solicitor to prevent owner (who was legally valid member of the committee) Motions at the general meeting, Admin Fund had negative balance of $131,852.25 without disclosure to owners whilst Balance Sheet reported negative balance in Admin Fund of $131,852.25 and Income and Expenditure Report listed positive balance in Admin Fund of $49,386.78, Waratah Strata Management failed to provide full details of second massive data loss in two years, which happened in February 2019 due to alleged ransomware attack, where Bitcoin ransom was paid by a third-party known to Waratah Strata Management to the threat actor in the equivalent amount of $5,052.03, Waratah Strata Management contract renewed without tender or disclosure of contract details, and signed by two unfinancial committee members on same day as the general meeting, Economos auditor's report was sent to owners

Date of signed auditor's report: 3 November 2020 Date of Annual General Meeting: 22 October 2020 auditor's report published 13 days after due date, (general meeting did not satisfy requirements for quorum and allowed unfinancial owners to vote and be elected as committee members; Waratah Strata Management complied with plan by Solicitor to prevent owner Motions at the general meeting, coercing owners to vote against ratification of past events, Admin Fund had positive balance of only $14,411.82, but three days later on 31 October 2020 it showed balance of only $8,368.92 without disclosure to owners, Waratah Strata Management prevented the following competitive quotes from tenders for strata and building management: Strata Excellence, Strata Title Management, Netstrata, Curtis Strata Cleaning, Forte Asset Services, Clean and Secure Building Management, Jim's Mowing, Economos auditor's report was never sent to any owner

Date of signed auditor's report: 29 September 2021 Date of Annual General Meeting: 28 October 2021 Admin Fund had positive balance of only $1,019.14, but three days later on 31 October 2021 it showed negative balance of $120,210.65 without disclosure to owners, non-compliant committee meeting on 23 September 2021 documented shortage of $1,515,541.00 in Capital Works Fund against the forecast in April 2017 but failed to include it at the general meeting, Waratah Strata Management failed to notify owners about flaws in 10-Year Capital Works Fund plans, further delaying overdue upgrades and repairs due to lack of funds, Economos auditor's report was sent to owners

Date of signed auditor's report: 7 December 2022 Date of Annual General Meeting: 27 October 2022 auditor's report published 43 days after due date, Waratah Strata Management complied with plan by Solicitor prevent owner Motions at the general meeting, coercing owners to vote against ratification of past events, Admin Fund had negative balance of $169,157.11 in Balance Sheet, but in Income & Expenditure Report on the same day Admin Fund had negative balance of $203,914.85 without disclosure to owners, Waratah Strata Management allowed $146 million dollar SP52948 complex to have expired insurance policy for five days, creating high risks for uninsured common property, Waratah Strata Management coerced Economos Auditor to sign financial status by hiding $10,000.00 in accounting figures for legal costs of Solicitor; payment from Misc income to AIG insurance company dated 8 August 2022 in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) proves that SP52948 received payments for the SAME alleged legal costs for Solicitor from insurance company in amount of $19,758.14 (GST excl) on 25 March 2022 (undeclared to owners and Supreme Court by Waratah Strata Management, committee members, and Solicitor himself) and an owner first instalment payment in amount of $4,545.45 (GST excl) on 2 July 2022. SP52948 was paid twice for the same legal costs in period from 2 July 2022 to 8 August 2022; Waratah Strata Management contract was renewed without tender or disclosure of contract details, Economos auditor's report was never sent to any owner

c) Twenty seven SP52948 executive committee meetings and eight Annual/Extraordinary General Meetings (AGM/EGM) since 1 February 2017, when Waratah Strata Management took office, failed to comply with strata laws and regulations.

c) Information about insurance policy excesses are kept secret from owners by previous strata manager BCS Strata Management (from 2012 to to 2016) and current strata manager Waratah Strata Management (from 2017 onwards).

d) Negative trends in SP52948 Admin Fund since Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017, with worst day being 27 October 2022 when Admin Fund had negative balance of $203,914.85 without disclosure to owners, and fir the first time in SP52948 strata complex history Admin Fund had negative balance for almost whole three quarters in FY 2023 (with negative balance at end of third quarter on 30 July 2023 in amount of $119.468.05).

e) First major data loss – Police and Waratah Strata Management lost single copy of USB key with SP52948 strata files in April 2018 without disclosure to owners until March 2019.

f) Second major data loss - highly dubious allegations of ransomware attack against Waratah Strata Management in 2019, with strong suspicion of fraud and money laundering through ransom payment to the threat actor in amount of $5,052.03.

g) Waratah Strata Management orchestrating contract renewals for electricity supply and gas supply without compliance with SSMA 2015 SSMA 2015, Sch 1, Sec 6(e) “an item to consider any agreements for the supply of electricity, gas or any other utility relevant to the scheme”.

h) SP52948 insurance policy for SP52948 expired on 21 September 2022, but renewal delayed for five days at huge increase of 49.33% compared to previous year – making large strata complex worth more than $146 millions not having any insurance cover (uninsured for five days) and premium not included in Income & Expenditure Report even as late as 3 October 2022.

i) Evidence of five fraudulent SP52948 insurance claims for alleged legal costs of Solicitor (BCS involvement in 2012/2013 and Waratah Strata Management involvement in 2022, with falsified statements to courts), forcing owners corporation to repay $30,119.60 to insurance companies where insurance company was paid back $15,200.15 (GST excl) in FY 2023, and including FY 2022 ($6,119.45 GST excl), the total amounts to $21,319.60 (GST excl) - SP52948, through falsified statements and fraud, forced an innocent owner to “repay” Solicitor’s legal costs in amount of $23,744.72 (GST excl).

j) Waratah Strata Management refuses to issue invoices and receipts for owner's payments for alleged legal costs of Solicitor in amount of $23,744.72 (GST excl).

k) At least $10,000.00 (GST incl) was hidden in audited accounts for FY 2022 without disclosure to owners - Economos Auditor was either a part of this fraud, or innocent party who was "lured" to sign such documents 43 days after the general meeting.

l) SP52948 10-Year Capital Works Fund poorly planned, never approved by owners corporation at any general meeting, with shortage of funds in amount of $1,515,541.00 as per committee meeting on 23 September 2021.

m) Ongoing fire and OH&S problems - in spite of Ryde Council orders, such work is being delayed for more than two years, and these problems have plagued SP52948 since 2012.

n) Serious pool and spa problems due to long-term lack of proper maintenance (concrete cancer) approved at cost of $55,000.00 without general meeting or evidence of multiple quotes which building manager announced as renovation not repairs.

o) Roof membranes on four buildings need overdue maintenance, where Kintyre decreased warranties for half of roof in Block B and whole roof in Block D to five years instead on standard 15 years due to long-term lack of maintenance.

p) Two significant water leaks on ceilings in foyers of Block B and D and electrical hazards due to long-term neglect in July 2023.

q) False statement about last Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Strata Hub nsw.gov.au with risks of penalties for outdated and wrong information – Waratah Strata Management ignored concerns about non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021.

and much more.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Another meeting, another non-compliance. Strata Plan SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 17 August 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

The “postal” rule which used to provide that a document served by post was deemed served on the fourth (4th) working day, has been amended to now provide that a document is deemed served on the seventh (7th) working day after the day of postage.

This amendment was effected by Schedule 1.18 of the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 (NSW) which amends section 76(1)(b) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) (“IA”) and was assented to on 28 November 2018.

Under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW), the notice period for a general meeting (other than the first) is seven (7) days. In addition to this seven (7) day period, allowance must also be made for the postal rule, which is a further seven (7) day period. The day of postage cannot be included nor can the day of the meeting itself (Section 36 of the IA) – in other words, those days must be left clear and not be counted in either the postal or strata period. The seven (7) day postal rule is for seven (7) working days – working days are not public holidays, bank holidays in the state to which the agenda applies, Saturdays or Sundays.

Notice did not contain information whether motions require a special resolution or a unanimous resolution to be passed.

There was no evidence that a copy of the minutes of the previous general meeting was given to owners with notice of a meeting when the owner had not previously been given a copy of the minutes or had requested but not received a copy before the notice was given (SSMA 2015 Schedule 1 8(2)):

Apartment 86, sold for $901,000.00 in April 2023 Apartment 104, sold for $880,000.00 in June 2023 Apartment 11, sold for $873,000.00 in May 2023

PDF metadata shows notice was created on 3 August 2023 at 14:33 hours:

Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 03/08/2023 Thursday Notice posted? (postage date must not be counted) 2, 04/08/2023 Friday First working day 3, 05/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 4, 06/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 5, 07/08/2023 Monday Second working day 6, 08/08/2023 Tuesday Third working day 7, 09/08/2023 Wednesday Fourth working day 8, 10/08/2023 Thursday Fifth working day 9, 11/08/2023 Friday Sixth working day 10, 12/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 11, 13/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 12, 14/08/2023 Monday Seventh working day - notice effective 13, 15/08/2023 Tuesday First notice day 14, 16/07/2023 Wednesday Second notice day 15, 17/07/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted) (third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh notice day missing!)

Owners and investors did not receive any information about balances in Admin and Capital Works Funds.

Extraordinary General Meeting was exclusively related to one owner requesting major renovations: Lot 72. There was no information if this owner will cover all costs for this special meeting which benefits only them.

Photo evidence was taken for each day between 3 and 17 August 2023, showing that none of six notice boards had any information about the Extraordinary General Meeting at any time before the event.

Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting were published on Waratah Strata website the SAME day, on 17 August 2023, sometime after 18:34 hours (four minutes after the meeting), at record efficiency as no other meeting has ever had such success with published minutes.

The meeting was attended by only four owners (out of 218 in the complex), and initially failed to establish a quorum. Of those 4, one was owner who requested approval for major renovations (Lot 72), two were from Lots 136 and 137 who in 2013 obtained approval to connect the two lots (exclusive rights to common property) without properly organised Extraordinary General Meeting whilst failing to cover full costs of the general meeting and Special By-Law registration, and one was a committee member.

Eight out of nine committee members did not attend this meeting too.

On 21 August 2023, Block C notice board published information about Lot 72 major renovations, whilst minutes of the extraordinary General Meeting were undisclosed to owners. Photos of notice boards taken from letterbox area, Block A, Block B, Block C, and Block D, prove, without any possibility of error, that none of the owners were notified about the alleged Extraordinary General Meeting.

As of this morning, negative balance in Admin Fund was $36,690.64 without disclosure to owners.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

A short update on 3 October 2023. a) SP52948 Admin Fund has negative balance in amount of $39,259.22, where number of invoices are still unpaid or unreported, with one huge expense standing out: Waratah Strata Management website still lists insurance for strata plan SP52948 that expired on 21 September 2023. Last year, the complex was uninsured for five days.

SP52948 is valued at $146,550,000.00.

b) City of Ryde Council issued an order and a show cause order for repetitive failures to comply with OH&S and fire safety. This information is hidden from owners and investors by Waratah Strata Management.

c) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

SP52948 repayments in amount of $28,545.69 (GST excl) to insurance companies for legal costs of Solicitor in 2017, 2022, and 2023, repayment to insurance company in amount of $1,574.00 (GST excl) for water leak damages which were below excess threshold in FY 2022, rejected claim by insurance company in amount of $13,497.00 in 2021 for sunroom window frame of Lot 190 destroyed by strong winds on 30 November 2020 with owners corporation carrying out additional costs of $12,270.00 for repairs in Lot 190.

d) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

SP52948 complex underinsurance for catastrophic events and massively increased cover for loss of rent/temporary accommodation in FY 2023.

Waratah Strata Management renewed insurance for SP52948 on 26 September 2022 without owners corporation decision at general meeting or decision at any committee meeting by decreasing insured sum for catastrophe from $38,920,350.00 in FY 2022 to $21,982,500.00.

Waratah Strata Management renewed insurance for SP52948 without owners corporation decision at general meeting or decision at any committee meeting by increasing insured sum for loss of rent and temporary accommodation from $19,460,175.00 in FY 2022 to $43,965,000.00 in FY 2023, indirectly highlighting the risks for losses due to uninhabitable properties.

e) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

SP52948 status of insurance premiums from 1997 to 2023 and insurance commissions paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $37,913.27 since 2018 with evidence of previous strata agency BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions due to conflict of interest

f) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

Waratah Strata Management four times non-compliance with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 and Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 for SP52948 Auditor Reports.

g) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

Economos signed SP52948 audited report for FY 2022 43 days after due date with $10,000.00 (GST incl) missing in accounting for Solicitor legal costs insurance payments.

h) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda:

Cost increases related to building manager contracts made without tenders or full disclosure of information from 2015 to 2023.

In FY 2023 alone, in spite of significant negative balances in Admin Fund:

1. Waratah Strata Management increased contract for building manager by 2% in February 2023 without disclosure of amounts and without approval by owners corporation at general meeting.

2. Waratah Strata Management increased contract for building manager by extra 10% in September 2023 without disclosure of amounts and without approval by owners corporation at general meeting.

i) Motion for Annual General Meeting in October 2023 which Waratah Strata Management, by their own statement, would like to remove from agenda.

Lack of responses by Waratah Strata Management to concerns about SP52948 mismanagement in 2023:

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health- and-non-compliance-with-laws-8Jun2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-2-19Jun2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-3-19Jul2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-4-18Aug2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-5-12Sep2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-6-13Sep2023

Waratah-Strata-Management-warned-about-SP52948-insurance-risks-safety-financial-health-and-non-compliance-with-laws-part-7-26Sep2023

j) And much more.

Extract from Waratah Strata Management "Complaint Handling Policy – Lodgement Document":

BEGIN QUOTE The purpose of this document is to assist you lodge a formal complaint if you wish to do so and how and when we will respond to your complaint.

A person wishing to make a complaint may do so in writing to:

the staff member they were dealing with at the time, unless you are making a complaint about this person;

the Principal, or if the complaint is about:

a product or service delivered by our company; the complaint will normally be dealt with by the relevant strata manager;

a staff member, the complaint will normally be dealt with by the Principal;

the Principal, the complaint will normally be dealt with by the Principal of your company and the Assistant Principal of your company

(cut here for brevity sake) ...

Waratah Strata Management, must adhere to a Code of Ethics including professional standards, and is monitored by Professional Standards Australia. END QUOTE

Public can make their own judgement if Waratah Strata Management is committed to "providing an excellent customer experience".

In addition, if anyone believes that Strata Community Australia (NSW) has powers, this will change your mind. Extract from SCA (NSW) response to a serious complaint about one of the largest strata agencies in Australia on 14 February 2017:

BEGIN QUOTE SCA (NSW) is a not-for-profit company that provides education, information and other membership benefits to the strata sector. SCA (NSW) have a limited ability to resolve disputes as the panel that reviews complaints comprises a team of volunteers that meet regularly, and SCA (NSW) powers to discipline unethical behaviour are limited to revoking membership of this organisation. END QUOTE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates worth sharing with public. a) On 17 October 2023, NSW Fair Trading sent us a letter confirming that Waratah Strata Management failed to carry out duties in relation to financial audits for SP52948.

Here is an extract from NSW Fair Trading case 11138875:

BEGIN HERE Thank you for your correspondence regarding management of SP52948 by Waratah Strata Management Pty Ltd (the Agency).

Fair Trading regulates the property sector in New South Wales and can take action against traders who have engaged in illegal conduct. All information we receive is assessed against our various consumer protection laws.

NSW Fair Trading cannot assess issues which are more than 3 years old or where matters are subject to an order or determination by the Tribunal or court of competent jurisdiction.

Based on the information provided, Fair Trading identified that the Agency failed to provide a copy of audit reports to the owners corporation as required under Schedule 1, Clause 9 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (Act). Fair Trading has taken appropriate compliance action in accordance with our policies and procedures.

If the owners corporation is dissatisfied with the performance of the strata managing agent, the owners corporation may consider convening a general meeting to terminate the management agreement. If considering this option, the owners corporation should carefully review the agreement for termination conditions. END HERE

b) So far, Waratah Strata Management did not notify owners about NSW Fair Trading decision.

We requested that SP52948 committee members help with:

1. All owners receive NSW Fair Trading decisions via email and post (where applicable).

2. NSW Fair Trading decisions are published on Waratah Strata Management website.

3. NSW Fair Trading decisions are published on all six notice boards.

c) As of today, NEGATIVE balance in Admin Fund (deficit) reached record level of $272,482.76. That is the highest negative balance ever reached for SP52948. Owners still have to pay monthly salary (for October 2023) for building manager before next collection of levies on 1 November 2023.

Waratah Strata Management refused to update owners on negative balances in Admin Fund throughout 2022 and 2023. No owner or tenant received any information on how bad SP52948 financials were.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Waratah Strata Management declined to notify owners about NSW Fair Trading case 11138875. Here are brief facts about how two strata managers from Waratah Strata Management (father and son, or two relatives from the same family?) conducted Annual General Meeting for SP52948 on 26 October 2023:

1) For fifth time in last seven years (since Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017) Waratah Strata Management acted in non-compliance actions with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 and Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 for SP52948 Auditor Reports to be completed and presented at general meetings.

Owners do not have audited reports.

2) Waratah Strata Management failed to provide any evidence for expenses in amount of $122,843.87 (GST excl) before, at, and after AGM 2023.

Waratah Strata Management hid this information from owners:

Some of further issues: SP52948 repayments to insurance companies in amount of $28,545.69 (GST excl) for legal costs of Solicitor in 2017, 2022, and 2023, repayment to insurance company in amount of $1,574.00 (GST excl) for water leak damages which were below excess threshold in FY 2022, rejected claim by insurance company in amount of $13,497.00 in 2021 for sunroom window frame of Lot 190 destroyed by strong winds on 30 November 2020 with owners corporation carrying out additional costs of $12,270.00 for repairs in Lot 190, and legal documents related to past engagements of Solicitor, insurance commissions paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $47,849.98 since 2018 with evidence of previous strata agency BCS Strata Management not allowed to receive insurance commissions due to conflict of interest, and insurance premiums growing by 50.84% in FY 2023 and additional 21.57% in FY 2024, costing owners now $181,778.06 while SP52948 has $10,000.00 excess for each and every water-related damage or water-leak explorations.

Further more, they did not allow owners to have this information in the minutes of the meeting.

3) Waratah Strata Management declined to notify owners that Economos signed SP52948 audited report for FY 2022 43 days after due date with $10,000.00 (GST incl) missing in accounting for Solicitor legal costs insurance payments.

4) Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), Schedule 1, Part 10 (1) at AGM 2023 and did not provide any evidence of owners' funds (including trust accounts).

BEGIN QUOTE Request for Waratah Strata Management: in accordance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), Schedule 1, Part 10 (1), owner requests that owners corporation provides copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits are one example), which have to be produced to the owner at least two days before the meeting at which the statements are to be presented (AGM on 26 October 2023). Of special interest will be evidence of how Waratah Strata Management paid invoices from Admin Fund which had negative balance almost 100% of the time during FY 2023. If the money was borrowed from Capital Works Fund, Waratah Strata Management must have complied with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Section 76. END QUOTE

5) Waratah Strata Management failed to notify owners that last three general meetings failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Waratah Strata Management was fully aware of requirements for sending agenda for general meetings, as sent to their Director in emails on 13 March 2020 with subject line “Mediation SP52948 Case - 00351498 - Persistent non-compliance with Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) – 13Mar2020” and on 14 March 2020 with subject line “FOR OFFICIAL RECORDS: Mediation SP52948 Case 00351498 and Fair Trading Files 9363613 and 9761719 - Persistent non-compliance with Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) - 14Mar2020”. Waratah Strata Management did not attend the free mediation at NSW Fair Trading but continued to act in non-compliance with the Act.

One owners corporation was recently stung in the decision of ACA Developments Pty Ltd vs The Owners - Strata Plan No. 73759 (2023) (“ACA Development“). In this case, a notice was issued to convene a general meeting of the owners corporation with a motion to pass a by-law aimed at restricting short-term accommodation. However, the notice was served five clear days prior to the scheduled meeting, failing to meet the mandatory seven-day requirement under the SSMA. As a result, the Tribunal declared the resolution made at that meeting as invalid and repealed the by-law registered subsequent to the motion’s passage.

In ACA Development, the owners corporation served the meeting notice through a mailing company, and the mailing company lodged the notice with Australian Post 2 days short of the statutory requirement. Delivery to a mail house is not delivery to the postal system. In accordance with the Interpretation Act 1987, service of the notices was deemed be effected on the seventh working day after they were posted, with the day of receipt excluded from the calculation.

The ACA Development case highlighted the significance of strict compliance with the seven-day notice requirement, as established by a previous Supreme Court case, The Owners – Strata Plan No 62022 v Sahade [2013] NSWSC 2002 (“Sahade“). In Sahade, the notice of the general meeting was served one day late, precisely six days before the meeting. The Supreme Court emphasized that strict compliance is necessary, particularly when the Act employs the terms “must” and “at least,” ensuring the effectiveness of a properly served notice.

Annual General Meeting 2022, as organized by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) - one notice day missing

Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 11/10/2022 Tuesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/10/2022 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/10/2022 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/10/2022 Friday Third working day 5, 15/10/2022 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/16/2022 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/10/2022 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/10/2022 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/10/2022 Friday First notice day 12, 22/10/2022 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/10/2022 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/10/2022 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/10/2022 Tuesday Fifth notice day 16, 26/10/2022 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/10/2022 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)

Extraordinary General Meeting dated 27 April 2023, as organized by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) – one notice day missing

Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 12/04/2023 Wednesday Notice posted (postage date must not be counted) 2, 12/04/2023 Wednesday First working day 3, 13/04/2023 Thursday Second working day 4, 14/04/2023 Friday Third working day 5, 15/04/2023 Saturday Weekend 6, 16/04/2023 Sunday Weekend 7, 17/04/2023 Monday Fourth working day 8, 18/04/2023 Tuesday Fifth working day 9, 19/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth working day 10, 20/04/2023 Thursday Seventh working day - notice effective 11, 21/04/2023 Friday First notice day 12, 22/04/2023 Saturday Second notice day 13, 23/04/2023 Sunday Third notice day 14, 24/04/2023 Monday Fourth notice day 15, 25/04/2023 Tuesday Anzac day - Fifth notice day 16, 26/04/2023 Wednesday Sixth notice day Seventh notice day is missing! 17, 27/04/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted)

Extraordinary General Meeting dated 17 August 2023, as organized by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) – five notice days missing

Day/Date Weekday Service Calculation Event 1, 03/08/2023 Thursday Notice posted? (postage date must not be counted) 2, 04/08/2023 Friday First working day 3, 05/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 4, 06/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 5, 07/08/2023 Monday Second working day 6, 08/08/2023 Tuesday Third working day 7, 09/08/2023 Wednesday Fourth working day 8, 10/08/2023 Thursday Fifth working day 9, 11/08/2023 Friday Sixth working day 10, 12/08/2023 Saturday Weekend 11, 13/08/2023 Sunday Weekend 12, 14/08/2023 Monday Seventh working day - notice effective 13, 15/08/2023 Tuesday First notice day 14, 16/08/2023 Wednesday Second notice day 15, 17/08/2023 Thursday Date of meeting (must not be counted) (five notice days missing!)

6) At AGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management failed to provide evidence of compliance with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Section 31 (1) (c) at AGM 2023 and knowingly acted against the Act at AGM 2017 (committee candidates cannot self-nominate).

7) Waratah Strata Management failed to publish information that committee Chairperson (SP52948 Lot 200) put their property for sale on 24 October 2023 - two days before general meeting, had six proxy votes for the meeting, got elected on the committee, voted to increase levies by 7.91% for other others whilst they did not intend to pay for them. Lot 200 is a townhouse and it was sold prior to auction at price of $1,670,000.00.

Waratah Strata Management declined to respond to inquiries why this false candidacy for committee membership was allowed.

8) Waratah Strata Management failed to notify owners about refusing to issue issue invoices and receipts for five owner's payments in amount of $23,744.72 (GST excl).

9) Waratah Strata Management and building manager Uniqueco Property Services failed to conduct Work Health & Safety/Hazardous Materials Survey since 2017 in spite of knowledge that common property is used for business.

Strata schemes are normally not covered under the work health and safety legislation unless they do not engage any workers as employees, the common areas the body corporate is responsible for are used only for residential purposes.

SP52948 is continuously using common property for short-term leases (hotel-like services), in non compliance with Residential Tenancy Act 1987, as per emails to Waratah Strata Management on 26 March 2020 and 19 April 2021:

SP52948-warnings-ignored-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-about-compliance-issues-with-Residential-Tenancy-Act-1987-26Mar2020

SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-ignored-evidence-of-long-term-problems-with-ventilation-smoke-alarms-and-non-compliance-with-Residential-Tenancy-Act-2010-19Apr2021

Waratah Strata Management ignored evidence of customer’s complaint about short-term rental of lot 93 on 31 March 2018, where they reported faulty smoke alarms.

SP52948 owners and tenants are continuously using tennis courts and swimming pool for lessons, making it important to ensure safety of all parties.

SP52948 owners and tenants continuously use common property for running businesses, including parcel deliveries.

Some SP52948 properties are owned by businesses, as listed in Strata Roll.

Waratah Strata Management applied this regulation in other complexes like SP75860 in Carlingford.

10) In agenda for AGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management published the following notes from the Chairperson of the committee:

BEGIN QUOTE Strata levies Last year, levies were increased by 5% and some felt that this might be too low given the then annual level of inflation (7.5%). This matter has caught up with us and we recommend to the AGM an increase of 8% for 2023-4 so that we can maintain all existing services, cope with some huge cost increases (e.g.. insurances) and provide substantial funds to fulfill obligations from the fire audit.

Property manager’s contract Overwhelming endorsement by owners and residents of the services provided by UNIQUECO under the leadership of (name withheld) encouraged to strata committee to renew a three-year contract with new figures to reflect the inflation of the last three years 18% and the anticipated inflation for the next three years. The AGM is requested to approve this proposal.

Fire audit Over the last three years, the committee has been trying to address a fire audit report and Fire Safety Order from Ryde Council. With far reaching implications, including cost, two fire engineers have been engaged to review the original audit and now finally a proposal has been sent to council about how these matters will be addressed. The Council response will result in a scope of works and job orders and then finally work will commence. The extent of these works will depend on the response from council. END QUOTE

During AGM 2023, the above statements were challenged by an owner, and neither Waratah Strata Management nor committee members could refute the following facts:

Waratah Strata Management and Chairperson mislead the owners by stating that inflation rate in 2022 was 7.5%. Official inflation rate for 2022 for Australia was 6.59%.

At AGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management could not explain figure of 18% inflation rates for the last three years. Figure for official inflation rates of 18% for three years prior to 2023 were grossly inflated and designed to coerce owners (ABS released figure of 5.4% for 2023 on 25 October 2023).

2022 => 6.59% 2021 => 2.86% 2020 => 0.85%

Waratah Strata Management failed to present long-term negative trends in Capital Works and Admin Funds, including evidence that on 26 October 2023 negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund amounted to $307,580.90.

Waratah Strata Management and Chairperson mislead the owners by not disclosing that serious fire safety and OH&S problems were reported since 2020 and still not fully resolved as of November 2023. In addition, Waratah Strata Management declined to provide owners with City of Ryde fire orders. How dangerous actions to delay fire safety works was displayed on 4 February 2021, when a secret email between Uniqueco Property Services proposed to Waratah Strata Management to DELAY fire safety remediation work due to lack of formal orders by City of Ryde Council, in spite of the fact that Director of Uniqueco Property Services was aware of threat by the council that such order would come since 10 December 2020.

11) At AGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management and Chairperson tried to renew three-year contract with Uniqueco Property Services without tender, and without significant disclosure of information about their quality of services, police events for stalking, harassment, and threats, lack of proactive maintenance, and much more.

Concerned owner prevented the renewal and Waratah Strata Management now plans to urgently run another Extraordinary General Meeting.

Due to poor performance by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services, owner requested the following tenders be presented to owners at AGM 2020 - they were disallowed for competing for strata and building management contracts at AGM 2020 without valid reasons. Three very competitive quotes for building management contract:

Curtis Strata Cleaning Forte Asset Services Clean and Secure Building Management

All three of them offered two options for security services with licensed staff: Patrols two times a night in around 30 minute duration each time, Full 10-hour a night onsite security.

Reasons for option with patrols: all fire doors in the basement in the complex now have alarms, new CCTV system installed in the complex.

Very competitive quote from Jim's Mowing franchise for gardening.

Three very competitive quotes for the strata management contract: Strata Excellence Strata Title Management Netstrata

12) Waratah Strata Management did not allow any serious discussion on Budget and Levy Contributions at AGM 2023.

13) Waratah Strata Management and committee members disallowed owners to consider alternatives to levy increases: introduce full accounting audits and reviews and recover significant amounts back into owners corporation funds without any costs to owners:

The Property Services Compensation Fund (PSCF) in New South Wales provides an avenue for consumers to seek compensation when they suffer financial loss due to the dishonest or fraudulent conduct of licensed property service providers. Licensed property service providers, including strata managers, contribute to the fund through an annual fee based on their licence class and level of business activity. If a strata manager engages in dishonest or fraudulent conduct, the owners corporation or individual lot owners can make a claim for compensation under the PSCF. The PSCF is administrated by NSW Office of Fair Trading. To be eligible for compensation under the PSCF, an owners corporation or owner must have suffered a financial loss as a direct result of the licensed strata manager’s ‘failure to account’. A ‘failure to account’ means a ‘failure by a licensee to account for money or other valuable property entrusted to the licensee or an associate of the licensee in the course of the carrying on of the licensee’s business as a licensee’. Any claim is limited to $500,000 and must be made within whichever of the following periods ends first: 12 months after the claimant has become aware of the failure to account; or 2 years after the date of the failure to account.

Waratah Strata Management failed to notify owners about options to recover funds for owners, without increasing levies:

$92,950.00 which was NOT spent on alleged upgrades for townhouses in 2017.

Missing common property (timber) behind townhouses.

$47,849.98 which Waratah Strata Management received for insurance commissions since 2018 (their predecessor BCS Strata Management was forced to repay such amounts to owners corporation due to direct conflict of interest).

At least $100,000.00 from Solicitor for actions causing significant insurance costs and other risks, whilst acting against best interests of owners and tenants (and even ignoring requests from strata managers and committee members in the past)

Unpaid levies and 10% simple interest per year for gas heating (for some owners going back to 1999).

Overcharged or repetitive payments for same type of work without warranties.

14) Waratah Strata Management did not allow discussion in Motion 9 on insurances.

The comparison between agenda for AGM 2022 and 2023 shows same insurance expiration date (21 September 2023), but different sums insured for loss of rent/temp accommodation, additional excesses for water-related claims and all other claims, and different insurance commissions paid to Waratah Strata Management.

Waratah Strata Management did not allow owners to have information about under-insured policy for catastrophe-events.

15) And much more.

For the public records: On 31 October 2023 (last day of the FY quarter), SP52948 reached record deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $312,113.03 without disclosure to owners. On 1 November 2023, when new quarterly levies were collected, the negative balance stayed negative in amount of $106,308.01, and in next 90 days (until next collection of levies on 1 February 2024) there will be no other income - just significant expenses.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status as of 24 December 2023. a) Waratah Strata Management conducted another non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023. The reason for urgent EGM just one month after AGM was simple: they "forgot" to include Motion and tender for three-year contract renewal for building manager Uniqueco Property Services.

b) Waratah Strata Management still prevents owners from having information about NSW Fair Trading case 11138875:

BEGIN HERE Thank you for your correspondence regarding management of SP52948 by Waratah Strata Management Pty Ltd (the Agency).

Based on the information provided, Fair Trading identified that the Agency failed to provide a copy of audit reports to the owners corporation as required under Schedule 1, Clause 9 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (Act). Fair Trading has taken appropriate compliance action in accordance with our policies and procedures.

If the owners corporation is dissatisfied with the performance of the strata managing agent, the owners corporation may consider convening a general meeting to terminate the management agreement. If considering this option, the owners corporation should carefully review the agreement for termination conditions. END HERE

c) On the day of EGM 2023, SP52948 Admin Fund had deficit (negative balance) of $131,161.52 and the next collection of levies was 1 February 2024 (three months without any significant income).

Waratah Strata Management not only hid this information from owners, but also failed to explain where the money came from to pay the bills.

d) In agenda for EGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management sent this alleged Motion:

BEGIN HERE BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT That in accordance with section 67 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, fee proposals supplied by Uniqueco Pty Ltd and Building Management Australia for building management be tabled and discussed. CUT HERE

Waratah Strata Management was warned that this was not a valid Motion, which they ignored. Motions must be ruled as "out of order" as they conflicted with the Act, were unlawful, and unenforceable. According to Strata Community Association (NSW), definition of a Motion:

1. A proposal put forward for consideration at a meeting. A well written motion will enable the lot owner or committee member to vote yes (for) or no (against) on the matter.

2. A motion must clearly state the proposal to be considered at the meeting.

3. Motion must clearly state if an ordinary, special, or unanimous resolution is required.

None of the above requirements were satisfied.

e) In appendix of agenda for EGM 2023, two versions of alleged offer by Uniqueco Property Services were provided (without any details of contract offer):

Offer by Uniqueco Property Services themselves (an increase of 26.68% compared to current FY 2023 costs):

BEGIN HERE CONTRACT PRICE FOR 2024, 2025 & 2026 (Annual price, GST excl) 1. Night Shift Caretaker $166,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $125,861.88) 2. Caretaker/Assistant $175,800.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $145,095.00) 3. Cleaner $38,100.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $30,000.00) 4. Gardener $41,100.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $32,376.02) 5. Pool Maintenance $18,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $13,202.88) TOTAL: $439,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $346,535.78) CUT HERE

Recommendation by an ex-committee member who sold his property on 4 November 2023 and still attended EGM on 30 November 2023, whilst offering completely fabricated figures of Australian inflation rates:

BEGIN HERE The quote from UNIQUECO is attached. It proposes a cost of $439,000 for each of the three years 2024-2026. This is an increase of 27% on the 2021-2023 price of $346 535.

The reasons for the increase are explained in the proposal. However, there is no detail about how these figures were calculated. I have calculated the total costs based on the following researched information and assumptions: 1. The inflation rate for the three years 2021-2023 being 18.33% 2. 2% inflation increase was built into the 2021-2023 agreement (1% for each of years 2022 and 2023) 3. The equivalent starting price at the beginning of 2024 with an increase of 16.33% of $403,124. 4. Anticipated inflation 2024-2026 is difficult to predict and I suggest that a figure of 3.5% based on the predictions of inflation falling to 4% in 2024 and possibly lower in the proceeding years. 5. To cover this uncertainty, I recommend that the agreement include a phrase that the base figure (2 above) increase cumulatively for each of years 2024-2026 by 3.5% and any variation with the CPI (up or down) be added/subtracted to the following year as an adjustment.

Based on this information and assumptions the payments for the period 2024-2026 would be: 2024 $417,233 2025 $431,836 2026 $446,950 CUT HERE

f) To further manipulate the building management tender, the ex-committee member, who sold his property on 4 November 2023, not only attended EGM on 30 November 2023, but was allowed to "present" second quote for the contract, which was deliberately designed to look bad (tender for both vendors did not have same requirements for responses).

When Waratah Strata Management was question about it at the meeting, they stayed silent.

g) EGM 2023 allegedly approved the following, as written in minutes of the meeting, and did not even have any details which of the two costs for Uniqueco Property Services were adopted:

BEGIN HERE BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT Resolved that Uniqueco Pty Ltd be appointed to continue building management services in accordance with pricing schedule tabled for 2024, 2025 & 2026. CUT HERE

h) Both AGM 2023 and EGM 2023 failed to provide owners with audited accounts.

Since 2017, Waratah Strata Management failed six times to comply with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 which requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, whilst in other two years the Auditor's Report in SP52948 complex was highly dubious and questionable. Of those six delayed auditor's reports, Economos Auditor was responsible for five of them. Evidence that Economos was directly involved in the deliberate non-compliance with the regulations is shown in extract from Economos signed reports every year:

BEGIN HERE We communicate with Managing Agent regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit. CUT HERE

In fact, FY 2023 audited accounts were signed and submitted by Economos Auditor 46 days after due date of 26 October 2023. The audited figures contained questionable expenses in amount of $122,843.87 (GST excl). In addition, for Admin Fund, approved balance at AGM on 26 October 2023 differed from one audited by Economos by 74.04% ($10,652.86 vs $6,120.73). Whilst the balance in Admin Fund is small, the emphasis is on how large the percentage of margin error is.

As an example, here are few interesting expenses (without proof of work and invoices), that Waratah Strata Management claimed for themselves:

02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate $180.00 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate $90.00 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate $90.00 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate $109.00 02/05/2023 Strata Manager - additional charges at hourly rate $109.00

i) In the meantime, we opened a complaint for Waratah Strata Management professional misconduct with Strata Community Australia (NSW). Staff of Waratah Strata Management was copied in the complaint, to give them fair opportunity to respond.

We are almost confident that SCA (NSW) will do nothing, as the following evidence shows:

1. SCA (NSW) typically does not investigate any complaints against strata managers unless they are authorized by owners corporation committee members.

Question: what does SCA (NSW) do when committee members have conflict of interest and are protecting strata manager at all costs?

2. On Stratalive forum an inquiry was published on 23 February 2017, asking public if Department of Fair Trading and Strata Community Australia ever revoked license from strata managers unless they were involved in recorded criminal activities . The responses confirmed that no-one had knowledge of such cases.

3. On 6 June 2013, SCA (NSW) declined to investigate BCS Strata Management misconduct due to fact that "committee did not want BCS to be investigated".

4. It appears SCA (NSW) only takes actions when other parties do it before them. Case of Ms. Pia Anna Cunningham confirms it. And that was a strata manager who was SCA (NSW) 2014 Highly Commended ‘Young Strata Manager of the Year’ and received the SCA (NSW) 2015 ‘Young Strata Manager of the Year’ award. This strata manager was found to be guilty by NSW Fair Trading who cancelled the Strata Managing Agent’s Licence effective 5 April 2016 for a period of 10 years. This decision is in the public arena and noted on the Fair Trading website.

j) In agreement with NSW Fair Trading, we will provide further evidence in January 2024.

k) For the record, deficit (negative balance) in SP52948 Admin Fund on 22 December 2023 was $182,567.88. Would that be a valid reason for happy festive season for owners and investors?

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status as of 3 February 2024. 1) As predicted, Strata Community Australia (NSW) not only did not respond about serious evidence of misconduct by Waratah Strata Management, but also did not appear they were taking any action.

2) Because Waratah Strata Management continued to act in non-compliance with laws, in telephone conversation with them in just before Christmas, NSW Fair Trading recommended to open another investigation, which we did in mid-January 2024.

3) By pure luck, whilst going through some old evidence, we found evidence of actions committed by Waratah Strata Management that have no statute of limitations.

For that reason, we submitted to NSW Fair Trading our expectation and demanded penalties against Waratah Strata Management to the full extend permissible.

This is from our email to NSW Fair Trading:

BEGIN QUOTE Waratah Strata Management deliberately mislead, withheld information, and provided false information to NSW Fair Trading in case 9761719 in 2019 where:

Auditor’s Report for FY 2017 was not provided to owners, before, at, and after general meeting.

Auditor’s Report for FY 2017 was published for owners two and half years after due date, in incomplete form.

Auditor’s Report for FY 2018 was not provided to owners, before, at, and after general meeting.

Question: How much can NSW Fair Trading trust any statement by Waratah Strata Management now and in the future?

The attached document "SP52948-Auditor-Report-20Oct2017.pdf" cannot be considered as valid under any aspect of the law, as it contains no details of audited accounts. It is a plain one-and-half page documents, which is missing all of the following:

Proper information about the auditor (address, phone number), Balance sheet, Statement of income & expenditure relating to the Administrative Fund, Statement of income & expenditure relating to the Sinking Fund.

Further more, there is an irrefutable evidence that such report was forged because audited accounts for FY 2018 and 2019 did not have any paid expenses for Auditor’s work in 2017. Refer to the following attachments:

SP52948-Auditor-not-paid-during-whole-FY-2018-for-incomplete-FY2017-auditor-report-allegedly-signed-on-20Oct2017-but-not-provided-to-any-owner-for-next-two-and-half-years

SP52948-Auditor-not-paid-during-whole-FY-2019-for-incomplete-FY2017-auditor-report-allegedly-signed-on-20Oct2017-but-not-provided-to-any-owner-for-next-two-and-half-years

SP52948-detailed-expenses-1Sep2017-31Aug2018.pdf

We have a full copy of "SP52948-detailed-expenses-1Sep2018-to-31Aug2019.pdf" but it is too large for email.

Our PAID document searches on 31 May 2019 and 20 September 2019 found no evidence of Auditor Reports for FY 2017 and 2019.

Attachments "SP52948-outcome-of-document-search-at-Waratah-Strata-Management-and-deliberate-refusal-by-strata-manager-to-provide-access-to-files-on-31May2019.pdf" and "SP52948-outcome-of-document-search-at-Waratah-Strata-Management-and-deliberate-refusal-by-strata-manager-to-provide-access-to-files-on-20Sep2019.pdf", which Waratah Strata Management ignored.

In late 2019, O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors tried to obtained access to strata files on our behalf. The request included request to Auditor Reports for FY 2017 and 2018.

On 14 November 2019, Solicitor for SP52948 rejected the request, attempted to force "defamation case" (and failed), and refused to provide access to strata files, even stating:

"Turning to the requests set out in your letter, the representatives of the owners corporation have instructed us to reject them.

These owners have undertaken repeated inspections of the records of the owners corporation. The representatives of the owners corporation consider that all available records of the owners corporation were made available to them during those inspections as a result of which if they do not have any records that they desire that is because those records are likely not available.

Equally importantly, if these owners are truly prepared to confine his communications to matters relating to the maintenance and repair of their property only, and to cease and desist from disseminating what the representatives of the owners corporation consider to be defamatory material about them, then what is the purpose of them pressing for the records to be produced to them?

In the circumstances, the representatives of the owners corporation do not consider that there is any merit in their request request for those records to be provided and they are not prepared to agree to the request."

Auditor Report for FY 2017 was not published on Waratah Strata Management website even as late as 21 February 2020 (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata.com.au-website-Documents-folder-part-8-21Feb2020.png").

Forged Auditor Report was suddenly published two and half years after the event, and backdated to 31 August 2017, in spite of the fact that even the report itself had alleged signature dated 20 October 2017.

Attachment "SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-forged-FY2017-Auditor-Report-date-of-issue-12May2020.webp"

Since 2019, Waratah Strata Management and Economos were asked to explain the discrepancies between FY 2018 audited accounts and accounts given in agenda for AGM 2019. No reply was even received, or corrections published.

Attachment " SP52948-differences-for-income-and-expenditure-FY2018-audited-figures-provided-by-Waratah-Strata-Management-for-AGM-2018-and-FY2019.pdf".

4) On 25 January Waratah Strata Management was notified about NSW Fair Trading case 11204124, asking them to inform all owners (which they refused), and refute our statements (which they silently ignored).

These are four main areas of concern in NSW Fair Trading case 11204124:

a) In period from October 2017 to November 2023, Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 six times for Annual General Meetings and four times for Extraordinary General Meetings that followed AGMs, which requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. In spite of NSW Fair Trading ruling in case 11138875 on 17 October 2023 (which Waratah Strata Management hid from owners), Waratah Strata Management deliberately continued to ignore Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 at two general meetings in late 2023, where audited accounts were not provided to any owner before, at, and after the meetings when minutes where published: Annual General Meeting on 26 October 2023, Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023, and pending Extraordinary General Meeting on 22 February 2024. As Economos Auditor failed to co-operate with Chartered Accountants Australian & New Zealand in case PC - 003660, he was notified about being listed as accessory for non-compliance of SP52948 audits in January 2024.

b) False statement about last Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Strata Hub nsw.gov.au with risks of penalties for outdated and wrong information – Waratah Strata Management ignored concerns about non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021 seven times since June 2023. Since June 2023 Waratah Strata Management has not taken any corrective action whilst charging SP52948 in amount of $678.18 for their work in FY 2023.

c) Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015, Sch1, Part 10(1) at AGM 2023 and EGM 2023, where an owner requested that owners corporation provides copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits and trust accounts, and others as applicable), which have to be produced to the owner at least two days before the meeting at which the statements are to be presented. Of special interest is evidence of how Waratah Strata Management paid invoices from Admin Fund which had negative balance almost 100% of the time during FY 2023 and so far in FY 2024. If the money was borrowed from Capital Works Fund, Waratah Strata Management must have complied with SSMA 2015 Section 76. Waratah Strata Management hides from owners that Admin Fund balance is so bad that monthly salaries for building manager Uniqueco Property Services have been significantly delayed since November 2023, so much so that one monthly salary is still missing in balance sheet as of 3 February 2024.

d) Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015 Section 182 for SP52948 document search three times: on 28 December 2023, 8 January 2024, and 15 January 2024.

Waratah Strata Management suddenly "managed" to update information at Strata Hub on 31 January 2024.

Negative balance in Admin Fund continues to shock every reasonable person, but Waratah Strata Management refuses to inform owners. On last day of the financial quarter, on 31 January 2024, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was $276,492.96.

On 1 February 2024, new levies were collected and negative balance continued, with deficit of $31,492.96 without any other significant income for next three months, which means next three months will be in "red", like most of FY 2023 and now FY 2024.

Apart from the fact that we submitted before, for Admin Fund, approved balance at AGM on 26 October 2023 differed from one audited by Economos 46 days after due date by 74.04% ($10,652.86 vs $6,120.73) and Waratah Strata Management orchestrated renewal of three-year contract with Uniqueco Property Services without valid tender and valid Motion, there is a second "misalignment":

Approved expenses for electricity usage and supply at AGM on 26 October 2023 differed from one audited by Economos 46 days after due date by 9.21% ($49,171.9 vs $53,704.10).

Fourth request (and final), with detailed list of required documents, was submitted to Waratah Strata Management on 31 January 2024. It was read by Director of the company on 1 January 2024 but not responded yet. In email to NSW Fair Trading, we made the following prediction:

BEGIN QUOTE We are almost 100% confident that, if the visit to their office really happens, many documents which Waratah Strata Management has to keep for seven years will be unavailable or missing.

We will collect video and photo evidence of the status of SP52948 documents and share with NSW Fair Trading. END QUOTE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Evidence for SP52948 financial audit in 2012, by "putting the puzzle together", accidentally found on 8 February 2024 proving that truth cannot be hidden forever.

1) To start with, Waratah Strata Management predecessor, BCS Strata Management hid information from owners that Admin Fund had no money to pay bills, where branch manager asked his staff to inject funds into SP52948 from the MBL account in the sum of $50,000.00, as per email on 4 July 2012.

2) Year 2012 (and 2013) were sources of multiple illegal activities by BCS Strata Management and the Solicitor with false evidence in two CTTT cases (SCS 12/32675 and SC 12/50460) and four fraudulent insurance claims for alleged legal costs of the Solicitor.

Even Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia declined to get involved in serious insurance fraud, as per their email on 5 April 2017.

Thanks to our persistence, in 2017 CHU Insurance forced SP52948 to repay $8,800.00.

3) BCS Strata Management sent agenda for AGM on 4 October 2012, with Bamfield's auditor report which was signed on 25 August 2012, five days before actual end of financial year, but allegedly presented to strata manager on 26 September 2012.

4) On 8 October 2012, Chairperson of the committee, in panic, sent secret email to strata manager reporting many problems with audited accounts. Among the others, the accounts attached to the AGM notice had no comparative figures for five-year period and reported Admin Fund having $61,904.00 whereas the real balance was only $16,372.00, and Sinking Fund was reported having $742,593.00 whereas the real balance was $800,300.00. 5) Instead of asking Bamfield for new audit, BCS Strata Management simply sent another dubious version of the accounts in addendum on 11 October 2012 (prepared on 9 October but sent two days later for AGM scheduled for 17 October 2012, not giving sufficient time for owners to receive the notice that would be legally compliant - not counting date of postage, weekend, and day of general meeting only three days were allowed for notice delivery).

It did not make any sense that AGM agenda on 4 October 2012 sent "wrong" version of financials dated 18 September 2012 when there was another (allegedly corrected) version dated 21 September 2012.

6) At AGM on 17 October 2012, Chairperson of the committee provided full set of incorrect statements about errors in audited accounts (including alleged amendment of date of the audit from 26 August 2012 to 26 September 2012), as extract from official minutes of the meeting confirmed.

7) Eight years later, in spite of alleged ransomware attack on Waratah Strata Management website in 2019 and lost USB key with all strata files in April 2018, Waratah Strata "managed" to find and publish SP52948 audited accounts for FY 2012 - available on their website as of February 2024.

The report still contained original Bamfield's letterhead dated 26 September 2012, BCS Strata Management stamp on it dated 27 September 2012, and Bamfield's signature on page 4 dated 26 August 2012. Auditor's report was actually never changed!

By publishing Bamfield's auditor report for FY 2012, Waratah Strata Management became accessory to crime after the event - they even misrepresented date of published report as 27 September 2012 (screenshot and video of Waratah Strata website proved it on 8 February 2024).

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Another non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 22 February 2024. There were four Motions that were of special interest:

a) In accordance with Sec 85 (3) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 the Owners Corporation waive $48.00 of levy arrears interest charges for lot 7.

b) Renovation application under terms of Special By-Law 13 submitted by Lot 8.

c) Renovation application under terms of Special By-Law 13 submitted by Lot 86.

d) Renovation application under terms of Special By-Law 13 submitted by Lot 116.

Some of problems with this meeting:

1) Waratah Strata Management, with support of present owners, refused to provide names of valid owners as requested by Lot 158 at the meeting, as per SSMA 2015 Section 13 - Chairperson to announce names of persons entitled to vote: if requested to do so by a person present and entitled to vote at a meeting, the chairperson must, before submitting a motion to the meeting or the holding of the election of members of the strata committee, announce the names of the persons who are entitled to vote on that motion or at that election; strata manager claimed the list was long (later on, when minutes of the meeting were published, it turned out only 13 owners were present in person and two via proxy vote) and when offered to provide it in Zoom chat instead of pronouncing the names, he refused that option too.

2) Lot 86 already started major renovations without general meeting in January 2024, without disclosure to owner:

SP42948-Block-C-Lot-86-renovations-without-approval-at-general-meeting-20Jan2024

Lot 86 did not finish the renovations in announced period, and additional work was announced on 9 February 2024:

SP42948-Block-C-Lot-86-renovations-without-approval-at-general-meeting-9Feb2024

3) Six notice boards in the complex published agenda for EGM scheduled for 22 February 2024 as late as morning of 20 February 2024, and failed to meet requirement the Secretary must put a notice about the meeting on the noticeboard at least 3 days before a meeting is held.

4) As the quorum was not satisfied, Waratah Strata Management should have waited 30 minutes before proceeding; SSMA 2015 Section 17 changed the conditions for quorums of general meetings: meeting can be declared once a quorum is in attendance within the first 30 minutes of the declared starting time of the meeting but if a quorum is not present the chairperson must wait for the 30 minutes to elapse.

5) Waratah Strata Management made accidental admission that 30-minute wait was not satisfied because they declared meeting closed (in the minutes of the meeting) at 18:30 hours, which meant that the whole general meeting lasted less than one minute (original start was at 18:00 hours with declaration that it was a valid meeting several minutes afterwards, and with compulsory delay of 30 minutes due to lack of quorum, the new start time had to be 18:30 hours).

6) Amendments of previous EGM and AGM were ignored.

7) Evidence of discrimination of owners (that benefited selective owners and committee members) was ignored. Some owners were allowed not to pay overdue fees and interest for overdue levies.

Some examples of owners being allowed to not pay fees and interest for overdue levies without owners corporation approval at general meetings:

Lot 3 (previous committee member) Lot 62 (previous committee member) Lot 147 (previous committee member) Lot 181 (current committee member) Lot 167

Waratah Strata Management and committee members received email warning about discrimination of owners one week before the meeting and they chose to ignore it:

SP52948-discrimination-and-special-privileges-for-selective-owners-18Feb2024

8) None of the three Motions for renovations provided any evidence of paid fees to support their applications.

9) None of the three Motions for renovations provided clear voting instruction if they required ordinary, special, or unanimous decisions.

10) Only 11 owners attended the meeting (one of them owns three properties, so number of "real" votes was 13, with one owner being late for most of the meeting and still counted as valid (Lot 200).

11) There were two proxy votes.

12) In total, out of 218 owners, 14 were attending the meeting.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Update sent to NSW Fair Trading last week: Waratah Strata Management continued with serious mismanagement of SP52948.

Waratah Strata Management still refuses to notify owners about NSW Fair Trading cases 11138875 and 11204124.

1) After partial document search in Waratah Strata Management office of 13 February 2024, many files were missing, including valid version of Strata Roll.

Waratah Strata Management was asked to provide missing files three times and they silently refused.

2) Since October 2022, Waratah Strata Management did not provide copies of Auditor's Reports to any owner before, at, and after six general meetings (not only these reports did not comply with strata regulations, but also contained inaccurate data):

Two Annual General Meetings: 2022 and 2023

Four Extraordinary General Meetings in 2023 and 2024

3) Financial files were forged and contained grossly inaccurate figures for period November 2023 to late February 2024. At committee meeting on 22 February 2024, Waratah Strata Management was forced to admit missing one monthly salary for Uniqueco Property Services.

How bad is the accounting is shown in this simple example:

False version of balance in Admin Fund on 30 November 2023 listed deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $132,947.52. After "corrections" by Waratah Strata Management on 27 February 2024, version of balance in Admin Fund on 30 November 2023 listed deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $161,825.50.

False version of balance in Admin Fund on 31 January 2024 listed deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $280,884.25. After "corrections" by Waratah Strata Management on 27 February 2024, version of balance in Admin Fund on 31 January 2024 listed deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $309,762,23. Negative balance on 31 January is second highest deficit (worst one was on 31 October 2023 in amount of $312,113.03.

4) Waratah Strata Management, in panic, tried to correct their deliberate delays to update information at Strata Hub, and finally made some updates on 31 January 2024, after NSW Fair Trading case was opened. They are still liable for premeditated delays to do this, as per strata regulations.

5) In spite of very bad balance in Admin Fund, Waratah Strata Management continues to implement DISCRIMINATORY collection of levies from owners. They were warned about it and they ignored it:

SP52948-discrimination-and-special-privileges-for-selective-owners-18Feb2024

6) In short, these issues are still valid:

In period from October 2017 to November 2023, Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 seven times, which requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. In spite of NSW Fair Trading ruling in case 11138875 on 17 October 2023, Waratah Strata Management deliberately continued to ignore Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 at two general meetings in late 2023, and one in 2024, where audited accounts were not provided to any owner before, at, and after the meetings when minutes where published: Annual General Meeting on 26 October 2023, Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023, Extraordinary General Meeting on 22 February 2024.

False statement about last Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Strata Hub nsw.gov.au with risks of penalties for outdated and wrong information – Waratah Strata Management ignored concerns about non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021 seven times since June 2023. From June 2023 (to 31 January 2024) Waratah Strata Management did not take any corrective action whilst charging SP52948 in amount of $678.18 for their work in FY 2023.

Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015, Sch1, Part 10(1) at AGM 2023 and EGM 2023, where an owner requested that owners corporation provides copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits and trust accounts, and others as applicable), which have to be produced to the owner at least two days before the meeting at which the statements are to be presented. Of special interest is evidence of how Waratah Strata Management paid invoices from Admin Fund which had negative balance almost 100% of the time during FY 2023 and so far in FY 2024. If the money was borrowed from Capital Works Fund, Waratah Strata Management must have complied with SSMA 2015 Section 76.

Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015 Section 182 for SP52948 document search four times: on 28 December 2023, 8 January 2024, 15 January 2024, and 13 February 2024. On day of AGM on 26 October 2023, Admin Fund had negative balance of $242,432.81 in Balance Sheet, without disclosure to owners.

Update on 15 May 2024. 1) On 27 March 2024, City of Ryde Council sent so-called NOPO (NOTICE OF INTENTION PROPOSED FIRE SAFETY ORDER) EPA2024/19 / FSS2014/7 to Waratah Strata Management, warning about continuous delays to attend to fire safety issues and requesting that all owners receive a copy of this document.

2) A concerned owner requested that Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services provide this information to all owners on the same day - 27 March 2024. They ignored both City of Ryde Council and the concerned owner.

For them, fire safety is not an issue that should be shared with owners and investors.

3) As of today, the NOPO has not been shared with any of 218 owners and investors in the complex since you sent it on 27 March 2024.

Waratah Strata Management (strata agency) did not publish it on their website.

Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services (building manager) refused to publish it on six notice boards in the complex.

As of today, there was only one committee meeting since City of Ryde correspondence on 27 March 2024. It was a so-called paper committee meeting on 2 April 2024, which did not include any reference to fire safety information. It is important to state that this meeting, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). Agenda was created on 26 April 2024 and meeting scheduled for 2 April 2024. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, public holidays, and the weekend, only two days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. No owner received full information about financial status, where Admin Fund had deficit (negative balance) of $190,762.04 one day before alleged agenda was sent to owners. Agenda was not detailed, especially the details of Solicitor's costs in Standard Costs Agreement. Agenda did not contain details of time and place of the meeting, denying owners their right to attend in person, if they wishes so, and with 25% of voting rights to make decision any way they wanted without committee members. Meeting did not satisfy quorum (out of four allegedly valid votes, two were not legal committee members).

As of today, open quotes for the fire safety remediation work are not found on waratahstrata website.

As of today, almost two months after the NOPO, there are no scheduled meetings to discuss fire safety.

As of today, Waratah Strata Management on their website lists 14 open orders for various rectification works, of which five are related to fire safety:

27/02/2024 Fire safety equipment repairs

13/02/2024 Fire safety - fire sprinkler repairs

3/12/2020 Lot 158 Sunroom leak

9/07/2020 Smoke detector Unit 148 - Eagle Fire

25/06/2020 Quote accepted for fire services - Flame Safe

Evacuation diagrams still do not exist on common property.

Further more, in non-compliance with SP52948 registrations, number of properties are used for non-hosted short-term rental accommodation (short-term rental accommodation provided where the host does not reside on the premises during the provision of the accommodation) and they have special requirements in regard to fire safety, which has never been checked or applied in this complex.

Update on 2 June 2024. Two Waratah Strata Management staff (same family) are now listed as accessories/witnesses in recently opened Police Event for insurance fraud and other events. That is on top of investigations by NSW Fair Trading, Office of Legal Services, and New South Wales Bar Association.

As of today, negative balance (deficit) in SP52948 Admin Fund is $100,644.49. Waratah Strata Management refused to notify owners about long-term financial problems.

This update specifically deals with how Waratah Strata Management organised non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023 to approve building management contract renewal without valid tenders.

1) At EGM on 30 November 2023, Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners, even upon formal request, the full calculation of the quorum.

Here is their secret document, created on 30 November 2023 at 12:29 hours (just several hours before the meeting):

BEGIN QUOTE Unfinancial: 29 Financial: 189 Total: 218 END QUOTE

2) Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners that there was outstanding debt for unpaid levies in amount of $39,109.53.

3) In official minutes of EGM on 30 November 2023, Waratah Strata Management listed 91 owners as valid to vote (out of 218 in total).

4) Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners that they allowed unfinancial owners to vote.

Alleged minutes of this meeting listed many votes, where 11 owners had outstanding levies as of cut-off date, including Lot 7 who attended in person (to "vote" for his major renovation without compliance with Special By-Law). Here were their outstanding levies:

Lot 6, $0.30 (proxy to Lot 88) Lot 7, $1,238.80 Lot 16, $1,461.10 (proxy to Lot 142) Lot 23, $1,492.90 (proxy to Lot 151) Lot 40, $1,679.10 (proxy to Lot 151) Lot 72, $1,397.55 (proxy to Lot 218) Lot 150, $1,175.25 (proxy to Lot 142) Lot 167, $1,397.55 (proxy to Lot 170) Lot 176, $4.97 (proxy to Lot 181) Lot 185, $1,556.40 (proxy to Lot 88) Lot 194, $0.45 (proxy to Lot 200)

On 31 March 2024, Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and committee members, received this information and failed to act upon it.

5) Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners that Lot 200, who was Chairperson of the committee in the past, sold his property on 4 November 2023 and still attended EGM on 30 November 2023, carried 8 proxy votes:

Lot 68 Lot 194 Lot 196 Lot 201 Lot 205 Lot 206 Lot 207 Lot 219

Half a day after EGM 2023, Lot 200 resigned on 1 November 2023 after achieving two goals:

a) Increased levies for all owners for FY 2024 by voted to increase levies by 7.91% for other others whilst they did not intend to pay for them. Lot 200 is a townhouse and it was sold prior to auction at price of $1,670,000.00.

b) Forced owners to "approve" building management contract renewal with Uniqueco Property Services without valid tender, with undisclosed final financial details of the contract.

6) Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners that Lot 159, who was illegal to be a committee member due to self-nomination before AGM 2023, carried 6 proxy votes at EGM 2023:

Lot 35 Lot 38 Lot 46 Lot 73 Lot 80 Lot 163

7) Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose to owners that Lot 181, who was illegal to be a committee member due to self-nomination before AGM 2023 and unfinancial status, carried 10 proxy votes at EGM 2023:

Lot 5 Lot 15 Lot 64 Lot 147 (long-term unfinancial owner due to unpaid gas heating levies) Lot 168 Lot 175 (long-term unfinancial owner due to unpaid gas heating levies) Lot 176 Lot 182 Lot 186 Lot 216

8) On the day of EGM 2023, SP52948 Admin Fund had deficit (negative balance) of $131,161.52 and the next collection of levies was 1 February 2024 (three months without any significant income). But that figure was artificially low due to false accounting data by Waratah Strata Management.

Waratah Strata Management not only hid this information from owners, but also failed to explain where the money came from to pay the bills since 2022.

Further more, Waratah Strata Management hid the salary for Uniqueco Property Management for November 2023, with intention to present false accounting data.

At SP52948 committee meeting on 22 February 2024, Waratah Strata Management was forced to admit they kept false version of financial data in Admin and Capital Works Funds for three months. The difference in Income & Expenditure Reports for 30 November 2023 found on Waratah Strata Management website up to 26 February 2024 and modified version on 27 February 2024, with huge change in balance for Admin and Capital Works Fund are proofs of it.

Bottom line, Admin Fund was missing salary for Uniqueco Property Services for Novemeber 2023 in amount of $29,866.24.

For public records: On 31 October 2023 (last day of the FY quarter), SP52948 reached record deficit (negative balance) in Admin Fund in amount of $312,113.03 without disclosure to owners. On 1 November 2023, when new quarterly levies were collected, the negative balance stayed negative in amount of $106,308.01.

9) In agenda for EGM 2023, Waratah Strata Management sent this alleged Motion:

BEGIN HERE BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT That in accordance with section 67 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, fee proposals supplied by Uniqueco Pty Ltd and Building Management Australia for building management be tabled and discussed. CUT HERE

Waratah Strata Management was warned that this was not a valid Motion, which they ignored. Motions must be ruled as "out of order" as they conflicted with the Act, were unlawful, and unenforceable. According to Strata Community Association (NSW), definition of a Motion:

1. A proposal put forward for consideration at a meeting. A well written motion will enable the lot owner or committee member to vote yes (for) or no (against) on the matter.

2. A motion must clearly state the proposal to be considered at the meeting.

3. Motion must clearly state if an ordinary, special, or unanimous resolution is required.

None of the above requirements were satisfied.

10) In appendix of agenda for EGM 2023, two versions of alleged offer by Uniqueco Property Services were provided (without any details of contract offer):

Offer by Uniqueco Property Services themselves (an increase of 26.68% compared to current FY 2023 costs):

BEGIN HERE CONTRACT PRICE FOR 2024, 2025 & 2026 (Annual price, GST excl) 1. Night Shift Caretaker $166,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $125,861.88) 2. Caretaker/Assistant $175,800.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $145,095.00) 3. Cleaner $38,100.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $30,000.00) 4. Gardener $41,100.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $32,376.02) 5. Pool Maintenance $18,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $13,202.88) TOTAL: $439,000.00 (current FY 2023 cost: $346,535.78) CUT HERE

Recommendation by an ex-committee member Lot 200, who sold his property on 4 November 2023 and still attended EGM on 30 November 2023, whilst offering completely fabricated figures of Australian inflation rates:

BEGIN HERE The quote from UNIQUECO is attached. It proposes a cost of $439,000 for each of the three years 2024-2026. This is an increase of 27% on the 2021-2023 price of $346,535.00.

The reasons for the increase are explained in the proposal. However, there is no detail about how these figures were calculated. I have calculated the total costs based on the following researched information and assumptions:

1. The inflation rate for the three years 2021-2023 being 18.33%

2. 2% inflation increase was built into the 2021-2023 agreement (1% for each of years 2022 and 2023)

3. The equivalent starting price at the beginning of 2024 with an increase of 16.33% of $403,124.

4. Anticipated inflation 2024-2026 is difficult to predict and I suggest that a figure of 3.5% based on the predictions of inflation falling to 4% in 2024 and possibly lower in the proceeding years.

5. To cover this uncertainty, I recommend that the agreement include a phrase that the base figure (2 above) increase cumulatively for each of years 2024-2026 by 3.5% and any variation with the CPI (up or down) be added/subtracted to the following year as an adjustment.

Based on this information and assumptions the payments for the period 2024-2026 would be:

2024 $417,233 2025 $431,836 2026 $446,950 CUT HERE

11) EGM 2023 allegedly approved the following, as written in minutes of the meeting, and did not even have any details which of the two costs for Uniqueco Property Services were adopted:

BEGIN HERE BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT Resolved that Uniqueco Pty Ltd be appointed to continue building management services in accordance with pricing schedule tabled for 2024, 2025 & 2026. CUT HERE

12) To this day, 2 June 2024, Waratah Strata Management hides copy of the three-year contract with Uniqueco Property Services.

13) From accounting data, if we can trust Waratah Strata Management, here are the monthly salaries for Uniqueco Property Services since the new contract started on 1 February 2024:

14 February 2024, $38,803.44 6 March 2024, $37,237.78 10 April 2024, $37,716.27

Figure for May 2024 is listed under dubious account code:

Standard code for "Maint Bldg -- Building Management" is 161300. But in May 2024, separate code was added in Admin Fund balance "161350 Maint Bldg -- Building Management Expenses") with expenses in amount of $37,428.06:

23 May 2024, $37,428.06

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Another meeting without compliance with strata laws. It became a predictable pattern since 1 February 2017.

1) Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 17 May 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

2) Agenda was created on 17 May 2024 and scheduled for 23 May 2024. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, public holidays, and the weekend, only three days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.

Access to current Strata Roll was disabled by deliberate actions of strata manager.

3) No owner received full information about financial status, where Admin Fund had deficit (negative balance) of $100,522.75 on the day of the meeting.

4) Agenda was not detailed.

Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services still refuse to publish fire safety orders issued by City of Ryde Council.

Main motion for this meeting contained incomplete details about massive expenses awaiting owners - Core Consulting Engineers was engaged to assess tenders by the following fire contractors in a response to the tender documentation by CORE (forced by City of Ryde Council). Even worse, these tenders were still incomplete, in spite of fire safety non-compliance for four-years:

Superior Fire Services

Remedial

Flamesafe

Fire Protect Services

Their incomplete quotes ranged in price from $783,713.00 to $3,450,172.00.

This work, which must be completed in the near future, along with many other overdue repairs (roof membranes on four buildings are one example), bring large strata complex close to bankruptcy and huge expenses to owners.

5) Owners who relied to Australia Post for delivery of agenda did not receive it.

6) None of six notice boards published agenda of the alleged meeting until one day before the meeting on 22 May 2024 (meeting was scheduled for 23 May 2024 - photo evidence was collected). In fact, agenda was published on notice boards around lunch time on 22 May 2024 around 27 hours before the meeting.

7) Waratah Strata Management was repeatedly warned about allowing self-nominations for committee (this problem reoccurred at AGM 2023 too). On 13 February 2024, Waratah Strata Management and committee members were warned about strata managers lies in agenda for AGM 2023, and they did not respond. Waratah Strata Management failed to offer any evidence that nominations for committee members were done in accordance with SSMA 2015 Schedule 1 Section 5 at previous general meetings.

Waratah Strata Management abused this requirement in the past and allowed "standard" committee members to self-nominate whilst preventing another owner from the same (reference to Sec 31 (1) (c) of the SSMA).

Lot 87, email from strata manager telling owner he was able to self-nominate on 12 October 2023

Lot 200, email to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 18 October 2023

Lot 218, email to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 18 October 2023

Lot 133, email to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 18 October 2023

Lot 181, email to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 17 October 2023

Lot 133, email to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 17 October 2023 (and then allegedly removed her candidacy at AGM on 26 October 2023, where there were 10 candidates on two polling pages and one name was missing initially in spite of advance notice)

Lot 122, mail to strata manager and all committee members with his self-nomination on 17 October 2023

Lot 142, mail to strata manager and all committee members with her self-nomination on 17 October 2023

Lot 170, mail to strata manager and all committee members with her self-nomination on 17 October 2023

8) Even 13 days after the alleged meeting (as of 5 June 2024), none of six notice boards published minutes of the meeting (photo and video evidence was collected).

9) Even 13 days after the alleged meeting (as of 5 June 2024), Waratah Strata Management website did not publish minutes of the meeting.

10) In secret email on 4 February 2021, Director of Uniqueco Property Services, being fully aware of fire safety issues, sent a secret email to Waratah Strata Management at 12:03 hours. The subject of the email was "Re: SP52948 - XEL Consulting - Fire Audit Report". The email ended with this notes:

BEGIN QUOTE To date we have not received any Order or further correspondence from Council.

I believe we should hold this report until Council comes back to us with a formal Order. END QUOTE

As of 5 June 2024, massive work to rectify fire safety issues is still outstanding.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Sharing information worth considering on 1 September 2024. NSW Fair Trading set the date for major issues in SP52948 (mis)management as first step in enforcing legal requirements in accordance with SSMA 2015, Sections 132, 150, 188, 232, and 238.

NSW Fair Trading mediation case 00994497 is scheduled for SP52948 on 18 November 2024 but Waratah Strata Management did not notify owners as yet (for 10 days), did not publish the document on notice boards, and did not publish the document on their website.

In FY 2024 alone (period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024) , we "achieved" terrible financial results, in spite of levy increases on 7.91% at alleged AGM 2023 (which did not satisfy legal requirements):

a) Worst negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund since the complex was built, as reported on 31 October 2023: -$312,113.03.

b) On the last day of the financial year (31 August 2024), negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund is -$76,650.88.

c) During whole FY 2024, Admin Fund had positive balance for only three weeks (in early September 2023).

d) Uniqueco Property Services contract was renewed without valid tender on 30 November 2023 at increased costs of around 30% to owners, whilst Waratah Strata Management and committee members hid the information from owners that negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund on the day of that meeting was -$161,825.50. Who, with due diligence, would increase building management costs by 30% per year without careful consideration and comprehensive tender. Further more, the negative balance in Admin Fund hid building manager's salary in amount of $29,866.24 until mid-February 2024.

That is on top of shy admission by Waratah Strata Management and committee members that our 10-Year Capital Works Fund had shortage of around 1.5 million dollars on 23 September 2021.

These are the items for first stage of mediation:

1. Provide strata documents as per paid searches (they are required for active Police Event for fraud and other criminal activities, investigations by OLSC for professional misconduct by Solicitor, and investigations by NSW Fair Trading), as per SSMA Section 188.

2. Rescind Special By-Law 11 "Unreasonable Communications", as per SSMA Section 150.

3. Order removing seven members of the executive committee, as per SSMA 2015 Section 238 (a) for their lack of duty of care and proper conduct.

4. Order Lot 151 to repair unauthorised changes to common property (gate towards gardens), as per SSMA 2015 Section 132.

5. Resolve long-term disputes and complaints about mismanagement of the complex as per as per SSMA 2015 Section 232, including:

• Hold meetings in accordance with SSMA 2015 (detailed agenda sent on time, published on notice boards and on strata manager website), and minutes sent to owners and published on notice boards and strata manager website within prescribed schedules,

• Assist Police, OLSC, NCAT, and NSW Fair Trading in their current and pending investigations,

• Publish up-to-date detailed expenses and detailed revenue for Admin and Capital Works Fund in agenda for every general meeting (Annual and Extraordinary),

• Publish all fire safety orders and yearly fire audits on strata manager website and notice boards, and send to all owners,

• Promptly terminate strata management agency and building manager due to non-compliance with their contracts and poor performance, and re-tender,

• Promptly resolve long-term common property issues, as per repeated emails sent to Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services,

• Proactively maintain common property, with special emphasis on ageing roof membranes on the four buildings, roofs on 28 townhouses, painting of interiors in four buildings, and hot water upgrades,

• Promptly comply with fire safety orders issued several times by City of Ryde Council,

• Promptly review requirements for Admin and 10-Year Capital Works plans, based on real needs to protect value of the complex,

• Provide equal services to all owners and tenants for repairs of common property,

• Enforce compliance with by-laws for smoking, parking on common and private property.

6. SSMA 2015 Section 238 (b) - Orders prohibiting strata manager and committee to make certain decisions without general meetings:

• Revoke authority for strata manager to renew insurance on behalf of owners corporation without decision at legally-convened meetings,

• Revoke authority for strata manager to renew or sign any major contract on behalf of owners corporation (utilities, elevators, painting, major maintenance and upgrades).

Latest updates. 1) On 17 September 2024, Waratah Strata Management manipulated Open Work Orders and removed 12 issues, including still outstanding Lot 158 sunroom leaks. Screenshots of first page on Waratah Strata website for SP52948 Open Work Orders at 16:14 hours and 16:24 on 17 September 2024 were significantly different (now kept as evidence for NSW Fair Trading and future legal cases).

2) Waratah Strata Management did not publish Proposed Fire Safety Order EPA2024/19 / FSS2014/7 (dated 27 March 2024) or their updates on notice boards and did not publish the document on their website.

Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services continued to act in non-compliance with fire safety regulations since 2020, in spite of repeated warnings by City of Ryde Council.

3) Owners still did not receive any details of NSW Fair Trading mediation case 00994497, as scheduled for SP52948 on 18 November 2024.

Waratah Strata Management did not publish the document on notice boards, and did not publish the document on their website.

4) How much can anyone trust the final figure for Admin Fund FY 2024. Up to 17 September 2024, four different versions of negative balance (deficit) of this figure existed:

-$76,650.88 in report on 31 August 2023 -$82,495.29 in report on 5 September 2023 -$89.919.55 in report on 13 September 2024 -$71,490.05 in report on 17 September 2024

5) By 31 October 2024, which is the end of financial quarter, there is no doubt that negative balance in SP52948 Admin Fund will reach at least $350,000.00, and no owner has any information about it.

Waratah Strata Management withholds financial status from owners and does not publish it in notices for meetings for a long time.

6) On 21 September 2024, SP52948 insurance renewal is due. Waratah Strata Management and committee members were warned that the strata manager must not get involved in its renewal due to excessive personal benefits with commissions and other (undisclosed) benefits.

When Waratah Strata Management took office without tender on 1 February 2017, SP52948 insurance premiums were $65,480.98 (GST excl) per year.

In 2024, thanks to Waratah Strata Management, SP52948 insurance premiums were $181,778.06 (GST excl).

Since 1 February 2017, when Waratah Strata Management took office, SP52948 was refused most of the insurance claims due to high legal and maintenance risks.

From 2018 to 2024, insurance commissions were paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $47,849.98 (GST excl).

In September 2024, ABC published information that ACCC chair called for ban on strata insurance commissions as insurance giant Steadfast Group was caught misleading clients.

Australia's largest strata insurance broker has been caught misleading its clients, burying an offer of cheaper insurance from a rival company, and instead recommending a more expensive policy from its own wholly owned firm. The revelation - described as "of concern" by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission - lifts the veil on the growing power of Steadfast Group, a $7 billion publicly traded insurance giant. Steadfast and its subsidiaries have deals with some of the country's largest strata firms, including PICA, which has more than 200,000 lots under management, and Bright & Duggan, which manages schemes containing 85,000 apartments and townhouses.

In March 2024, ABC also exposed the exorbitant fees and secret kickbacks that had long been received by one of the country's most high-profile strata firms, Netstrata. As a result, the company's boss, Stephen Brell, was forced to stand down from his position as the NSW president of the industry peak body, the Strata Community Association, and authorities established an inquiry into his firm's practices.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 30 September 2024 worth sharing with public. This is an unredacted email sent to NSW Fair Trading recently, after Waratah Strata Management refused to attend SP52948 mediation. As usual, Waratah Strata Management failed to share this information with owners.

SP52948 insurance renewal for FY 2025 is only covering half-year period and insurance costs are very high even without additional fees (FSL, Insurer Agency Policy Fee, Stamp Duty, Agent Fee): $134,959.31 (GST excl). But that did not stop Waratah Strata Management again to "earn" insurance commissions, close to $10,000.00 for half-year. In total, since 1 February 2017, when they took office in SP52948, Waratah Strata Management gained personal benefit in amount of $57,786.69 for insurance commissions (their predecessor BCS Strata Management was forced to repay such amounts to owners corporation).

CUT HERE Thank you for the update. We deliberately waited until today to respond. There is a strong reason why we did it.

This summary is not only for you but also for NSW Fair Trading case 11317277 (escalation to NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann).

The outcome had been predicted and anticipated well before the formal acknowledgement was received.

1) Fair Trading allowed SP52948 an extension of time to review the FREE mediation offer, It was probably due to strata manager's request to allegedly organize formal executive committee meeting to discuss it (time will reveal it).

That meeting, if NSW Fair Trading received such information from Waratah Strata Management, never complied with proper legal processes and we collected evidence for the next stage of the legal proceedings. In other words, if Waratah Strata Management claimed that SP52948 rejected offer for mediation at meeting on 19 September 2024, they DELIBERATELY MISLEAD YOU and PROVIDED FALSE STATEMENT to NSW Fair Trading:

a) The copy of the mediation request and its details were never provided to any owner.

b) The copy of the mediation request and its details were never published on six notice boards.

c) The copy of the mediation request and its details were never published on Waratah Strata website.

d) The alleged committee meeting was not listed in schedule on two different pages on Waratah Strata website at any time before and after the scheduled date of 19 September 2024.

e) Notice of the alleged committee meeting scheduled for 19 September 2024 was published on six notice board without detailed agenda just four days before the meeting.

2) This would not be the first time that Waratah Strata Management MISLEAD NSW Fair Trading and owners in the complex. Here is a summary of how they acted in previous mediation request 00351498 in 2020.

Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 12 March 2020, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Agenda was created on 7 March 2020 and scheduled for 12 March 2020. Excluding date of creation, meeting date, and the weekend, ONLY four days were allowed for delivery of notice to all owners. As per Strata Roll dated 31 January 2017, more than 32% of owners had requested postal delivery of notices – that figure is hidden from owners by Waratah Strata Management in subsequent years.

Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to Lot 158.

Paper committee meeting was scheduled for 12 March 2020 at 16:00 hours but actual meeting happened five days later, without any updated given to owners, on 17 March 2020 at 09:00 hours (time-warped event).

Owners corporation declined to attend free mediation in NSW Fair Trading NSW 00351498 on 17 March 2020, without providing owners with details of the case, or giving owners copy of the mediation request.

On 25 March 2020, Lot 158 sent the following email to Waratah Strata Management, which was never tabled in minutes of any meeting or shared with owners. Th Subject line of the email was:

“SUMMARY: Waratah Strata Management refusal to notify owners about critical issues including fair Trading Mediation and expired contract with Waratah Strata Management”.

Waratah Strata Management allowed three non-financial owners to be on the committee and vote, in spite of knowledge of unpaid levies for gas heating (including 10% simple interest per each year).

3) The issue of mismanagement is now escalating through insurance costs. Due to high risks and long-term lack of money in Admin Fund, the insurance renewal for FY 2025 is only covering half-year period!

Half-year insurance renewal costs are very high even without additional fees (FSL, Insurer Agency Policy Fee, Stamp Duty, Agent Fee): $134,959.31 (GST excl).

And yet, Waratah Strata Management collected nice commissions in amount of $9,936.71 (paid to Waratah Strata Management in spite of advance warning to executive committee to not allow it this or any other year).

In September 2024, ABC published information that ACCC chair called for ban on strata insurance commissions as insurance giant Steadfast Group was caught misleading clients.

In March 2024, ABC also exposed the exorbitant fees and secret kickbacks that had long been received by one of the country's most high-profile strata firms, Netstrata. As a result, the company's boss, Stephen Brell, was forced to stand down from his position as the NSW president of the industry peak body, the Strata Community Association, and authorities established an inquiry into his firm's practices.

When full insurance costs for the whole year is included, our expenses will grow to immense level. This is a horrible status for the complex.

4) As of now, Admin Fund, without half-year insurance renewal, has negative balance (deficit) in amount of -$123,989.48.

Effects of Waratah Strata Management on Balance Sheet from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 (FY 2023) - three different versions of figure for Admin Fund balance on the last day of financial year 2023 exist: $18,759.11 in report on 31 August 2023, $14,903.11 in report on 6 September 2023, and $10,652.86 in report on 16 September 2023; number of invoices and work moved into new financial year to give appearance of positive balance.

Effects of Waratah Strata Management on Balance Sheet from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 (FY 2024) - four different versions of this figure exist: -$76,650.88 in report on 31 August 2023, -$82,495.29 in report on 5 September 2023, -$89.919.55 in report on 13 September 2024, and -$71,490.05 in report on 17 September 2024. Postive balance in Admin Fund lasted only around three weeks during whole FY 2024.

On 31 October 2023 SP52948 "achieved" highest negative balance in Admin Fund: -$312,113.03, and yet Waratah Strata Management refused to publish it for owners up to now.

We predict that Waratah Strata Management will delay payment for half-year insurance renewal until AFTER notice of Annual General Meeting is sent (usually happens in late October each year), like they did in 2022 and 2023.

On 21 September 2022, insurance premiums increased by significant amount of 50.84% (from $108,193.26 in 2021 to $161,569.59 in 2022 - all GST inclusive), without disclosure to owners, while as of 3 October 2022 Income & expenditure Report still did not list any payments for insurance policy.

Based on official information published by Waratah Strata Management, owners' property worth more than $146 millions did not have any insurance cover when insurance policy for SP52948 expired on 21 September 2023, but renewal might have been delayed for 20 days and was not published for owners and costs were not included in Income & Expenditure Report even as late as 11 October 2023.

In agenda for AGM 2023, sent by Waratah Strata Management on 5 October 2023, information about insurance premiums still showed details for previous financial year with expiration date of 21 September 2023.

These are elements of undeniable criminal neglect and mismanagement of large strata complex. CUT HERE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 18 October 2024 worth sharing for public safety and education. SP52948 Annual General Meeting (AGM) is ordinarily held in month of October each year, but that will not happen this year because Waratah Strata Management still claims there are no scheduled meetings for this plan (and agenda for AGM not published yet).

As of 18 October 2024, negative balance (deficit) in SP52948 Admin Fund amounted to -$194,340.99 (GST excl). This did not include total costs for half-year insurance renewal in amount of $134,959.31 (GST excl) which Waratah Strata Management hid in accounting data since 21 September 2024 (additional fees: FSL, Insurer Agency Policy Fee, Stamp Duty, Agent Fee).

Apart from having $10,000.00 excess for each and every water-related damage or exploratory work, which SP52948 has in insurance policy since 2012 due to ongoing problems and poor maintenance record, SP52948 owners now have new exclusions and problems.

Due to lack of funds and high risks, SP52948 cannot even renew the insurance policy for the whole year.

This is unredacted extract from SP52948 insurance policy for half-year of 2025 (expires on 4:00PM on 21 March 2025).

CUT HERE Machinery Breakdown - Blanket Cover excluding Chillers & Lifts Machinery Breakdown cover includes all electrical and mechanical plant and equipment at the situation but excludes: 1. centrifugal chillers 2. lifts not having in force at all times a full maintenance agreement including parts & labour.

Building Defects Additional policy exclusion Building Defects and remedial work exclusion (applicable to all sections) We will not pay any claims for Damage, Personal Injury, Property Damage, Loss, or legal expenses caused directly or indirectly by, contributed by or arising from any of the defect in any item, structural defect, faulty design, faulty workmanship error or omission as outlined within the report issued by Fire and rescue NSW dated 08/11/2019 and any subsequent reports.

Risk Survey Cover under this policy is subject to a Risk Survey being conducted by Strata Unit Underwriters and implementation by the insured of any suggested risk improvements within 60 days of request.

Should the insured not make the reasonable suggested risk improvements within 60 days of request, and should the Risk Survey of the premises show an increased risk of loss, damage or liability in relation to the premises, Strata Unit Underwriters may charge an additional premium, change the cover of your policy and/or impose special conditions to reflect the increased risk of loss, damage or liability. Strata Unit Underwriters may also cancel the policy if permitted by the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth).

It is important for the insured to know that Strata Unit Underwriters may make changes to this Policy as a result of a change in the insured’s information. When there is a change, Strata Unit Underwriters will inform you. If the insured is not satisfied with the changes, the insured may cancel the policy. CUT HERE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates for large strata plan SP52948 on 2 November 2024. 1) Waratah Strata Management managed to create record negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund at the end of financial quarter on 31 October 2024: -$325,061.80 (GST excl), and that figure includes only HALF-YEAR insurance premium renewal in amount of $134,959.31 (GST incl) which Waratah Strata Management hid in accounting data since 21 September 2024 (additional fees: FSL, Insurer Agency Policy Fee, Stamp Duty, Agent Fee).

If one adds full year insurance renewal costs, negative balance (deficit) in SP52948 Admin Fund would easily exceed $450.000.00 (GST excl).

2) We now have five different versions of Admin Fund balance for FY 2024 (ended on 31 August 2024):

-$76,650.88 in Income & Expenditure Report report on 31 August 2024 -$82,495.29 in Income & Expenditure Report on 5 September 2023 -$89.919.55 in Income & Expenditure Report on 13 September 2024 -$71,490.05 in Income & Expenditure Report on 17 September 2024 -$45,584.29 in Income & Expenditure Report on 18 October 2024

The last figure was "set" by Economos Auditor, who also recognised that $14,595.54 was not yet included for other creditors in Admin Fund and $984.95 for creditors in Capital Works Fund.

These figures will be heavily scrutinised and questioned at AGM in later November 2024.

3) Economos Auditor, who along with Waratah Strata Management, failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 four times for SP52948 Annual General Meetings since 2018 (and it two other years their data was highly questionable but they never replied), reported the following in their FY 2024 audit on 21 October 2024:

CUT HERE As at year end, the Administrative Fund is in deficit amounting to $45,584.29.

The 'Act' allows for loans between funds, but not for a period greater than 3 months. Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 76 Part (2) states that "The Owner's Corporation must, not later than 3 months after the transfer or use, determine by resolution at a general meeting whether the money, or part of the money, should be reimbursed to the fund from which it was transferred or paid."

Section 79 Part (3) requires that "When estimating amounts needed to be credited to the administrative fund or the capital works fund, the Owners Corporation must have before it, and take into account, a statement of the existing financial situation of the strata scheme and an estimate of receipts and payments."

When the budget is being considered by the Owners Corporation at the next Annual General Meeting, the Administrative Fund should be brought back into surplus by increasing the annual budget for the fund in deficit to cover both the anticipated expenditure for the financial year plus the deficit brought forward from the previous year. CUT HERE

4) Economos Auditor, and Waratah Strata Management, failed to acknowledge the following Admin Fund stats, which, clearly show that significant deficit in Admin Fund was continuous and persistent since 13 September 2023:

13/09/2023, -$37,050.64, 13 days after collection of new levies 31/10/2023, -$312,113.03 End of FY quarter 1/11/2023, -$106,308.01 After collection of new levies 31/01/2024, -$309,762.23 End of FY quarter; November 2023 monthly salary for building manager Uniqueco Property Services in amount of $29,866.24 (GST excl) hidden until late February 2024 01/02/2024, -$60,370.94 After collection of new levies 30/04/2024, -$251,697.41 End of FY quarter 01/05/2024, -$3,632.01 After collection of new levies 31/07/2024, -$261,781.53 End of FY quarter 01/08/2024, -$16,766.81 After collection of new levies 31/08/2024, -$45,584.29 End of FY 2024 31/10/2024, -$325,061.80 End of FY quarter 01/11/2024, -$80,061.80 After collection of new levies

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 5 November 2024, Waratah Strata Management published agenda for SP52948 AGM 2024, scheduled one month after regular date, on 28 November 2024.

Here are some of the highlights:

1) Waratah Strata Management and committee members want to increase levies by 52.42% per year. But, they did not directly show this figure, and instead, hid it through this convoluted message:

CUT HERE Levy Analysis Based on Proposals The proposed budget includes adjustments to both the administration and capital works funds due to necessary expenses. Here’s an overview of the key changes and their underlying reasons:

1. Administration Fund Increase (Approx. 5%): The primary driver for this increase is a significant rise in the insurance policy premium. Due to a fire safety order imposed on the owners corporation, our insurer has only offered a six-month policy at a much higher cost. This situation will continue until we comply with the fire safety order and Ryde Council formally removes it.

2. Capital Works Fund Increase (124%): The proposed increase in the capital works fund budget reflects the estimated costs of the required fire safety remediation work. The total cost for these works is approximately $1,000,000, which is planned to be staged over three years. This translates to an increase of $333,000 annually in the capital works fund over the next three years to cover these essential safety improvements. CUT HERE

2) In spite of severe fund shortages, they also plan to waste another $30,000.00 for Solicitor, who so far earned close to $200,000.00 without any benefits to owners (he is currently being investigated by three organizations).

3) Since 2019, City of Ryde Council was making orders for fire safety, which Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services not only mostly failed to comply with, and now, five years later, it comes with a huge costs due to delayed actions.

Waratah Strata Management failed to highlight this in their agenda for AGM 2024.

4) Since 2021, Waratah Strata Management engaged CORE Consulting Engineers to allegedly fire safety review and conduct tender for upgrades, at cost of $20,250.00 (GST excl) so far.

For AGM 2024, Waratah Strata Management is now asking owners to approve the tender, but we found "holes" in the Motion and contacted the engineers directly. No response so far:

CUT HERE a) This is fifth and final effort to communicate with you. So far, our emails were ignored:

30 November 2022 (email in two parts) 13 March 2022 12 May 2022

Staff at Core Consulting Engineers forget that Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services do not pay their consulting invoices - their invoices are actually paid by owners.

b) Could you please explain why your alleged CORE Consulting Engineers tender for SP52948 (full details have never been provided to owners) as sent in agenda for committee meeting on 17 May 2024 and Annual General Meeting on 8 October 2024 differed only by date and signature of the sender, in spite of concern on page 2 that it was an incomplete assessment?

Five and half months passed since that report and no further analysis has been done, preventing owners corporation from making fully informed decisions, in spite of SUU (Strata Unit Underwriters) warning on 24 September 2024.

Did CORE Consulting Engineers delay the further assessments? Alternatively, who came up with the idea not to do any further work and simply change the date and signature of the CORE tender?

c) In Motion 5 for AGM 2024 (delayed by one month and scheduled for 28 November 2024), it asks owners to review and approve your alleged tender although the scope of work and details are not provided to owners.

In Motion 6 for AGM 2024 owners received the following statement. without being given any evidence:

"These works are required to comply with the Fire Safety Order issued on the owners corporation. Compliance with this Order comes at a very high cost approximately $333,000 per year, (spread over 3 years). It should be noted that these costs are additional to obtaining the services of an independent fire engineer (already paid) as the fire order instructed." CUT HERE

5) We have so serious problems that even our insurance policy is being renewed ONLY for half-year period in FY 2025! At a minimum, for whole FY 2024, insurance premium will grow by 34.98%.

In addition, insurance company is threatening SP52948 with further actions and costs, and exclusion from making claims.

6) Strata Plan SP52948 has serious cash flow and maintenance problems, without disclosure to owners.

On 31 October 2024, we reached highest negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund in amount of -$325,061.80 and that figure does not include $122,690.28 insurance premium (GST excl) for the second half of FY 2025. Taking that into account, our more realistic negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund on 31 August 2024 was $447,752.08.

7) Economos Auditor warned owners about deficit in Admin Fund for FY 2024. For the first time in history of the complex, the financial year ended with deficit in Admin Fund in amount of -$45,584.29. In Chairperson's own notice for AGM 2024, Waratah Strata Management failed to mention that five different versions of this figure exist:

-$76,650.88 in report on 31 August 2024 -$82,495.29 in report on 5 September 2023 -$89.919.55 in report on 13 September 2024 -$71,490.05 in report on 17 September 2024 -$45,584.29 in report on on 18 October 2024

... and that Economos Auditor, who along with Waratah Strata Management, failed to comply with SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 four times for SP52948 Annual General Meetings since 2018 (and provided questionable figures for other two years), reported the following in their FY 2024 audit on 21 October 2024 that Section 79 Part (3) requires that when estimating amounts needed to be credited to the administrative fund or the capital works fund, the owners corporation must have before it, and take into account, a statement of the existing financial situation of the strata scheme and an estimate of receipts and payments. They also categorically stated that the 'Act' allows for loans between funds, but not for a period greater than 3 months. Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 76 Part (2) states that "The Owner's Corporation must, not later than 3 months after the transfer or use, determine by resolution at a general meeting whether the money, or part of the money, should be reimbursed to the fund from which it was transferred or paid."

8) In the agenda for AGM 2024, Waratah Strata Management failed to include commissions they received for insurance renewal in September 2024, in spite of clear rules, as per 2015 strata reforms, requiring strata managing agents to disclose commissions and training and to prohibit the receipt of gifts over $60.00 (see sections 57(2) & 60 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (“SSMA”)).

For public information, in 2024, Waratah Strata Management received insurance commissions in amount of $9,936.71 for just HALF-YEAR period (until 21 March 2025) due to lack of funds in Admin Fund and HIGH legal risks.

In addition, Waratah Strata Management wants owners to approve the 10% increase commissions for FY 2025: CUT HERE Waratah Strata Management Pty Ltd has an agreement with CHU, SUU, SCI, Finn Foster & Associates, Austbrokers Sydney Pty Ltd, Whitbread Insurance Brokers, Driessen Insurance, Honan, CRM and BCB Brokers under which it may be entitled to receive a fee. The estimated commissions for next financial year is a 10% increase over the prior year. CUT HERE

9) In the agenda for AGM 2024, Waratah Strata Management deliberately failed to provide copies of Detailed Expenses for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 and Detailed Revenue for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024.

There is a good reason why such documents are missing in the agenda for AGM, and that will be published in due time.

10) There are many more issues with the way Waratah Strata Management is planning to run AGM 2024.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 26 November 2024, two days before SP52948 AGM 2024... 1) Waratah Strata Management refused to publish or provide copies of Detailed Expenses for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 and Detailed Revenue for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024.

2) Four critical emails were ignored by Waratah Strata Management and not published for owners:

REQUEST - Prepare responses at AGM 2024 on 5 November 2024 SUMMARY SP52948 comments and amendments for AGM 2024 on 15 November 2024 REQUEST Publish following information on notice boards on 18 November 2024 SUMMARY Owners prevented from having notice-board information on 23 November 2024

3) Three special questions are still unresponded to by Waratah Strata Management:

a) How did Waratah Strata Management comply with order at committee meeting on 7 May 2020 to sign the costs agreement of barrister under common seal for and on behalf of the Owners Corporation, who was requested to respond to the letter received from O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors?

b) How did Waratah Strata Management confirm that there was no conflict of interest by Solicitor in email on 21 June 2019, when Solicitor was asked to "help" with obtaining copy of USB key which Police lost a year earlier without disclosure to any owner?

c) How did Waratah Strata Management (email by Solicitor on 9 June 2022) engage independent legal advice about serious allegations of Solicitor's misconduct and what was the outcome of such activity?

4) As of today, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was -$126,697.67.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Waratah Strata Management did not refute or complain about any of the statements in this forum for more than three years. They were always invited and encouraged to do so, but they stayed silent.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Update on 27 November 2024, worth sharing. This was prepared for AGM 2024 and Waratah Strata Management will be requested to clarify this serious discrepancy. Sum of at least $12,000.00 is missing/misrepresented in audited accounts for building manager:

1) Figure for Uniqueco Property Services for May 2024 was listed under dubious account code, standard code for "Maint Bldg -- Building Management" was 161300, but in May 2024, separate code was added in Admin Fund balance "161350 Maint Bldg -- Building Management Expenses") and kept it for one monthly salary for building management until the end of financial year (cumulative salary for the building manager stayed the same in April and May 2024 - $262,661.61).

Evidence:

SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2023-to-10Apr2024.pdf SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2023-to-23May2024.pdf SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2023-to-8Aug2024.pdf SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2023-to-31Aug2024.pdf

2) Income & Expenditure Report listed full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services as $374,649.00 in account code 161300 on 31 August 2024.

Income & Expenditure Report listed extra building expenses as $39,366.00.18 in account code 161350 on 31 August 2024.

3) In allegedly audited accounts by Economos, these figures were amended and presented in agenda for AGM 2024:

Account code 161300 listed full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services as $400,473.21 on 31 August 2024.

Account code 161350 listed extra building expenses as $14,539.42 on 31 August 2024.

4) Difference between audited accounts and Income & Expenditure Report for August 2024 for full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services in account code 161300 reveals figure of $25,824.21, which is quite an undervalued figure and not factual because typical monthly salary for building manager is between $37,000.00 and $38,000.00 in 2024:

Date Acc# 161300 Maint Bldg--Building Management (monthly salary) 31 December 2020 $28,371.47 31 January 2021 $28,601.47 28 February 2021 $28,311.75 31 March 2021 $28,311.75 30 April 2021 $28,311.75 31 May 2021 $28,311.75 30 June 2021 $28,311.75 31 July 2021 $28,311.75 31 August 2021 $28,311.75 30 September 2021 $28,311.75 31 October 2021 $28,311.75 30 November 2021 $28,311.75 31 December 2021 $28,311.75 31 January 2022 $28,311.75 28 February 2022 $28,311.75 31 March 2022 $28,311.75 30 April 2022 $28,311.75 31 May 2022 $28,311.75 30 June 2022 $28,311.75 31 July 2022 $28,311.75 31 August 2022 $28,311.75 30 September 2022 $28,311.75 31 October 2022 $28,311.75 30 November 2022 $28,311.75 31 December 2022 $28,311.75 31 January 2023 $28,311.75 28 February 2023 $28,311.75 31 March 2023 $29,247.07 30 April 2023 $28,877.98 31 May 2023 $28,877.98 30 June 2023 $28,877.98 31 July 2023 $28,877.98 31 August 2023 $28,877.98 30 September 2023 $31,764.07 25 October 2023 $28,877.98 30 November 2023 $29,866.24 20 December 2023 $29,517.85 31 January 2024 $28,877.98 14 February 2024 $38,803.44 6 March 2024 $37,237.78 10 April 2024 $37,716.27 23 May 2024 $37,428.06 14 June 2024 $37,474.33 10 July 2024 $36,583.33 in accounting code 161300 8 August 2024 $37,929.73 in accounting code 161300 13 September 2024 $38,041.94 in accounting code 161300 16 October 2024 $37,335.04 in accounting code 161300 20 November 2024 $37,729.81 in accounting code 161300

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 22 December 2024 worth sharing. 1) Detailed Expenses report for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 was not provided at AGM 2024.

2) Detailed Revenue report for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 was not provided at AGM 2024.

3) Waratah Strata Management failed to include Motion about tenant representative in the agenda for AGM 2024 as required in accordance with Section 7 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016.

The SSMA 2015 requires that a tenant representative meeting be called at least 14 days prior to an AGM for the purpose of electing a tenant representative. This meeting taking place is conditional on:

◦Tenants being registered with the OC on the strata roll, ◦50% or more of the total lots are occupied by registered tenants.

Further more, because Waratah Strata Management and committee members hid information about Strata Roll, owners were not even aware how many rented properties were in the complex.

4) Waratah Strata Management and committee members continue to use Special By-Law 14 (10) in spite of knowledge that a pet bond or fee can no longer be charged by the owners corporation (on 11 December 2023 the NSW strata and community title legislation changes came into effect).

5) Minutes of AGM 2024 were incorrect by stating that meeting started at 18:00 hours. It may be true for some owners, but not for some who were left waiting for 10 minutes and not allowed to enter the meeting.

6) Even 24 days after the AGM, as of 22 December 2024, minutes of this meeting were not published on any notice board.

7) Waratah Strata Management did not declare insurance commission in amount of $9,936.71 in agenda for AGM 2024 in spite of advanced warnings not to get involved with insurance renewal.

Section 57(3) of the SSMA permits strata mangers to accept payments and training services provided “in connection with the exercise by the agent of functions for the scheme” if the payment is in accordance with the management agreement or is otherwise approved by the owners corporation. Section 60 of the SSMA requires disclosure. That disclosure must at least be on the agenda of each annual general meeting: Schedule 1, clause 9(g) of the SSMA.

$57,786.69 was received by Waratah Strata Management for insurance commissions since 2018 (their predecessor BCS Strata Management was forced to repay such amounts to owners corporation).

8) Waratah Strata Management and committee members increased levies by 52.42% per year. But, they did not directly show this figure, and instead, hid it through this convoluted messages. Many owners did not know what they were voting for.

9) In FY 2024 (financial year starting on 1 September 2023), SP52948 Admin Fund reached negative balance (deficit) of -$312,113.03 on 31 October 2023. Waratah Strata Management failed to provide answers on where the money to cover the deficit was coming from, with special emphasis on last two years.

10) In FY 2025 (financial year starting on 1 September 2024), SP52948 Admin Fund reached negative balance (deficit) of -$325,441.80 (GST excl) on 31 October 2024, and that figure did not include $122,690.28 for delayed insurance premium (GST excl) for the second half of FY 2025; taking that into account, more realistic negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund on 31 October 2024 would be -$448,132.08. Waratah Strata Management failed to provide answers on where the money to cover the deficit was coming from, with special emphasis on last three years.

11) Evidence was found that one of the long-term committee members has not been financial for 24 years and that Waratah Strata Management helped them hide unpaid gas heating levies.

To illustrate the point: it took 13 years for this owner to admit at an official committee or general meeting that they had enjoyed use of gas heating without Special By-Law and resolution at general meeting (under BCS Strata Management), and it took 17 years for this owner to admit at an official committee or general meeting that he had enjoyed use of gas heating without paying prescribed levies and 10% simple interest per year, and then continued to mislead the owners about their real debt, directly defrauding owners corporation (under Waratah Strata Management).

In all those years, another committee candidate was actually automatically a valid member but prevented by strata agencies. Five strata managers at Waratah Strata Management were presented with this irrefutable evidence on 1 December 2024 and they failed to respond.

To be unfinancial for 24 years might be an Australian strata record.

12) Based on continuous mismanagement of SP52948, NCAT case 2024/00454780-001 was opened on 6 December 2024, with Directions Hearing set for 15 January 2024.

As of 22 December 2024, Waratah Strata Management failed to notify owners about NCAT case, failed to publish information on their website, and failed to publish information on six notice boards.

13) As of 22 December 2024, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was -$196,053.47.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 7 March 2025. 1) NCAT case 2024/00454780-001 was opened on 6 December 2024, with Directions Hearing set for 15 January 2024, but Waratah Strata Management did not notify owners about it until sudden notice for committee meeting on 24 December 2024 (day before Christmas), where the scheduled date of the meeting was set for 6 January 2025.

Main Motion for the alleged meeting was to engage Bannermans Lawyers to "defend" SP52948 in the Tribunal proceedings. No details were provided for owners and copy of the Tribunal's Orders were not given to any owner.

Committee meeting on 6 January 2025 failed to satisfy requirements for organising the meeting as per Interpretations Act 1987 Section 76:

24 December 2024, Day of notice put on notice boards and published, Postage date not included, Notice posted 25 December 2024, Christmas Day 26 December 2024, Boxing Day 27 December 2024, First Working Day 28 December 2024, Saturday 29 December 2024, Sunday 30 December 2024, Second Working Day 31 December 2024, Third Working Day 1 January 2025, New Year's Day 2 January 2025, Fourth Working Day 3 January 2025, Fifth Working Day 4 January 2025, Sixth Working Day 5 January 2025, Seventh Working Day Three Notice Days Missing! 6 January 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

There were many more problems with that meeting, including the fact that some owners did not receive the notice.

2) At Directions Hearing on 15 January 2025, Bannermans Lawyers was present without having evidence of their legally-valid engagement.

The lawyer did not even know the details of the orders requested in NCAT case 2024/00454780-001.

Evidence was presented about Bannermans Lawyers conflict of interest and reasons why they should not be allowed to represent SP52948.

The Tribunal member did not have any other choice but to reconvene the Directions Hearing for 20 February 2025.

3) On 24 January 2025, realising that owner' submission to strata managers (five of them at Waratah Strata Management), Bannermans Lawyers and committee members on 15 January 2025 questioned legal presence at the Directions Hearing with irrefutable evidence that the meeting on 6 January 2025 was invalid and void, notice for yet another rushed committee meeting was published on the walls near notice boards in basement of four buildings and incomplete details on two notice boards near letterboxes. Meeting was scheduled for 6 February 2025.

Strata manager and committee members prevented owners from having information that negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund reached -$211,864.18 on the day the notice was put on 24 January 2025, and that figure still did not include monthly salary for building manager in amount of around $38,000.00 (GST excl) and other undisclosed payments. Owners and the Tribunal needed also to take into account pending insurance premium renewal in amount of around $122,690.28 (GST excl) for the second half of FY 2025 that is due on 21 March 2025.

4) Committee meeting on 6 February 2025 again failed to satisfy requirements for organising the meeting as per Interpretations Act 1987 Section 76:

24 January 2025, Day of notice put on notice boards and published, Postage date not included, Notice posted 25 January 2025, Saturday 26 January 2025, Sunday 27 January 2025, Australia Day 28 January 2025, First Working Day 29 January 2025, Second Working Day 30 January 2025, Third Working Day 31 January 2025, Fourth Working Day 1 February 2025, Saturday 2 February 2025, Sunday 3 February 2025, Fifth Working Day 4 February 2025, Sixth Working Day 5 February 2025, Seventh Working Day Three Notice Days Missing! 6 February 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

5) Waratah Strata Management published minutes of alleged committee meeting dated 6 January 2025 on their website (but not sent to owners or published on notice boards) sometime between 12:02 and 13:41 hours belatedly on 15 January 2025 (nine days after the event), just about an hour or two before NCAT Directions Hearing.

The first time strata manager officially published minutes of alleged committee meeting dated 6 January 2025 was on 24 January 2025 (18 days after the alleged meeting). They were put on walls near notice boards in basement of four buildings, but were not visible on two notice boards near letterboxes.

6) Waratah Strata Management website did not have any information about alleged committee meeting agenda (24 January 2025) and minutes (6 February 2025) at 07:53 hours on 20 February 2025 (just one hour before NCAT Directions Hearing).

Waratah Strata Management website published committee meeting agenda (24 January 2025) and minutes (6 February 2025) belatedly on 20 February 2025 (after NCAT Directions Hearing).

As of 7 March 2025, minutes of this meeting were never published on notice boards, or sent to owners.

7) At Directions Hearing on 20 February 2025, which only Bannermans Lawyer attended as alleged representative of SP52948, they again did not have any evidence of their legally-valid engagement.

Further more, they made claim that they sent printed "defence" to the owner via express courier.

8) Before Directions Hearing on 20 February 2025, an owner requested that Bannermans Lawyers produce evidence of the following to the Tribunal and they failed to do it:

Unredacted electronic copy of all email correspondence between SP52948 representatives and Bannermans Lawyers since 10 December 2024,

Unredacted electronic copy of email(s) that provided Bannermans Lawyers with signed version of their Standard Costs Agreement before attending Directions Hearing on 15 January 2025,

Unredacted electronic copy of email(s) that provided Bannermans Lawyers with minutes of committee meeting on 6 January 2025 before attending Directions Hearing on 15 January 2025,

Unredacted electronic copy of email(s) that provided Bannermans Lawyers with signed version of their Standard Costs Agreement before sending their alleged submission to NCAT on 12 February 2025, as per Directions Hearing Order,

Unredacted electronic copy of email(s) that provided Bannermans Lawyers with signed version of their Standard Costs Agreement before attending Directions Hearing on 20 February 2025,

Unredacted evidence that all owners were sent the full agenda for committee meeting (via email and Australia Post) in a timely manner before scheduled meeting on 6 January 2025,

Unredacted evidence that all owners were sent the full agenda for committee meeting (via email and Australia Post) in a timely manner before scheduled meeting on 6 February 2025.

9) On 20 February 2025, Tribunal made the following orders for SP52948:

CUT HERE 4 On or before 20 March 2025 the respondent shall send, to the applicant and the Tribunal, a copy of all documents on which the applicant intends to rely at the hearing.

5 Any documents so provided are to be in HARD COPY form, with the PAGES NUMBERED, and an INDEX to facilitate reference to them during the hearing.

6 Any evidence from a witness is to be in the form of a signed witness statement, statutory declaration, or affidavit and each such witness is to be available for cross-examination at the hearing. CUT HERE

10) In public interest is to publish the final orders sought in

Document 0: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-Points-of-Claim

Document 1: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-explanation-why-owner-uses-phrase-lie

Document 2: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-strata-documents-SSMA-2015-Sec188

Document 3: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-remove-committee-member-Lot-181-SSMA-2015-Sec238-part-1

Document 4: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-remove-committee-member-Lot-181-SSMA-2015-Sec238-part-2

Document 5: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-remove-committee-member-Lot-181-SSMA-2015-Sec238-part-3

Document 6: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-Rescind-Special-By-Law-11-Unreasonable-Communications-SSMA-2015-Sec150

Document 7: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-summons-committee-member-Lot-181

Document 8: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-electronic-delivery-of-documents-and-website-evidence

Document 9: NCAT-2024-00454780-001-Bannermans-Lawyers-conflict-of-interest-and-disclosure

Section 237 of SSMA 2015 empowers the NCAT the make an order that either all, or part, of the functions of the owners corporation are delegated to a compulsory strata manager. On 15 January 2025, at Directions Hearing, none of five strata managers and none of the nine committee members appeared. Tribunal member repeated several times that, based on brief readings of owner's submissions, and numerous problems in the complex, there should be a Motion for removing (compulsory) strata manager. NCAT has powers to appoint a strata manager on its own motion, by its discretion.

11) Another critical issue that was not listed in agenda for meetings on 6 January 2025 and 6 February 2025: non-compliance with strict orders by SUU Insurance company dated 24 September 2024:

CUT HERE Building Defects Additional policy exclusion Building Defects and remedial work exclusion (applicable to all sections) We will not pay any claims for Damage, Personal Injury, Property Damage, Loss, or legal expenses caused directly or indirectly by, contributed by or arising from any of the defect in any item, structural defect, faulty design, faulty workmanship error or omission as outlined within the report issued by Fire and rescue NSW dated 08/11/2019 and any subsequent reports.

Risk Survey Cover under this policy is subject to a Risk Survey being conducted by Strata Unit Underwriters and implementation by the insured of any suggested risk improvements within 60 days of request. Should the insured not make the reasonable suggested risk improvements within 60 days of request, and should the Risk Survey of the premises show an increased risk of loss, damage or liability in relation to the premises, Strata Unit Underwriters may charge an additional premium, change the cover of your policy and/or impose special conditions to reflect the increased risk of loss, damage or liability. Strata Unit Underwriters may also cancel the policy if permitted by the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth).

It is important for the insured to know that Strata Unit Underwriters may make changes to this Policy as a result of a change in the insured’s information. When there is a change, Strata Unit Underwriters will inform you. If the insured is not satisfied with the changes, the insured may cancel the policy. CUT HERE

Insurance renewal for SP52948 for second half of 2025 is due on 21 March 2025.

12) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund, in morning of 7 March 2025, was -$74,122.30.

13) On a separate note, Waratah Strata Management refused to co-operate with the Police in two events of reported insurance frauds and falsified files, allegedly delaying their responses until "the civil case" at NCAT is dealt with.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status as of 16 March 2025. Would a reasonable person consider Waratah Strata Management exhibiting utmost contempt of court in NCAT case 2024/00454780? Let these facts speak for themselves:

1) Application Notice, issued by NCAT on 6 December 2024.

Not published on six notice boards.

Not published on Waratah Strata website.

There is no evidence that it was provided in any official correspondence to owners in emails or via Australia Post.

Full details of the case not provided to any owner.

2) Notice of Directions Hearing Listing, issued by NCAT on 10 December 2024.

Not published on six notice boards.

Not published on Waratah Strata website.

There is no evidence that it was provided in any official correspondence to owners in emails or via Australia Post.

Full details of the case not provided to any owner.

3) Notice of second Directions Hearing Listing, issued by NCAT on 21 January 2025.

Published on notice boards on 28 January 2025 without full details of the case.

Not published on Waratah Strata website.

There is no evidence that it was provided in any official correspondence to owners in emails or via Australia Post.

Full details of the case not provided to any owner.

4) Notice of Hearing Listing, issued by NCAT on 3 March 2025.

Published on six notice boards 10 days after the NCAT listing.

Not published on Waratah Strata website.

There is no evidence that it was provided in any official correspondence to owners in emails or via Australia Post.

Full details of the case not provided to any owner.

5) Issues of summonses for Lot 181, delivered by NCAT on 7 March 2025.

Not published on notice boards.

Not published on Waratah Strata website.

There is no evidence that it was provided in any official correspondence to owners in emails or via Australia Post.

Full details of the case not provided to any owner.

6) There are seven open work orders, related to OH&S and fire safety (of which two are more than a year old):

07/03/2025 Fire Safety Equipment 07/03/2025 Fire-Exit Doors 06/03/2025 Quote Approval - Emergency & Exit Lights 08/01/2025 Update Insurance Valuation 04/10/2024 Sewer Relining 27/02/2024 Fire safety equipment repairs 13/02/2024 Fire safety - fire sprinkler repairs

SP52948 does not fall within an exemption clause 7 of the Work Health & Safety Regulation 2017 and therefore need to comply with WH&S obligations because common property area is used for visitor parking of the commercial vehicle, short term letting is allowed (against the Development Approval), and employs facilities managers and strata managers to fulfil their duties.

In one of the first prosecutions of its kind, an owners corporation of an industrial complex, strata manager and a business within the industrial complex have all been separately prosecuted and fined for breaching the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) (WHS Act). The prosecutions followed a fatal incident at the industrial complex on 12 June 2020.

On 26 July 2023, a business within the industrial complex and employer of the deceased worker, was convicted and fined $500,000 reduced to $375,000 to reflect the early guilty plea (SafeWork NSW v Maluko Pty Ltd [2023] NSWDC 274).

On 11 July 2024, the Owners Corporation was convicted and fined $300,000 reduced to $225,000 to reflect the early guilty plea (SafeWork NSW v The Owners – Strata Plan No 93899 [2024] NSWDC 277).

On 22 August 2024, the strata manager was convicted and fined $200,000 reduced to $150,000 to reflect the early guilty plea (SafeWork NSW v Chris Darby Strata Pty Ltd [2024] NSWDC 360).

7) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund, in morning of 16 March 2025, was -$113,822.57 (as always, without Waratah Strata Management sharing this information with owners).

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 20 March 2025. 1) SP52948 had obligation to provide written copies of their responses (hard copies, affidavits and/or signed statutory declarations) in NCAT case 2024/00454780, as listed in your Directions Hearing Orders 4 and 5 on 20 February 2025:

They did not arrive in the letterbox, They were not delivered in person, The were not delivered by any courier.

This is a repeat of their failure to comply with NCAT Orders at Directions Hearing on 15 January 2025, where the respondent did not satisfy Orders 4 and 5 and to this day the document that was allegedly sent by Bannermans Lawyers via express post never arrived (deadline was 12 February 2025 and today is 20 March 2025).

2) Waratah Strata Management again failed to submit Strata Hub updates within three months of the last general meeting. The AGM for strata plan SP52948 was on 28 November 2024 and StrataHub still reports that last AGM was on 26 October 2023.

In previous example of serious non-compliance, it took Waratah Strata Management more than 15 months to provide correct information about AGM 2022. They claimed that SP52948 had last AGM on 1 January 2022 but real date of last AGM at the time was 27 October 2022. The correction only happened after our persistent complaints to NSW Fair Trading on 1 February 2024.

Waratah Strata Management never explained the charges they were paid to them on 2 May 2023 of which some (or maybe all?) related to Strata Hub. On the same day, SP52948 allegedly paid $654.00 to NSW Government Strata Hub.

This was reported to NSW Fair Trading today.

3) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund today is -$123,138.91, without disclosure to owners or discussions at any legally-convened meeting.

The cash flow issues are obvious. Waratah Strata Management still refuses to explain how Admin Fund is operating.

4) In September 2024, due to problems with long-term fire safety non-compliance and cashflow issues, Waratah Strata Management renewed insurance for half-year only, without a decision at any meeting and even not declaring the commissions in amount of $9,936.71 in agenda for AGM held on 28 November 2024.

5) Half-year insurance expires tomorrow, 21 March 2025, and, without any information or decisions at legally-convened meetings, Waratah Strata Management published on their website (but did not publish it on six notice boards or send to any owner), decided to renew the insurance for additional whole year, making FY 2025 paying for one and half year of insurance costs, which no owner approved.

Timely Provision of Insurance Quotes: The legislation requires that insurance quotes (minimum three) be provided to owners corporations as soon as practicable, allowing sufficient time for decision-making. There are numerous cases where strata managers provided quotes too close to the policy expiry date, leaving owners corporations with insufficient time to respond.

6) The document published on 18 March 2025 claimed that insurance premiums were paid on 26 March 2025 (future date!?) in total amount of $165,821.88 (GST incl). Like in FY 2022 (year ending on 31 August 2022), where SP52948 was under-insured (property valued at $146,550,000.00 was under-insured for catastrophe by $16,937,850.00), similar was done in March 2025. SP52948 was under-insured for buildings (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00).

Waratah Strata Management allegedly did not receive any commissions, although they had published resolution in Motion 14 for AGM on 28 November 2024 that owners "acknowledged commissions and training services estimate at less than $100.00 per person per year", amounting to around $21,800.00. There are no details of other types of benefits (gifts, and so on), that Waratah Strata Management might have received.

7) The strata building sum insured must be sufficient to cover the cost to fully replace and reinstate the property. Under section 60 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), an owners corporation has an obligation to insure its scheme under a damage policy. The damage policy must cover the costs to rebuild or repair the strata scheme, that has been destroyed or partially destroyed or damaged "so that the condition of every part of the rebuilt or replacement building is not worse or less extensive than that part when new".

The damage policy valuation takes into consideration:

The demolition, disposal & storage costs Expenses to remove debris The replacement cost of the buildings & common areas Professional fees (eg. architect, surveyors, engineers) Government fees & taxes (eg. contributions or taxes).

While there is no specific requirement to keep insurance re-build valuations current, the SSMA does impose a requirement for the building to be insured for the "full rebuild value".

These insurance expenses are not yet registered in Income and Expenditure report, but the reasonable estimate is that negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund will reach around $245,000.00 by the end of next week. It is worth noting that no further income will arrive until next levy quarter, which starts on 1 May 2025.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 8 April 2025. Here is another example of "disappearing act", where Waratah Strata Management conducted invisible Extraordinary General Meeting in period from 3 March 2025 to 7 April 2025.

This was already shared in NSW Fair Trading Case 11317277 (escalation to NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann) and will be presented at NCAT Hearing on 22 April 2025 (Waratah Strata Management still hides many Tribunal Orders and details from SP52948 owners).

1) At 16:23 hours on 3 March 2025, Waratah Strata Management folder "Meetings" had no scheduled meetings (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata-Meetings-folder-no-scheduled-meetings-3Mar2025").

2) Several hours later, at 20:13 hours on 3 March 2025, Waratah Strata Management folder "Meetings" announced an Extraordinary General Meeting (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata-Meetings-folder-scheduled-meetings-evening-3Mar2025").

The Extraordinary General Meeting was scheduled for 25 March 2025, at 10:00 hours in the morning (when most of owners would not be able to attend), and allowed electronic voting only (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata-Meetings-folder-scheduled-meeting-v2-3Mar2025").

At the same time, "Documents" folder did not have a published agenda for this meeting (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata-Document-folder-page-1-evening-3Mar2025").

3) Extraordinary General Meeting 25 March 2025, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Even if we count 3 March 2025 as date of agenda being sent via post, which was not possible because Australia Post working hours end at 17:00 hours, and evidence shows that at 16:23 hours the agenda was not prepared, the EGM failed to satisfy stringent regulations for notices:

3 March 2025, Day of Notice, postage date not included 4 March 2025, First Working Day 5 March 2025, Second Working Day 6 March 2025, Third Working Day 7 March 2025, Fourth Working Day 8 March 2025, Saturday 9 March 2025, Sunday 10 March 2025, Fifth Working Day 11 March 2025, Sixth Working Day 12 March 2025, Seventh Working Day, notice effective 13 March 2025, First Notice Day 14 March 2025, Second Notice Day 15 March 2025, Third Notice Day 16 March 2025, Fourth Notice Day 17 March 2025, Fifth Notice Day 18 March 2025, Sixth Notice Day 19 March 2025, Seventh Notice Day 20 March 2025, Eight Notice Day 21 March 2025, Ninth Notice Day 22 March 2025, Tenth Notice Day 23 March 2025, Eleventh Notice Day 24 March 2025, Twelfth Notice Day Two Notice Days missing! 25 March 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

The trend of non-compliant meetings is best proven through 34 committee meetings since 2017 (and that does not even count several general meetings that fall into the same category).

Even NSW Fair Trading was mislead in September 2024 when Waratah Strata Management organised committee meeting to discuss Mediation case but later on admitted that the meeting never occurred.

4) In period from 3 March 2025 until 7 April 2025 (well after the alleged EGM on 25 March 2025):

Six notice boards did not publish agenda or minutes of this EGM (photos collected as evidence).

"Documents" folder on Waratah Strata Management website did not publish agenda and minutes of this EGM (screenshots from website collected as evidence).

At least some owners did not receive agenda and minutes of this EGM.

5) "Past Meetings" folder on Waratah Strata Management website listed this EGM as valid meeting, as attachments "SP52948-waratahstrata-website-list-of-past-general-meetings-31Mar2025" and "SP52948-waratahstrata-website-list-of-past-general-meetings-3Apr2025" prove.

6) On 7 April 2025, realising dangers with what this EGM might represent, Waratah Strata Management removed it from their website in folder "Past Meetings" (attachment "SP52948-waratahstrata-website-list-of-past-general-meetings-7Apr2025").

7) As part of pending NCAT Hearing on 22 April 2025, Waratah Strata Management continues to hide information from owners and refuses to publish their various Orders, in a similar manner to how they hid NSW Fair Trading Mediations and events (attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-001-SP52948-hiding-documents-for-owners").

8) On 31 March 2025, City of Ryde issued another warning to Waratah Strata Management but strata manager refuses to let owners know about it. Extract from the email:

CUT HERE Good morning Waratah Strata,

Council has received a compliant regarding ongoing issues that have been bought to our attention. We acknowledge Councils orders for the non-compliances of SP52948, within the order request the Owners corporation to follow the Core Consulting fire Engineers report.

The complainant, speaks about the lack of transparency in communication with owners. Correspondence from yourself on the 19/03/2025 states that an alternative Consultant will be overseeing the work that Core consulting has recommended. To ensure transparency please inform all owners that the work is going to be done in accordance with Core Consulting report. Once the work has been completed the work will need to signed off by either Core Consulting or a registered A1 Certifier or Fire Engineer who is registered with the Building Commissioner’s Office. The matters raised, particularly the outstanding fire safety work orders are to be followed up by the Strata Manager, The compliant also has issues with the process for remediation works, and the reported inconsistencies in work order listings on the Waratah Strata website. Additionally, we will investigate the reported unauthorized renovations in Lot 79 and assess whether they pose safety risks. CUT HERE

9) In NCAT case 2024/00454780 owners corporation, on behalf of Waratah Strata Management stated the following on 20 March 2025:

CUT HERE Financial Statements: The Scheme has consistently maintained a surplus balance in its Administrative Fund and Capital Works Fund. CUT HERE

... whilst refusing to provide access to many financial files and deliberately avoiding to deal with Economos Auditor's report on 21 October 2024, where they stated:

CUT HERE As at year end, the Administrative Fund is in deficit amounting to $45,584.29.

The 'Act' allows for loans between funds, but not for a period greater than 3 months. Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 76 Part (2) states that "The Owner's Corporation must, not later than 3 months after the transfer or use, determine by resolution at a general meeting whether the money, or part of the money, should be reimbursed to the fund from which it was transferred or paid."

Section 79 Part (3) requires that "When estimating amounts needed to be credited to the administrative fund or the capital works fund, the Owners Corporation must have before it, and take into account, a statement of the existing financial situation of the strata scheme and an estimate of receipts and payments."

When the budget is being considered by the Owners Corporation at the next Annual General Meeting, the Administrative Fund should be brought back into surplus by increasing the annual budget for the fund in deficit to cover both the anticipated expenditure for the financial year plus the deficit brought forward from the previous year. CUT HERE

10) For the record, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund as of 7 April 2025 was -$286,414.90.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 23 April 2025. Yesterday, first session of NCAT Hearing was conducted in case 2024/00454780.

1) Waratah Strata Management representative attended as audience.

2) Bannermans Lawyers showed up as well. Bannermans Lawyers were repeatedly asked to provide the following evidence, as they failed to produce signed Standard Costs Agreement three times at NCAT hearings:

15 January 2025, first Directions Hearing 20 February 2025, second Directions Hearing 22 April 2025, Hearing

Bannermans Lawyers hid the following not only from NCAT but all SP52948 owners too:

a) Signed version of their Standard Costs Agreement as they would have received from SP52948 representatives.

b) Date and time when they received the signed version of their Standard Costs Agreement.

For the record, their involvement in alleged major renovations for Lot 79 which started before approval at general meeting, and without updates to Consolidated By-Laws, were still ongoing, in its sixth month!

3) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund reached an absolute records so far: -$374,482.58, of which $26,388.87 was spent of legal fees without disclosure to owners or NCAT.

4) On 20 April 2025, just two days before NCAT Hearing, sudden smoke alarm repairs in 12 units in three buildings were organised (that is about 6-7% of the total number of properties in SP52948), and not even listed in Open Work Orders:

Block B, four units Block C, seven units Block D, one unit

It is important to note that annual fire inspections happened in late January 2025, so knowledge of these faulty smoke alarms was known to them for several months.

5) Waratah Strata Management still did not start any major fire safety repairs, as per City of Ryde orders, last time issued on 1 March 2025.

6) However, when challenged to prove the meeting on 6 January 2025 was valid, SP52948 rushed to organise a second committee meeting on 6 February 2025, which also did not comply with strata regulations.

When challenged to prove the meeting on 6 January 2025 was valid, SP52948 rushed to organise a second committee meeting on 6 February 2025, which also did not comply with strata regulations.

The role of the second meeting was to "ratify" decision to engage Bannermans Lawyers on 6 January 2025.

In panic, SP52948 tried to organised an Extraordinary General Meeting on 25 March 2025, but realising it was also invalid, it withdrew it.

And now the fourth meeting: EGM (scheduled at 10:00 hours, and ELECTRONIC VOTING ALLOWED ONLY, directly disallowing any discussions or attendance) scheduled for 1 May 2025 was created on 7 April 2025, and it needs to comply with Clause 28 of Schedule 1 of the SSMA 2015:

BEGIN QUOTE 28 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote or by a proxy must be cast in person unless the owners corporation, by resolution passed at a general meeting, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means. END QUOTE

Clause 10 of Schedule 2 of the SSMA 2015 states in relation to committee meetings:

BEGIN QUOTE 10 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote must be cast in person unless the strata committee, by resolution, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means. END QUOTE

The effect of clause 28 of Schedule 1 and clause 10 of Schedule 2 is to require two separate resolutions – a committee resolution in relation to committee meetings, and an owners corporation resolution at a general meeting in relation to general meetings.

7) There are lot of other overdue repairs and maintenance issues, which Waratah Strata Management ignores.

8) At NCAT Hearing, Waratah Strata Management continued to refuse any details of alleged ransomware attack, stating confidentiality, which was an absolute nonsense.

This information is in public interest and Waratah Strata Management owe it to them: all evidence for alleged ransomware attack in February 2019, where Bitcoin ransom was paid by a third-party known to Waratah Strata Management to the threat actor in the equivalent amount of $5,052.03 (including name of benefactor and proof of ransom payment, date the Police notified and the Event number, date mandatory data breach notification was completed (Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016)) - reported to Police via Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN), and evidence when committee members learned about this event and what actions they took.

9) Waratah Strata Management refused to co-operate with the Police and as of now, the request for access to legal documents is still outstanding.

For privilege to apply it is necessary to show a communication was confidential, and that its dominant purpose was for the purpose of obtaining legal advice or for actual or anticipated litigation. Privilege may be able to be enforced via an injunction to restrain unauthorised use of privileged communications or via court processes during litigation.

There are a number of exceptions to legal professional privilege, including waiver, statutory exclusions, and improper or illegal conduct.

Parties should be particularly careful in relation to waiver of privilege as this can be implied where a party acts inconsistently with the maintenance of confidentiality. Mann v Carnell [1999] HCA 66 at [29] HCA 66 at [29].

An example of where privilege was excluded in such circumstances is found in Aucare Dairy Pty Ltd v Huang [2017] FCA 746. The Federal Court found that, as there was a strong case that the respondents had engaged in fraudulent conduct, communications with their lawyers in the course of that conduct were not privileged. The applicants did not contend that the respondent's solicitors had knowledge of or participated in the fraud and did not need to do so to succeed in their application:

Police Event 174560202, premeditated fraudulent actions by Solicitor in NCAT case SC 20/33352

Police Event E65804633, premeditated fraudulent actions by Solicitor in NCAT case SCS 12/32675

10) At NCAT Hearing, Waratah Strata Management accidentally confirmed that they wish to prevent us from publishing artefacts and information about them. They prefer for negative information to be silenced!

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Waratah Strata Management is invited to refute our statements with evidence and that offer exists since 1 February 2017.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

For NCAT case 2024/00454780 this is part of submission that Bannermans Lawyers, Waratah Strata Management, and committee members presented.

Public can be the judge how meetings were conducted and if they complied with strata regulations for notice periods (put aside the facts that not all owners received the notices, the notices were not detailed, financial status of SP52948 was hidden from owners, and much more):

1) Attachment 16 Notice of strata committee meeting held on 1 December 2021, Page 807

25 November 2021, Day of Notice, postage date not included 26 November 2021, First Working Day 27 November 2021, Saturday 28 November 2021, Sunday 29 November 2021, Second Working Day 30 November 2021, Third Working Day Four Working Days missing! Three Notice Days missing! 1 December 2021, Date of Meeting, not counted

2) Attachment 18 Notice of strata committee meeting held on 15 July 2022 (real date is 2021), Page 813

11 July 2021, Sunday 12 July 2021, Day of Notice, postage date not included 13 July 2021, First Working Day 14 July 2021, Second Working Day Five Working Days missing! Three Notice Days missing! 15 July 2021, Date of Meeting, not counted

This was an exceptional blunder by Waratah Strata Management who actually created the agenda on Sunday although they claim they never work on weekends!

3) Attachment 20 Notice of strata committee meeting held on 9 February 2023, Page 827

6 February 2023, Day of Notice, postage date not included 7 February 2023, First Working Day 8 February 2023, Second Working Day Five Working Days missing! Three Notice Days missing! 9 February 2023, Date of Meeting, not counted

4) Attachment 24 Notice of strata committee meeting (actually EGM) held on 22 February 2024, Page 835

31 January 2024, Undefined status - lack of evidence from strata agency 1 February 2024, Day of Notice, postage date not included 2 February 2024, First Working Day 3 February 2024, Saturday 4 February 2024, Sunday 5 February 2024, Second Working Day 6 February 2024, Third Working Day 7 February 2024, Fourth Working Day 8 February 2024, Fifth Working Day 9 February 2024, Sixth Working Day 10 February 2024, Saturday 11 February2024, Sunday 12 February 2024, Seventh Working Day, notice effective 13 February 2024, First Notice Day 14 February 2024, Second Notice Day 15 February 2024, Third Notice Day 16 February 2024, Fourth Notice Day 17 February 2024, Fifth Notice Day 18 February 2025, Sixth Notice Day 19 February 2025, Seventh Notice Day 20 February 2025, Eight Notice Day 21 February 2025, Ninth Notice Day Five Notice Days missing! 22 February 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

5) Attachment 26 Minutes of strata committee meeting held on 17 May 2024, Page 838

17 May 2024, Day of Notice, postage date not included 18 May 2024, Saturday 19 May 2024, Sunday 20 May 2024, First Working Day 21 May 2024, Second Working Day 22 May 2024, Third Working Day Four Working Days missing! Three Notice Days missing! 23 May 2024, Date of Meeting, not counted

6) Committee meeting on 6 January 2025 not even listed

24 December 2024, Day of notice put on notice boards and published, Postage date not included 25 December 2024, Christmas Day 26 December 2024, Boxing Day 27 December 2024, First Working Day 28 December 2024, Saturday 29 December 2024, Sunday 30 December 2024, Second Working Day 31 December 2024, Third Working Day 1 January 2025, New Year's Day 2 January 2025, Fourth Working Day 3 January 2025, Fifth Working Day 4 January 2025, Sixth Working Day 5 January 2025, Seventh Working Day Three Notice Days Missing! 6 January 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

7) Attachment 27 Notice of strata committee meeting held on 6 February 2025, Page 842

24 January 2025, Day of notice put on notice boards and published, Postage date not included 25 January 2025, Saturday 26 January 2025, Sunday 27 January 2025, Australia Day 28 January 2025, First Working Day 29 January 2025, Second Working Day 30 January 2025, Third Working Day 31 January 2025, Fourth Working Day 1 February 2025, Saturday 2 February 2025, Sunday 3 February 2025, Fifth Working Day 4 February 2025, Sixth Working Day 5 February 2025, Seventh Working Day Three Notice Days Missing! 6 February 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Update on 27 April 2025: 1) Case against Bannermans Lawyers was opened with the Office of Legal Services Commissioner. Many reasons for it, including:

a) Providing no evidence of their signed Standard Costs Agreement

b) Making excessive earnings without evidence of properly approved and signed Standard Costs Agreement whilst negative balance in Admin Fund reached record level of deficit, and without disclosure to NCAT and owners

c) Providing the Tribunal with obsolete version of 10-Year Capital Works Fund (from 2017 instead of 2021)

d) Hiding information about OH&S and fire safety non-compliance

e) Hiding information about major renovations (including for Lot 79 which Bannermans Lawyers personally represented) without updated Special By-Law and for few of them not even being approved at general meetings

f) Provided false statement to the Tribunal about courier delivery at second Directions Hearing (the alleged letter never arrived and Bannermans Lawyers failed to provide details of courier engagement)

g) Failed to provide two folders on time as per Tribunal Orders

h) Presented seven meetings to NCAT on 20 March 2025, showing to what extent strata managers went to ensure non-compliance with strata laws and regulations in regards to organising meetings - instead os proving their quality of work, these files prove their persistent misconduct (also, meetings were not sent to all owners, did not have detailed agenda, did not present massive negative balances in Admin Fund, and hid long-term fire safety non-compliance orders by City of Ryde)

i) and much more.

2) City of Ryde email to Waratah Strata Management on 31 March 2025 is still hidden from owners. Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services refused to publish City of Ryde request and warnings.

The email was/is not available on notice boards, not published on Waratah Strata Management website, and not sent to any owner.

3) As of 27 April 2025, there are six official Open Work Orders, of which four are related to fire safety and two of them go back to February 2024 (one year and two months old):

16/04/2025 Approved Quote: Block B boiler room leak 07/03/2025 Fire-Exit Doors 08/01/2025 Update Insurance Valuation 04/10/2024 Sewer Relining 27/02/2024 Fire safety equipment repairs 13/02/2024 Fire safety - fire sprinkler repairs

This information was hidden from NCAT by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services at Hearing on 22 April 2025.

Further more, if sewer relining is also still unresolved, City of Ryde Council was reminded that they had to issue an Order about similar incident on 8 May 2015.

4) Probably due to City of Ryde pending audit, Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services organised six works.

On 20 April 2025, just two days before NCAT Hearing, sudden smoke alarm repairs in 12 units in three buildings were organised (close to 7% of the total number of properties in four buildings and that does not include Block A, as its data is missing or undisclosed by the building manager), and not listed in Open Work Orders:

Lots 5, 13, 23, and 32 in Block B Lots 54, 56, 57, 58, 66, 68, and 73 in Block C Lot 125 in Block D

On or around 25 April 2025, just few days after NCAT Hearing, sudden repairs of fire/exit doors in 34 units in three buildings were organised (more than 18% of the total number of properties in four buildings and that does not include Block A, as its data is missing or undisclosed by the building manager:

Lots 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 23, 24, 35, 36, 39, and 44 in Block B Lots 47, 60, 66, 76, 90, 91, 92, and 96 in Block C Lots 99, 100, 101, 104, 105, 107, 117, 121, 123, 138, 139, 142, and 145 in Block D

Since yearly fire inspections were done in late January 2025, it is very problematic that they delayed remediation work for three months.

As an example, lack of maintenance means that owners in Lot 5, 23, and 66 had multiple OH&S and fire safety risks: faulty smoke alarms and fire/exit doors at the same time.

That is not a simple oversight.

5) Faulty emergency lights replacements were organised for Block A on 12 and 13 March 2025 but the same notices were not published for other three buildings. Does it mean no work was done in other buildings, or it was not disclosed to owners and NCAT?

6) Illegal renovation for Lot 79 in Block C is in its sixth month and the fire/exit door is still covered by some plastic.

Similar illegal major renovations are undegoing in Lot 149.

7) On 17 September 2024, Waratah Strata website suddenly removed 12 Open Work Orders, including still outstanding owner's sunroom leaks (that work is still pending but not listed on Waratah website to give appearance that it is not a problem).

Not only the risk of fire in sunroom is real but also due to poor ventilation in one bathroom and laundry, the effect of smoke could further increase the risk of death or injury because of poor air flow.

8) For 1 May 2025, Waratah Strata Management organised sudden Extraordinary General Meeting where they want owners to engage CORE Consulting to start some fire remediation works, but the meeting is not compliant with laws.

EGM scheduled for 1 May 2025 at 10:00 in the morning was created on 7 April 2025 (only electronic voting is allowed so owners cannot discuss or comment about any of the Motions), and it needs to comply with Clause 28 of Schedule 1 of the SSMA 2015:

28 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote or by a proxy must be cast in person unless the owners corporation, by resolution passed at a general meeting, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means.

Clause 10 of Schedule 2 of the SSMA 2015 states in relation to committee meetings:

10 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote must be cast in person unless the strata committee, by resolution, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means.

The effect of clause 28 of Schedule 1 and clause 10 of Schedule 2 is to require two separate resolutions – a committee resolution in relation to committee meetings, and an owners corporation resolution at a general meeting in relation to general meetings.

Three main Motions at alleged EGM on 1 May 2025 are:

BEGIN QUOTE MOTION 1 THAT the minutes of the last annual general meeting 28 November 2024 be confirmed as a true record and account of the proceedings of that meeting. END QUOTE

The AGM 2024 had lot of problems and Waratah Strata Management failed to provide amendments for it:

a) Chairpersons report was unsigned (who acted as Chairperson?) and undated.

b) Chairperson’s statements were highly defamatory, based on false statements, and deliberately vague.

c) Missing details of how Waratah Strata Management comply with order at committee meeting on 7 May 2020 to sign the costs agreement of barrister under common seal for and on behalf of the Owners Corporation, who was requested to respond to the letter received from O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors.

d) Explanation how Waratah Strata Management funderd deficits it Admin Fund throughout FY 2024, which was even listed in Economos Audit:

BEGIN QUOTE As at year end, the Administrative Fund is in deficit amounting to $45,584.29.

The 'Act' allows for loans between funds, but not for a period greater than 3 months. Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Section 76 Part (2) states that "The Owner's Corporation must, not later than 3 months after the transfer or use, determine by resolution at a general meeting whether the money, or part of the money, should be reimbursed to the fund from which it was transferred or paid."

Section 79 Part (3) requires that "When estimating amounts needed to be credited to the administrative fund or the capital works fund, the Owners Corporation must have before it, and take into account, a statement of the existing financial situation of the strata scheme and an estimate of receipts and payments".

When the budget is being considered by the Owners Corporation at the next Annual General Meeting, the Administrative Fund should be brought back into surplus by increasing the annual budget for the fund in deficit to cover both the anticipated expenditure for the financial year plus the deficit brought forward from the previous year. END QUOTE

d) Non-comliance with City of Ryde fire orders.

e) Illegal major renovations, without decisions at general meetings and updates of Special By-Law.

f) Detailed Expenses report for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 was missing. On 22 April 2025, NCAT ordered Waratah Strata Management to provide it on by 5 May 2025 and strata manager failed to notify owners about it.

g) Detailed Revenue report for the financial year from 01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024 was missing. On 22 April 2025, NCAT ordered Waratah Strata Management to provide it on by 5 May 2025 and strata manager failed to notify owners about it.

h) Figure for Uniqueco Property Services for May 2024 was listed under dubious account code, standard code for "Maint Bldg -- Building Management" was 161300, but in May 2024, separate code was added in Admin Fund balance "161350 Maint Bldg -- Building Management Expenses") and kept it for one monthly salary for building management until the end of financial year (cumulative salary for the building manager stayed the same in April and May 2024 - $262,661.61.

i) Income & Expenditure Report listed full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services as $374,649.00 in account code 161300 on 31 August 2024.

Income & Expenditure Report listed extra building expenses as $39,366.18 in account code 161350 on 31 August 2024.

In allegedly audited accounts by Economos, these figures were amended and presented in agenda for AGM 2024:

Account code 161300 listed full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services as $400,473.21 on 31 August 2024.

Account code 161350 listed extra building expenses as $14,539.42 on 31 August 2024.

j) Difference between audited accounts and Income & Expenditure Report for August 2024 for full-year salary for Uniqueco Property Services in account code 161300 reveals figure of $25,824.21, which is quite an undervalued figure and not factual.

k) In FY 2024 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for pool renovation, but $27,073.18 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

By the same token, in FY 2023 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2022, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for pool renovation, but $23,993.18 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for electrical works, but $12,764.00 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for fire protection, but $27,210.50 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

By the same token, in FY 2023 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2022, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for fire protection, but $43,711.00 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Capital Works budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $0.00 (GST excl) was planned for roof gutters and downpipes, but $10,812.00 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Admin Fund budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $3,000.00 (GST excl) was planned for tree lopping/removal, but $15,461.37 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender, in spite of advance knowledge of many trees requiring attention in the complex.

In FY 2024 Admin Fund budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $5,000.00 (GST excl) was planned for doors and windows, but $10,738.36 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Admin Fund budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $7,500.00 (GST excl) was planned for electrical works, but $14,599.76 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

In FY 2024 Admin Fund budget, as presented and allegedly approved at AGM 2023, $2,000.00 (GST excl) was planned for electrical works, but $8,023.00 (GST excl) actually spent without decision at general meeting, and without providing owners with full tender.

l) Alleged Fire Safety Statement, as provided to owners in agenda for AGM 2024 has these problems:

* It was undated. * It was not accompanied by fire safety schedule.

m) and much more.

Second Motion for EGM 2025:

BEGIN QUOTE MOTION 2 ACCEPTANCE OF FEE PROPOSAL | CORE CONSULTING ENGINEERS THAT the Owners – Strata Plan 52948 RESOLVE to accept the fee proposal submitted by CORE Consulting Engineers to complete Stage 1: Construction Stage Technical Management as detailed in AS10355. END QUOTE

The agenda does not contain any figure for estimate of CORE Consulting expenses, apart from hourly rates and has no alternative quotes for the same works by other providers! The "proposal" has open-ended costs. Would any normal and reasonable person accept such quote?

Third Motion for EGM 2025:

QUOTE HERE MOTION 3 RATIFY STRATA COMMITTEE DECISION THAT the Owners – Strata Plan 52948 RESOLVE to RATIFY motion 9 of the minutes of the Strata Committee Meeting held on 06 January 2025, being: 1. The engagement of Bannermans Lawyers in accordance with its fee proposal dated 23 December 2024 to undertake the activities referred to defend NCAT proceedings; and 2. Appoint the strata committee as point of contact to provide the owners corporation’s instructions to Bannermans Lawyers in the NCAT proceedings. END QUOTE

It means that all three meetings in the past had problems to "approve" Bannermans Lawyers engagement:

6 January 2025 (committee meeting) 6 February 2025 (committee meeting) 25 March 2025 (undisclosed EGM)

Of another importance is the fact that planned EGM is not "ratifying" any other Motions at meeting on 6 January 2025. So, part of the meeting on 6 January 2025 is "unratified" and part is planned to be "ratified" without following legal principles:

The ratification of a lawful contract has a retrospective effect, and binds the principal from its date, and not only from the time of the ratification, for the ratification is equivalent to an original authority, according to the maxim, that omnis ratihabitio mandate aeguiparatur (ratification is equivalent to express command).

As a general rule, the principal has the right to elect whether he will adopt the unauthorized act or not. But having once ratified the act, upon a full knowledge of all the material circumstances, the ratification cannot be revoked or recalled, and the principal becomes bound as if he had originally authorized the act.

The ratification must be voluntary, deliberate, and intelligent, and the party must know that without it, he would not be bound.

Owners have no idea of the current legal expenses: $26,388.87 as of 27 April 2025 when deficit in Admin Fund is -$374,482.58.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

1) As predicted, Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with NCAT Orders made on 22 April 2025:

CUT HERE "3. Pursuant to s 188 of the SSM Act, the respondent is to produce for visual inspection at the Strata Manger's office the Building Manager's Contract dated 1 February 2024 on or before 6 May 2025.

4. The respondent is to advise the applicant whether there is any correspondence available for inspection between the Strata Manager and the OC's auditor for the period 2017 to 2024 on or before 6 May 2025.

5. The respondent is to make available for inspection to the applicant details of income and expenditure for the period 2017 to 2024 on or before 6 May 2025." CUT HERE

Correspondence with Economos Auditor is very important because SP52948, under their direct guidance, the complex failed to provide audited accounts before five Annual General Meetings and in two other years, the financial details were wrong and deliberately misconstured.

And contract details with the building manager are also critical due to the fact that Uniqueco Property Services stopped doing number of activities their predecessor undertook as part of standard services:

• Significantly decreased night shift working hours and not guaranteeing licensed staff.

• Touch-up painting of smaller areas within the complex,

• Cleaning exhaust vents in bathrooms and laundries,

• Mowing Ryde Council unnamed park Lot 202 DP848752, 440 Lane Cove Road, classified as Public Recreation Space. This started happening in 2019 after buildign and strata managers were prevented by an owner to allow selective owners to park illegally (Ryde Council Reference 2158948).

Motion and Minutes of Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023 had absolutely no details of the cost for the building manager and since 1 February 2024 when the new contract allegedly started owners do not have details of the contract (based on monthly expenses, the approximate total cost of the building management in FY 2025 will be $423,437.00):

CUT HERE Motion in Agenda "BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT That in accordance with section 67 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, fee proposals supplied by Uniqueco Pty Ltd and Building Management Australia for building management be tabled and discussed." CUT HERE

CUT HERE Minutes "BUILDING & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT Resolved that Uniqueco Pty Ltd be appointed to continue building management services in accordance with pricing schedule tabled for 2024, 2025 & 2026." CUT HERE

And here are the changes for night shift workers (owners are not aware of them):

• Uniqueco Property Services contract on 7 December 2014 (signed by an unfinancial owner due to unpaid gas heating levies since 2001 and the other owner who had undeclared reimbursements for private water and gas usage): 17:00 hours to 05:00 hours seven nights a week No guarantee of licensed security staff Increased contract value by 8.78% per year

• Uniqueco Property Services (contract renewed without tender at general meeting on 24 October 2017 and signed by two unfinancial committee members due to unpaid levies since 2001 and 1999 respectively): 17:00 hours to 05:00 hours seven nights a week No guarantee of licensed security staff Increased contract value by 4.00% per year

• Uniqueco Property Services (contract signed by Waratah Strata Management in December 2020): 19:00 hours to 04:00 hours on weekdays 18:30 hours to 04:00 hours on weekends 18:00 hours to 04:00 hours on public holidays No guarantee of licensed security staff Increased contract value by 1.00% per year

• Uniqueco Property Services (contract kept secret since owner's document search at Waratah Strata Management on 13 February 2024 and not provided to any owner): Estimate of the contract value increase is 26.68% over three years

2) Waratah Strata Management also did not provide any response or access to the documents as per owner's repeated email to them on 22 April 2025, deliberately hampering investigations by NCAT, NSW Fair Trading, Police, and Office of Legal Services Commissioner.

3) Our complex reached record negative balance in Admin Fund on 30 April 2025. We never had such bad deficit since 1996 when the complex was built: -$375,415.62 and yet, Waratah Strata Management and committee members spent $26,388.87 on legal fees without owners corporation approval at any legally-convened meeting.

All that whilst levies went up by 7.91% in 2023, and 52.42% at 2024.

At the beginning of a new financial quarter (period from 1 May 2025 to 31 July 2025), we already had deficit in amount of -$50,415.62 and there will be no new income for the next three months.

We also have significant deficit of around $1.5 millions in 10-Year Capital Works Fund, as shyly reported in minutes of committee meeting on 21 September 2021:

CUT HERE "It was noted that the Capital Works Forecast Report prepared in 2017 suggests that the current balance of the Capital Works Fund should be $2,550,035 and that the actual balance of the Capital Works Fund is $1,034,494. It was resolved that an updated Capital Works Forecast report be obtained as soon as possible. If the report is received prior to the AGM agenda being issued, the proposed Capital Works levy in the budget will be adjusted in accordance with the report. If the report is not received prior to the AGM agenda being issued, then the budget will be issued as tabled and the recommendation discussed at the AGM." CUT HERE

How bad is out 10-Year Capital Works Fund is shown in our comprehensive report and BIV Reporting declined to reply several times.

4) In his witness statement to NCAT on 20 April 2025, an unfinancial committee member, fully supported by Waratah Strata Management, made the following claim, without giving the Tribunal any valid evidence:

CUT HERE "Financial Statements: The Scheme has consistently maintained a surplus balance in its Administrative Fund and Capital Works Fund." CUT HERE

5) Not only SP52948 owners are kept in the dark, but government is too. At StrataHub, Waratah Strata Management still lists our last AGM being held on 26 October 2023. Last AGM was actually on 28 November 2024.

Strata manager had a duty to update the details within three months of the AGM, and they failed to do it for the second year in a row.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status as of 25 May 2025, with important major news this month: Strata manager Michael Lee, featured in the Strata Trap report on ABC TV’s Four Corners, was the first to be banned for life from operating as a strata manager in NSW. Mr. Lee was also fined $11,000.00, his company Result Strata Management had its licence cancelled and fined $22,000.00. Mr. Lee was just three days from the end of a four-month suspension issued in January, when he became the first strata manager in NSW to be “struck off” purely for the way they conducted their business. Mr. Lee was featured in the ABC report using hired staff to prevent owners from entering the AGM to vote against him and his committee. Mr. Lee, an owner in the building, was its strata committee chairperson and its strata manager. After a long-running investigation, Fair Trading found that, under Mr. Lee’s direction, the company had failed to disclose conflicts of interest, consistently breached rules of conduct, charged fees for services not rendered, and failed to ensure that owners’ properties complied with critical fire and safety obligations. In addition, it did not provide information to owners when required, acted contrary to instructions given at general meetings, and failed to make sure a building had adequate insurance cover.

Now back to Waratah Strata Management and SP52948.

1) Another month with a failed meeting.

According to Waratah Strata Management incomplete public statements, second Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) for SP52948 was unsuccessful in 2025 (poorly scheduled for 1 May 2025).

2) The first EGM was allegedly planned for 25 March 2025, but realising it was non-compliant with strata laws, they withdrew it silently.

Then, they organised the second EGM for 1 May 2025.

Waratah Strata website with Folder for Past Meeetings shows that the first EGM was not recorded at all, but the second one was duly recorded.

3) In our email to NSW Fair Trading on 25 April 2025, we warned about it: they planned to run second EGM on 1 May 2025, with main resolution being related to Motion 1 to "ratify" decision to engage Bannermans Lawyers on 6 January 2025), which already had a high risk of being non-compliant.

So far, Bannermans Lawyers and Waratah Strata Management failed to prove they were legally engaged through signed Standard Costs Agreement.

EGM scheduled for 1 May 2025 was created on 7 April 2025, and it needed to comply with Clause 28 of Schedule 1 of the SSMA 2015:

BEGIN QUOTE 28 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote or by a proxy must be cast in person unless the owners corporation, by resolution passed at a general meeting, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means. END QUOTE

Clause 10 of Schedule 2 of the SSMA 2015 states in relation to committee meetings:

BEGIN QUOTE 10 Manner of voting(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote must be cast in person unless the strata committee, by resolution, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means. END QUOTE

The effect of clause 28 of Schedule 1 and clause 10 of Schedule 2 is to require two separate resolutions – a committee resolution in relation to committee meetings, and an owners corporation resolution at a general meeting in relation to general meetings.

For whatever reason, Waratah Strata Management declared this EGM unsuccessful due to alleged lack of quorum.

In the minutes of EGM on 1 May 2025, which were sent to some owners, strata manager claimed the meeting "lapsed due to lack of quorum and adjourned it for 27 May 2025".

The "adjourned" EGM also further delayed fire safety repairs, as ordered by City of Ryde Council (Motion 2).

4) Photos of notice boards taken throughout May 2025, prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the notice boards in four buildings do not contain minutes of failed EGM on 1 May 2025 or notice for the adjourned EGM on 27 May 2025.

5) Waratah Strata website in two folders do not contain any details of the scheduled EGM for 27 May 2025.

6) Waratah Strata website in Document Folder does not contain minutes of failed EGM on 1 May 2025 or notice for the adjourned EGM on 27 May 2025.

So, the EGM on 27 May 2025 is already failing to comply with strata laws and regulations again.

7) It is difficult to defend Waratah Strata Management, specially since SP52948 has been managed by seven strata managers since 1 February 2017 and all of them exhibited the same behaviour. They actions are predictable and repetitive, showing that the whole agency has serious problems.

8) We met with number of owners in the complex over the last few weeks. They are very scared that the complex is poorly managed and Admin Fund financials are in disarray.

9) In another updated investigative work, we collected full evidence on how Waratah Strata Management caused significant losses to SP52948 by manipulating building management contract renewals (Uniqueco Property Services), by disallowing competitive tenders in 2017, 2020, and 2023, hiding full contract details, significantly decreasing working hours of night shift staff, decreasing the services, and even increasing building management's monthly salaries without legally valid approval at any committee or general meetings.

Here is an example from February 2023, when monthly salary of Uniqueco Property Services was increased by 2%. Eventually, giving them an extra $9,044.03 in period from March 2023 to January 2024, in spite of the following issues:

a) Uniqueco Property Services contract had fixed price until 31 January 2024.

b) Meeting was attended by six out of nine committee members, of which two were unfinancial due to unpaid gas heating levies and 10% simple interest per year.

c) Agenda for this meeting was created on Monday, 6 February 2023 at 11:48 hours but Waratah Strata Management misleadingly claimed date of 2 February 2023.

d) Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 9 February 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). The Interpretation Act 1987 Section 76 specifies that the service of a document by post is taken to have taken effect on the seventh working day after the agenda was posted so this needs to be taken into consideration for the correct notice to be given (if required).

The day of the meeting must be excluded from the calculation of service by post under section 36 of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Notice did not satisfy requirements for sending it:

6 February 2023, Day of Notice, postage date not included 7 February 2023, First Working Day 8 February 2023, Second Working Day Five Working Days missing! Three Notice Days missing! 9 February 2023, Date of Meeting, not counted

e) In evidence which Bannermans Lawyers, and committee members submitted to NCAT in case 2024/00454780 on 20 March 2025, they provided this meeting in “Attachment 20 Notice of strata committee meeting held on 9 February 2023”, on page 827, not realising that it proved their dysfunctional operation.

f) Agenda was not detailed, as required by SSMA 2015 and was not sent to some owners.

g) Notice boards published the agenda in afternoon of 6 February 2023.

h) Agenda did not contain any details that negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was -$6,374.28.

Motion 2 of the alleged meeting reported the following:

BEGIN QUOTE FINANCIAL REPORT Resolved that the financial reports for the current financial year were tabled and discussed.

It was noted that Gas and Electricity expenditure has been under budgeted for this financial year. END QUOTE

i) Waratah Strata Management website did not contain schedule for the meeting on 6 February 2023.

j) Financial Audit, which by law, had to happen before general meeting on 27 October 2022, was completed by Economos on 7 December 2022 (43 days later, in non-compliance with STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 95 and STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT REGULATION 2016 – REG 21) but not sent to any owner via email or by post.

k) In minutes of the meeting dated 9 February 2023, owners and investors were again misinformed (not having any information about serious negative balance in Admin Fund and shortage in Capital Works Fund, fire safety orders delayed for two years, Uniqueco Property Services increase of their costs without any information and without decision at general meeting, and admission of concrete cancer in pool area - concrete cancer happened number of times in the complex, due to poor maintenance).

l) Items listed in general business were not legal as they were not Motions to approve. Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 4 June 2025, in public interest and already shared with NSW Fair Trading and will be presented to NCAT as well.

a) The minutes of adjourned SP52948 EGM on 1 May 2025, which was allegedly rescheduled for 27 May 2025, were just published on notice boards.

In email to NSW Fair Trading on 25 April 2025, we warned about it: they planned to run EGM on 1 May 2025, with main resolution related to Motion 1 to "ratify" decision to engage Bannermans Lawyers on 6 January 2025, which already had a high risk of being non-compliant.

So far, Bannermans Lawyers and Waratah Strata Management failed to prove they were legally engaged through signed Standard Costs Agreement.

In the very short minutes of EGM on 7 May 2025, which were sent to some owners but never published on notice boards or on Waratah Strata website, strata manager claimed the meeting "lapsed due to lack of quorum and adjourned it for 27 May 2025".

b) Waratah Strata Management forged dates of published EGMs on 1 and 27 May 2025 on their website.

"SP52948-waratahstrata-Document-folder-page-1-1Jun2025" shows that neither minutes of EGM on 1 May 2025 nor minutes of EGM on 27 May 2025 were published as of 1 June 2025.

Day later on 2 June 2025, "SP52948-waratahstrata-Document-folder-page-1-2Jun2025", more detailed minutes of EGM on 1 May 2025 and 27 May 2025 were published but "backdated" to 1 May 2025.

The failed EGM (declared to not satisfy the quorum) on 1 May 2025 listed 55 owners who voted (out of 218 in the complex), of which three were declared "invalid" (Lots 12, 32, and 45) (word "invalid" was given by strata manager himself).

The "successful" EGM on 27 May 2025 listed 54 owners who voted (out of 218 in the complex), of which three were declared "non-financial" (Lots 12, 32, and 45) (word "non-financial" was given by strata manager himself), and one owner who allegedly voted on 1 May 2025 disappeared from status on 27 May 2025 (Lot 60).

However, the adjourned EGM was not shown that it also failed to reach quorum and the strata manager wrongly summarised in the minutes:

BEGIN QUOTE

The original general meeting scheduled on 01/05/25 did not reach a quorum. This reconvened meeting held on 27/05/25 proceeds in accordance with the Act, with quorum deemed present under Section 19(3).

END QUOTE

Section 19(3) of SSMA 2015 has nothing to do with the quorum:

BEGIN QUOTE

19 Other general meetings

(1) The secretary or a strata committee of an owners corporation may convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation at any time.

(2) The secretary of the owners corporation, or another officer if the secretary is absent, must convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation as soon as practicable, and not later than 14 days after, receiving a qualified request.

(3) A meeting may be convened on a qualified request even if the first annual general meeting has not been held.

(4) A request is a "qualified request" for the purposes of this section if it is made by one or more owners of a lot or lots in the strata scheme having a total unit entitlement of at least one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlements.

END QUOTE

It is important to note that Waratah Strata Management has failed to provide owners with signed version of Standard Costs Agreement for Bannermans Lawyers and disclose legal costs of $35,908.38.

c) As predicted, by having electronic vote only and hiding information for owners and NCAT, Waratah Strata Management directly prevented owners from voting on Motions at adjourned EGM on 27 May 2025:

Motion: Confirm NCAT case 2024/00454780 legal concerns

Motion: Confirm non-compliance of committee meetings on 6 January 2025 and 6 February 2025 and Bannermans Lawyers conflict of interest

Motion: Confirm financial status in Admin Fund since 1 September 2024

Motion: Confirm lack of evidence of Lot 3 and Lots 136/137 insurance indemnity for exclusive rights to common property

Motion: Amend Special By-Law 14 Paragraph (10)

Motion: Solicitor Adrian Mueller continued to be illegally engaged in and since 2024 without providing useful services to SP52948

Motion: Issue order to Uniqueco Property Services staff to use only allocated parking space for parking their vehicles

Motion: Issue order to Uniqueco Property Services to stop riding and parking electric scooter on common property

Motion: Committee member from Lot 181 failed to disclose owner's request for issue of summonses for providing documents to NCAT and attending the Hearing

Motion: Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose insurance commissions in agenda for AGM 2024 and provided false statement about it when questioned at the meeting on 28 November 2024

Motion: Waratah Strata Management engaged BIV Reports to update insurance valuation

Waratah Strata Management used phrase:

"Motion was ruled Out of Order: The motion, if carried, would be unlawful or unenforceable for another reason".

d) Waratah Strata Management then forged date of another critical document on their website (but not sent to any owner via email or by post).

On 3 June 2025, "SP52948-waratahstrata-Document-folder-page-1-3Jun2025", they published Fire Safety Statement for audit done on 4 February 2025 and signed by strata manager on 29 April 2025 (delay of one and half months). Strata manager "backdated" the date of the published document to 29 April 2025.

e) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund today was -$192,808.28, without any disclosure to owners.

Waratah Strata Management still refuses to provide evidence on how Admin Fund was/is funded during poor cashflow periods and where was/is money coming from to pay regular bills and invoices since 2023.

Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022 has the following clause in Section 5:

BEGIN QUOTE 5 Indemnification of strata managing agent prohibited An agency agreement under which the agent will exercise the functions of a strata managing agent must not contain a term that indemnifies the agent against a liability to pay a fine arising under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, section 57(1). END QUOTE

f) Based on their submission to NCAT on 20 March 2025, latest vesion of Consolidated By-Laws was dated November 2022. Waratah Strata Management allowed major renovations for number of properties without compliance with SP52948 Special By-Laws or registration at NSW Land Registry Services:

Lot 5 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 7 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 22 February 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), and allowed Lot 7 to attend the general meeting and vote, in spite of being unfinancial; not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 8 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 22 February 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 27 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 27 April 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW); not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 39 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 30 November 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW); not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 72 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 17 August 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW); not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 79 (major renovations started without owners corporation meeting approval, including noise on 3 November 2024; major renovations approved at SP52948 Annual General Meeting dated 28 November 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management and directly orchestrated by Bannermans Lawyers, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA); not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services).

Lot 86 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 22 February 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 87 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 103 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 27 April 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW); not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 104 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 116 (major renovations approved at SP52948 Extraordinary General Meeting dated 22 February 2024, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 139 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 140 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 143 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 149 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Lot 170 (not approved any any legally-convened general meeting and not registered in Consolidated By-Laws, witholding information from and misleading the Registrar General of the NSW Land Registry Services)

Status on 4 June 2025 - three major renovations are still ongoing, causing noise, dust, and nuisance to owners:

Lot 48 renovations since 29 April 2025.

Lot 79 major renovations started without owners corporation meeting approval on 3 November 2024.

Lot 149 renovations since 5 March 2025.

g) Thanks to owner's work and co-operation with City of Ryde Council, illegal bike rack in basement of the complex, which was built too close to fire hydrant without owners corporation approval or decision at any meeting, SP52948 received an order to remove it.

Since 3 March 2019, through unauthorised change of use of common property, bike rack in basement of Block D was installed, ignoring the fire and OH&S safety regulations.

On 6 May 2025, a very angry notice was published in elevators of four buildings, threatening owners if they did not move their bikes from Block D common property by 20 May 2025 Uniqueco Property Services would dump them into bin area.

The rack was removed and area around fire hydrant is free again.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 27 June 2025, in public interest. This information was shared with Waratah Strata Management who failed to offer reasonable responses.

1) On 9 June 2025 (public holiday), SP52948 experienced a significant incident with sprinkler alarms.

Of special interest is the evidence that on Waratah Strata Management website, in folder Open Work Orders, item "Fire Safety - fire sprinkler repairs" is still listed as unresolved since 13 February 2024 (16 months so far).

2) On that day, staff of Uniqueco Property Services were witnessed parked in designated slot (for which owners pay levies), in period from around 09:00 hours to 10:45 hours.

3) Throughout the rest of the day, at least until around 18:00 hours, that parking slot was empty. Evidence collected from dashboard cameras.

Dasboard camera confirming that staff of Uniqueco Property Services were not parked in designated slot was collected at 12:45 hours, 13:40 hours, 14:01 hours, and 17:02 hours.

4) Whilst driving into the complex at around 16:59 hours, significant alarm noise was detected by us.

It turned out that a faulty sprinkler alarm was creating it.

5) Few concerned owners walked around the affected area and were trying to figure out what to do. One of the owners called building manager's 24-hours mobile phone 17:08 and 17:09 hours and received no responses. This owner then called FlameSafe number, which was listed near the sprinkler system at the entrance to the complex.

6) FlameSafe staff arrived at around 17:37 hours and stopped the alarm.

7) A tenant who used to rent property in the complex (apparently, he now owns a unit) was witnessed putting handwritten, unassigned, note near the sprinkler system around that time, without any legal authority to do so.

Day later, on 10 June 2025, we asked him had who authorised him to publish the note and what his duty was when he was not a staff member of the building manager or a representative of the owners corporation. This person refused to respond with any reasonable answers. Further more, he claimed to be a new owner in the complex.

8) We asked Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services to document, with evidence from CCTV recordings, for how long staff of Uniqueco Property Services was NOT ON SITE in period from around 11:45 hours to 18:30 hours on 9 June 2025. That evidence must be submitted to NCAT in case SC 2024/2024-00454780 and shared with all owners.

Few days later, Uniqueco Property Services confirmed that their staff left premises at 11:00 hours in the morning and that only some cleaners were present for part of the day afterwards (without providing evidence of it). They did, however, admit that on public holidays they only work from 05:00 and 11:00 hours in the morning (copy of their contract has never been shared with owners).

Nobody really knows the current working hours of Uniqueco Property Services staff because they are not published anywhere, and the contracts were not published in agenda for general meetings three times:

Agenda for AGM on 26 November 2014 did not have any details of the contract and it was never published for any owner,

Agenda for AGM on 24 October 2017 did not have any details of the contract and it was never published for any owner,

Agenda for EGM on 30 November 2023 did not have any details of the contract and it was not published for any owner.

There are several hundred screenshots and more than two hours of recorded video of what we found on the computer system during document search in Waratah Strata Management office on 13 February 2024, when new contract with Uniqueco Property Services did not exist and was not signed yet (13 days after the alleged start of the new three-year period).

The rest of requested information has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services.

9) We asked Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services to answer why nobody from Uniqueco Property Services responded promptly to calls on their mobile phone at around 17:08 hours.

Few days later, Uniqueco Property Services replied with alleged list of many phone calls (without providing evidence of if times of the calls, order of appearance).

Requested information has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services.

10) We asked Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services to document, with evidence from CCTV recordings, if ex-tenant entered office of building manager at any time without official Uniqueco Property Services staff being present on 9 June 2025. If he did, who gave him the keys and why?

Requested information has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services.

11) Fire safety issues plague the complex and Waratah Strata Management even forged the date when they published Fire Safety Statement on their website - published on 3 June 2025 but backdated to 29 April 2025.

Requested information has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services.

12) Waratah Strata Management was asked to confirm or deny that they failed to comply with the NCAT orders dated 22 April 2025 (access to financial strata documents and current contract with Uniqueco Property Services).

Response has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management.

13) As a reminder, at non-compliant committee meeting on 9 February 2023, Uniqueco Property Services monthly salary was increased without general meeting, giving them an extra $9,044.03 in period from March 2023 to January 2024, in spite of the non-compliance. Waratah Strata Management even forged the date when the notice was created - Waratah Strata Management notice claims it was created on 2 February 2023 but PDF metadata showed different status - it was created on 6 February 2023 at 11:48 hours.

Uniqueco Property Services contract had fixed price until 31 January 2024.

Response has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management.

14) Uniqueco Property Services made a statement that on-call FlameSafe staff was "unfamiliar" with the site of the incident on 9 June 2025 and needed help from SP52948 owners.

We questioned such statement: if the FlameSafe technician was "unfamiliar" with the site (as per Uniqueco Property Services own admission), than we have a serious problem with who supports our complex for fire safety. This is actually a very problematic admission by the building manager.

Requested information has not yet been provided by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services.

15) As of today, SP52948 Admin Fund has negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund in amount of -$215,387.57 and the next collection of levies is on 1 August 2025 (more than one month away).

We continue to be plagued by various problems:

Block B level 6 fire door not closing property (issue still unresolved)

Block A leaking isolation valves in boiler room on 18 June 2025

Block B Lot 48 sunroom water leak requiring abseiler repairs on 12 June 2025

Block C Lot 94 bedroom water leak requiring abseiler repairs on 12 June 2025

and much more.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 5 July 2025... In public interest and already shared with Waratah Strata Management, committee members, NSW Fair Trading, insurance company, and will be presented to NCAT as well.

As we were able to obtain certified audio recordings for three Directions Hearing and first Hearing in NCAT case 2024/00454780, lot of crucial evidence of misconduct was found.

Here are two incredible items:

1) Common Property Title Search for registered strata plan 52948 conflicts with Consolidated By-Laws. Certificate of Title edition 16 was dated 11 February 2021, which ended with latest updates AQ793279 (consolidation of Registered By-Laws), showed there were no updates to By-Laws since that date and do not include updates (Registered By-Laws) dated 17 November 2022.

Latest update of the Consolidated By-Laws was on 17 November 2022, which directly conflicted with statements for Certificate of Title edition 16 dated 11 February 2021.

2) Certificate of Currency and Building Insurance Valuation Certificate of Value that Bannermans Lawyers (with full support by Waratah Strata Management) submitted to NCAT were obsolete and outdated.

Flex Insurance Policy Q0001885429-2 was released on 18 March 2025 but not provided to the Tribunal.

Last complex valuation was done on 20 January 2025 without disclosure to the Tribunal (insurance valuation was in amount of $177,400,000.00).

Document published on 18 March 2025 claimed that insurance premiums for half-year periond of FY 2025 were paid on 26 March 2025 (future date!) in total amount of $165,821.88 (GST incl).

SP52948 was significantly underinsured (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00) without approval by or disclosure to owners corporation.

On 4 July 2025 we uncovered a shocking insurance policy change:

Flex Insurance Policy Q0001885429-2 was released on 18 March 2025 and listed $0.00 for insurance commissions. We were actually suspicious of it and published the following statement in this forum on 20 March 2025:

BEGIN QUOTE

The document published on 18 March 2025 claimed that insurance premiums were paid on 26 March 2025 (future date!?) in total amount of $165,821.88 (GST incl). Like in FY 2023 (year ending on 31 August 2023), where SP52948 was under-insured (property valued at $146,550,000.00 was under-insured for catastrophe by $16,937,850.00), similar was done in March 2025. SP52948 was under-insured for buildings (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00).

Waratah Strata Management allegedly did not receive any commissions, although they had published resolution in Motion 14 for AGM on 28 November 2024 that owners "acknowledged commissions and training services estimate at less than $100.00 per person per year", amounting to around $21,800.00. There are no details of other types of benefits (gifts, and so on), that Waratah Strata Management might have received.

END QUOTE

How right we were: on 4 July 2025, the same document was found to became Flex Insurance Policy HQ000614477 which listed $13,750.00 for commissions.

It means that, in FY 2025 (period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025), Waratah Strata Management received $23,686.71 in commissions, whilst owners corporation paid $273,437.44 for the insurance policy.

3) Bannermans Lawyers (with full support by Waratah Strata Management) submited obsolete version of 10-Year Capital Works Fund dated 2017.

The current version is dated October 2021.

They mislead the Tribunal to hide details of delayed or undelivered upgrades and works.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 19 July 2025. 1) Waratah Strata Management plans to run yet another non-conpliant general meeting.

Extraordinary General Meeting, scheduled for next Monday (21 July 2025), as organised by Waratah Strata Management, already failed the requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 1, Section 4 (1) and (3), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW):

2 July 2025, Day of notice, postage date not included

3 July 2025, First Working Day

4 July 2025, Second Working Day

5 July 2025, Saturday

6 July 2025, Sunday

7 July 2025, Third Working Day

8 July 2025, Fourth Working Day

9 July 2025, Fifth Working Day

10 July 2025, Sixth Working Day

11 July 2025, Seventh Working Day, notice effective

12 July 2025, First Notice Day

13 July 2025, Second Notice Day

14 July 2025, Third Notice Day

15 July 2025, Fourth Notice Day

16 July 2025, Fifth Notice Day

17 July 2025, Sixth Notice Day

18 July 2025, Seventh Notice Day

19 July 2025, Eight Notice Day

20 July 2025, Nineth Notice Day

Five Notice Days missing

21 July 2025, Date of Meeting, not counted

In addition, even just two days before the alleged EGM, Waratah Strata Management did not publish the agenda of the meeting on their website.

2) Negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund reached -$287,272.92 without any notifications to owners.

Whilst SP52948 has serious cash flow, strata manager is happy to waste owners' funds on alleged legal fees in amount of $37,493.28.

3) Waratah Strata Management website lists six Open Work Orders, of which one is more than nine months old, and two are more than 17 months old:

04/10/2024 Sewer Relining

27/02/2024 Fire safety equipment repairs

13/02/2024 Fire safety - fire sprinkler repairs

In October 2024, we collected video and photo evidence of bush turkeys drinking from sewer leaks behind SP52948 townhouse 199. It was a tragic view seeing poor birds being literally poisoned.

This information was hidden from NCAT by Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and Bannermans Lawyers at NCAT Hearing on 22 April 2025.

City of Ryde Council made orders to BCS Strata Management (who were strata manager at the time) and Uniqueco Property Services for similar problems in 2015 (Emergency Order 21 and 22) on 8 May 2015. The order was so strict that it allowed ONLY TWO DAYS for rectification work. In their orders, City of Ryde clearly stated:

BEGIN QUOTE

Sewage may contain pathogenic micro-organisms and poses a danger to health if not disposed of appropriately.

END QUOTE

And there were number of other sewer incidents, not to mention the ones before Waratah Strata Management took office on 1 February 2017.

Due to lack of proactive maintenance and terrible 10-Year Capital Works Fund, owners spend excessive amounts on emergency repairs. Here are few examples:

16/09/2019 Lots 49 and 50 sewer pipe reline, $16,830.00 (GST excl)

20/01/2020 Sewer leak at back of complex, $720.00 (GST excl)

07/09/2020 Lot 49 checkup sewerline, $200.00 (GST excl)

02/09/2021 Townhouse 211 blocked sewer drains, $450.00 (GST excl)

10/12/2021 Townhouse 211 sewer line in courtyard, $2,470.00 (GST excl)

29/08/2022 Lot 25 reline sewer pipes under floor slab, $10,800.00 (GST excl)

03/10/2024 Inspection to blocked sewer overflow, $850.00 (GST excl)

09/10/2024 Inspection to blocked sewer overflow, $935.00 (GST excl)

Waratah Strata Management decliend to comply with NCAT orders at Hearing on 22 April 2025 to provide access to financial data for FY 2024 (period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024).

Problems with fire safety are well documented and long overdue for repairs.

4) Waratah Strata Management was requested to fully inform 218 owners about pending NCAT Hearing on 22 July 2025. Strata manager silently refused to do it. Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 17 August 2025 worth sharing. a) Negative balance (deficit) in SP52948 Admin Fund was -$61,872.64, with legal expenses in amount of $52,510.71.

We forced the strata manager to publish the latest legal expenses (there was a possibility for them to be "moved" into next financial year), and they now amount to $52,510.71.

On 10 August 2025, we warned strata manager and the committee members that owners were already suffering: above $37,000.00 in legal fees for NCAT case this year (and that did not include unpaid Bannermans Lawyers attendance without valid legal representation at Hearing on 22 July 2025, which one committee member was trying to delay after the Hearing (they were overheard talking with the Solicitor)). Hiding such payment was very dangerous in legal terms.

Somehow, SP52948 has lot of money to waste of legal fees unnecessarily, but cannot resolve other more critical problems:

* Compliance with City of Ryde fire safety orders - still outstanding for many years.

* Minutes of committee meeting on 21 September 2021 documented shortage of $1,515,541.00 in Capital Works Fund, without disclosure to owners at any general meeting.

* Since 1 September 2023, when new financial year started with positive balance in Admin Fund of $18,759.11 (that figure is highly questionable because Waratah Strata Management created four different versions of this figure: $18,759.11 in report on 31 August 2023, $14,903.11 in report on 6 September 2023, $10,652.86 in report on 16 September 2023, and audited accounts on 11 December 2023 (46 days after legally due date) was $6,120.73; number of invoices and work moved into new financial year to give appearance of positive balance), Admin Fund has continuously negative balance (deficit) up to current period (mid-August 2025), with exception for two-week period in early February 2025 and one week in early August 2025.

* Lot of major expenditures delayed or hidden from owners (roof membranes on four buildings is one of them, proper roof upgrades on 26 townhouses is another one, and much more).

* Insurance premiums were paid on 26 March 2025 in total amount of $165,821.88 (GST incl). Like in FY 2022 (year ending on 31 August 2022), where SP52948 was underinsured for catastrophe, worse was done in March 2025. SP52948 was underinsured (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00).

* Total expenses for the building management contract (Uniqueco Property Services) in FY 2025 were $454,942.80.00, increase of %9.62 in comparison to FY 2024 whilst the official inflation rate was 2.1% (the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published annual inflation in the June quarter of 2025).

As a reminder, total expenses for the building management contract (Uniqueco Property Services) in FY 2024 were $415,012.63 (split into two account codes ("Maint Bldg--Building Management" and "Maint Bldg--Building Management Expenses"), increase of 20.81% in comparison to FY 2023 whilst the official inflation rate was 2.4% as published on 29 January 2025.

Since 2014, SP52948 never ran a valid competitive tender for building and strata manegement contracts and even prevented multiple vendors from being considered at geaneral meetings.

And it gets worse: at committee meeting on 9 February 2023, Uniqueco Property Services monthly salary was increased without general meeting, giving them an extra $9,044.03 in period from March 2023 to January 2024, in spite of the following issues:

* Uniqueco Property Services contract had fixed price until 31 January 2024.

* Lot 181 was unfinancial to vote.

* Agenda for committee meeting scheduled for 9 February 2023 was created on 6 February 2023 at 11:48 hours.

* Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 9 February 2023, as organised by Waratah Strata Management, did not satisfy requirements of Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA), Schedule 2, Section 4 (1) and (2), and section 7, and Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW). The Interpretation Act 1987 Section 76 specifies that the service of a document by post is taken to have taken effect on the seventh working day after the agenda was posted so this needs to be taken into consideration for the correct notice to be given (if required).

6 February 2023, Day of Notice, postage day not included

7 February 29023, First Working Day

8 February 2025, Second Working Day

Five Working Days missing

Three Notice Days missing

9 February 2023, Date of Meeting, not counted

* Notice boards published the agenda in late part of 6 February 2023.

* Owners who relied on postal deliveries did not receive this agenda (around 50% of them do not live in the complex).

* Notice provided false statement about the date of creation: “Date of this notice: 02 February 2023”.

* Agenda did not contain any details that negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was -$6,374.28.

As of 17 August 2025, no new income is available until next collection of levies on 1 November 2025.

This financial year will be remembered with absolutely worst negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund in amount of -$375,415.62 (reached on 30 April 2025).

Since the financial year ends on 31 August 2025, it means this will be the second year in the row that Admin Fund ends with negative balance.

b) Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with repeated Tribunal orders made at Hearing on 22 July 2025 to provide access to strata files by 12 August 2025.

c) In panic, on 15 August 2025 (Friday afternoon), Bannermans Lawyers tried to bully an owner to force extension of time for strata file access.

Here is what the owner responded with (CC-ed to strata manager and committee members who did not respond so far):

BEGIN HERE

Dear Bannermans Lawyers,

Just saw this email sent in rush by you today. Reasonable person would conclude that it appears you counted on the Applicant not seeing this email until next week (weekend has already started), when it would have been "too late" for them to respond. Not a very nice action by you, who claim to have high skills and reputation.

People in panic almost always make serious mistakes. And you are giving "the deadline" of one working day (by 18 August 2025 at 10:00)!? Very generous, indeed!

Please do not insult the Applicant's character with the baseless and weak excuses whilst seeking extension of time. The Respondents are persistently exhibiting contempt of court and wasting Tribunal and my time, at high cost to owners without any benefits.

Had the Respondents acted with any decency and ethics, and informed all owners of this NCAT case in a proper manner, the Applicant would have considered an option to help them.

Three attachments, created or orchestrated by Lot 181 (committee member) whilst he was unfinancial (without full disclosure to owners and the Tribunal), best show our points:

His submission to CTTT in case SCS 11/00711.

His submission to CTTT in case SCS 12/05845.

His secret letter to all owners (not sent to the Applicant) on 20 July 2017, with horrendous lies with attempt to discredit the Applicant.

The Respondents do not selectively choose when to contact the Applicant and when to ignore them.

NCAT case is not a game and not something for the Respondents to play with. I am sure you are aware that another submission to OLSC about Solicitor's misconduct will happen next week. This email will be part of that submission.

1) Respondents' request for extension of time in accordance with the attached orders is refused for the following reasons:

At AGM on 28 November 2024, directly orchestrated by committee members and strata managers, they rejected Applicant's request for access to strata files. Bannermans Lawyers attended the first Directions Hearing on 15 January 2025 without evidence of legal representation.

Bannermans Lawyers failed to comply with request at first Directions Hearing (did not deliver their files on or before 12 February 2025 in reply to the Applicant’s objection to legal representation and their points of defence).

Bannermans Lawyers attended the second Directions Hearing on 20 February 2025 without evidence of legal representation and relied on false defence of ratification of committee meeting dated 6 January 2025 at committee meeting on 6 February 2025.

Bannermans Lawyers attended first full Hearing on 22 April 2025 without evidence of legal representation and again relied on false defence of ratification of committee meeting dated 6 January 2025 at committee meeting on 6 February 2025.

Bannermans Lawyers attended second full Hearing on 22 July 2025 (fully unprepared, in spite of receiving Applicant's evidence dated 7 July 2025) without evidence of legal representation but this time relied on false defence of ratification of committee meeting dated 6 January 2025 at EGM on 27 May 2025.

Lot 181 failed to comply with Tribunal issue of summonses on 7 March 2025.

After Applicant's complaints, Lot 181 submitted his LIMITED files in return of summonses on 17 March 2025, but deliberately failed to serve them on the Applicant, until Senior Member helped to get them at Hearing on 22 July 2025. Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with the Tribunal orders issued on 22 April 2025.

Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with the Tribunal orders issued on 22 July 2025.

2) Bannermans Lawyers directly failed to respond to the Applicant's emails seven times and those requests are still OUTSTANDING.

3) Waratah Strata Management and committee members failed to inform the owners about the Tribunal orders made on 22 and 23 July 2025:

They were not published on any of six notice boards in period from 22 July 2025 to 14 August 2025 (video and photo evidence was collected).

They were not published on Waratah Strata Management secure website (screenshots were collected).

They were not sent by post or emails to all owners and tenants.

4) The attached files are examples of Applicant's attempts to reason with Waratah Strata Management and committee members. They were all ignored.

5) Lot 181 return of summonses on 17 March 2025 and witness statement on 20 March 2025 have created an immense problem for the Respondents' defence.

6) Waratah Strata Management must provide access to ALL strata files (especially BANK STATEMENTS and DETAILED REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENTS). It is the Applicant's legal right and goes beyond the Tribunal orders.

There is also an outstanding issue of access to two very specific CCTV recordings, which strata manager is fully aware of.

7) Financial period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 - Income & Expenditure Reports for May, June, July, August 2024 and up to 16 September 2024 confirm unpaid gas heating levies, Lot 181 failed to comply with Tribunal orders to provide evidence of payment.

8) Financial period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025 - Income & Expenditure Reports for May, June, July 2025 and as of 15 August 2025 confirm unpaid gas heating levies, Lot 181 failed to comply with Tribunal orders to provide evidence of payment.

9) Waratah Strata Management should have provided access to strata files on time. They must actually be published for all owners on strata manager's secure website.

10) I am very busy with work and cannot accommodate strata manager's "offer" to see just a few files in next five working days.

You must provide the Applicant's response to the Tribunal unredacted and with attachments, and strata manager must share it with all owners by end of business hours on 18 August 2025.

END HERE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Status on 3 September 2025 worth sharing. 1) Financial year 2025 (period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025) ended with negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund of -$72,006.63, which is an increase from negative balance in FY 2024 in amount of -$45,584.29.

The accounts are not audited yet and the status might change.

Throughout FY 2025, Waratah Strata Management did not provide owners with financial status at any meeting.

2) This is the second year in a row that SP52948 Admin Fund has negative balance at the end of financial year, in spite of levy increases in amount of 7.91% in FY 2024 and 52.42% in FY 2025.

3) On 6 May 2025, Waratah Strata Management made the following official statement when NCAT requested them to provide details of correspondence with the financial auditors (Robert Bates in 2017 and Economos Auditor since 2018) .

BEGIN QUOTE

We advise that a review of archived documentation has been completed, and there are no communications between the Strata Manager and the Owners Corporation's appointed auditor for the period 2017 to 2024.

END QUOTE

At the next NCAT Hearing on 21 October 2025, Waratah Strata Management will be asked how they communicated with auditors:

Pigeon carriers

In-person meetings without witnesses

Some other method?

And how does strata manager comply with legal requirements to keep all strata files (including financials) for minimum of seven years?

4) In spite of all warnings to Waratah Strata Management, not only owners are uninformed and prevented from access to files, but government bodies too.

StrataHub still lists last SP52948 general meeting as 26 October 2023, whilst the real last Annual General Meeting was on 28 November 2024.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

Updates on 5 September 2025. 1) On 3 September 2025, Waratah Strata Management made an urgent request to insurance broker without disclosure to owners:

BEGIN QUOTE

Please increase the insurance cover in accordance with the attached valuation and send through an endorsement.

END QUOTE

There is a very good reason for this panic action. In March 2025, without committee or general meeting, Waratah Strata Management underinsured SP52948 (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00). Flex Insurance Policy Q0001885429-2 was released on 18 March 2025 and listed $0.00 for insurance commissions, but the same document, found on 4 July 2025, became Flex Insurance Policy HQ000614477 which listed $13,750.00 for commissions.

NSW Fair Trading started investigations for some of the Waratah Strata Management mismanagement issues and sent them a letter on 3 September 2025. So, that is why Waratah Strata Management made urgent request for the broker.

The question is if Waratah Strata Managament will coerce the broker to extend the insured value without paying extra now, or delay the payment until some other time.

It is important to note that Waratah Strata Management underinsured the large strata complex for five and half months in FY 2025 (period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025), without disclosure to owners or their approval.

2) As of today, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was -$125,444.44 and no new income is possible until next collection of levies in two months on 1 November 2025.

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".

On 19 September 2025, under our persistent pressure, and visit by inspectors from NSW Fair Trading, Waratah Strata Management was forced to upgrade SP52948 insurance policy to match property value which was significantly underinsured in March 2025 without owners corporation knowledge or approval (property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00). Flex Insurance sent another invoice (third one in last 12 months), for additional changes of insurance policy: $10,707.92.

The reason for urgent publications of the third insurance change was our email to Waratah Strata Management on early 19 September 2025 (before they published the insurance change).

This is our email to Waratah Strata Management:

BEGIN HERE

It is requested that Waratah Strata Management shares this information with the following parties by Monday 22 September 2025, close of business hours:

NSW Fair Trading

Insurance broker and insurance company

NCAT

All SP52948 owners

1) As of today, Bannermans Lawyers failed to provide evidence of their retainer, whilst profiteering from high costs paid by SP52948 without any benefits to owners.

2) By providing misleading and false statements to NSW Fair Trading mediation cases in 2020 and 2024, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to huge legal costs, without benefiting owners corporation.

Attachment "SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-misleading-NSW-Fair-Trading-about-two-mediation-cases-in-2020-and-2024.pdf".

3) By organising and running non-compliant committee meeting on 9 February 2023, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to Uniqueco Property Services' monthly salary increase without general meeting and any details of the costs, giving them an extra $9,044.03 in period from March 2023 to January 2024, in spite of fixed three-year contract for period between 1 February 2021 to 31 January 2024.

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-meeting-raising-salary-for-building-manager-in-spite-of-fixed-term-contract-9Feb2023.pdf".

4) By organising and running non-compliant Annual General Meeting on 30 November 2023, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to Uniqueco Property Services' significant contract value increase without valid tender.

Notice of EGM on 30 November 2023 was not listed in Lot 181 witness statement as submitted by Bannermans Lawyers on 20 March 2025, with premeditated and deliberate intentions to hamper Tribunal investigations.

In FY 2024 (period from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024), Waratah Strata Management’s official documents state that Uniqueco Property Services earned $415,012.63, split into two account codes ("Maint Bldg -- Building Management" and "Maint Bldg--Building Management Expenses"), increase of 20.81% compared to previous year.

In FY 2025 (period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025), Waratah Strata Management’s official documents state that Uniqueco Property Services earned $454,942.80, increase of 9.62% compared to previous year.

In SP52948 Delegated Functions Report for period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, which Waratah Strata Management hid from all owners and NCAT (allegedly created on 8 April 2025 by Marth Lim), and did not publish it on their website even as late as 24 August 2025, it clearly listed sum of $489.040.73 for Uniqueco Property Services in Creditors Payments.

This information does not match Waratah Strata Management Income & Expenditure statements.

Extracts from those reports, with cumulative figures within financial years (FY 2024 is for period 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024, and FY 2025 is for period from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025):

Date Building Management (Acc 161300) Building Management Expenses (Acc 161350)

Dec 2023 $115,511.92 $5,511.67

Jan 2024 $144,389.90 $6,385.22

Feb 2024 $180,973.23 $7,731.78

Mar 2024 $217,556.56 $8,386.23

Apr 2024 $254,139.89 $9,519.17

May 2024 $290,723.22 $10,363.90

Jun 2024 $327,306.55 $11,254.90

Jul 2024 $363,889.88 $13,193.02

Aug 2024 $400,473.21 $14,539.42

Sep 2024 $38,041.94 $0.00

Oct 2024 $75,376.98 $0.00

Nov 2024 $113,106.79 $0.00

Dec 2024 $150,593.47 $0.00

Summarising these figures for period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, a value is obtained for Uniqueco Property Services earnings:

Building Management (Acc 161300) + Building Management Expenses (Acc 161350)

$444,582.51

In total, Uniqueco Property Services earnings in period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 amounted to $444,582.51 (GST excl).

The difference between figure in Delegated Functions Report for period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 ($440,136.66, GST excl) and monthly Income & Expenditure reports for period 1 January 2024 to 31 January 2024 amounts to $4,445.85 (GST excl).

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-EGM-and-fraudulent-tender-for-building-management-30Nov2023.pdf".

5) By organising and running non-compliant Extraordinary General Meeting on 22 February 2024, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to three major renovations being completed without evidence of registration or updates of By-Laws, and fully paid fees by those three owners.

In Lot 181 witness statement as submitted by Bannermans Lawyers on 20 March 2025, this EGM was not listed, with premeditated and deliberate intentions to hamper Tribunal investigations.

In Lot 181 witness statement as submitted by Bannermans Lawyers on 20 March 2025, Certificate of Title edition 16 dated 11 February 2021 ended with latest updates AQ793279 (consolidation of Registered By-Laws), and showed there were no updates to By-Laws since that date and do not include updates presented on page 7 (Registered By-Laws) dated 17 November 2022. Latest update of the By-Laws was on 17 November 2022, which directly conflicts with statements for Certificate of Title edition 16 dated 11 February 2021.

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-EGM-and-unregistered-major-renovations-22Feb2024.pdf".

6) By organising and running non-compliant committee meeting on 2 March 2024, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to helping Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s earn $3,905.00 without disclosure to owners.

Committee meeting on 2 April 2024 was not listed in Lot158 witness statement as submitted by Bannermans Lawyers on 20 March 2025, with premeditated and deliberate intentions to hamper Tribunal investigations.

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-meeting-illegally-engaging-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-2Apr2024.pdf".

7) By organising and running non-compliant committee meeting on 23 May 2024, Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to significantly delaying fire safety upgrades as per long-standing City of Ryde orders, whilst allowing Core Engineering to run false tender.

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-and-non-existent-meeting-23May2024.pdf".

8) By organising and running four non-compliant meetings in 2025 (two committee meetings and two Extraordinary General Meetings), Waratah Strata Management became direct accessory to illegal engagement of Bannermans Lawyers (who had direct conflict of interest due to their actions in 2011 and involvement in Lot 79 major renovations that started without approval at general meeting), whilst hampering Tribunal investigations.

As of today, legal costs for FY 2025 are $52,510.71 without disclosure to owners.

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-meeting-illegally-engaging-Bannermans-Lawyers-6Jan2025.pdf".

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-meeting-illegally-ratifying-engagement-of-Bannermans-Lawyers-6Feb2025.pdf".

Attachment "NCAT-2024-00454780-non-compliant-EGM-illegally-ratifying-engagement-of-Bannermans-Lawyers-1May2025.pdf".

9) As of today, Waratah Strata Management appears to have failed to update Strata Hub with details of AGM 2024, long after the due date, showing utter ignorance of the laws.

10) As of today, Waratah Strata Management failed to explain and provide full evidence of finances on how is Admin Fund managed:

At the end of FY 2024, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was $45,584.29.

At the end of FY 2025, negative balance (deficit) in Admin Fund was $72,572.18.

11) As of today, $23,686.71 was paid for insurance commissions to Waratah Strata Management in FY 2025. Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose these figures at any meeting.

Insurance commissions were paid to Waratah Strata Management in amount of $71,536.69 since 2018 without any benefits to owners.

Would a reasonable person call this another (repetitive) misleading actions by Waratah Strata Management in FY 2025:

Waratah Strata Management did not publish any expenses for insurance renewal (due on 21 September 2024) even as late as 22 October 2024.

Waratah Strata Management finally published expenses for HALF-YEAR insurance renewal in amount of $122,690.28 on 23 October 2024, without disclosure of commissions.

Waratah Strata Management published expenses for HALF-YEAR insurance renewal (due on 21 March 2025) on 26 March 2025; document published on 26 March 2025 claimed that insurance premiums were paid in total amount of $273,437.44 (GST excl).

Waratah Strata Management allegedly did not receive any commissions, although they had published resolution in Motion 14 for AGM on 28 November 2024 that owners "acknowledged commissions and training services estimate at less than $100.00 per person per year", amounting to around $21,800.00 (for the public record, Waratah Strata Management failed to declare insurance commissions in agenda for AGM 2024).

On 4 July 2025 new insurance policy for the same renewal was found which listed insurance commissions as $13,750.00.

On 3 September 2025 Waratah Strata Management made urgent secret request to insurance broker to increase the insurance cover (currently, property valued at $177,400,000.00 was insured for only $153,877,500.00).

12) As of today, whilst failing to inform owners or publish NCAT Orders, Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with Orders made on:

22 April 2025

22 July 2205

13) As of today, Waratah Strata Management still refuses to provide owners with Lot 181 admissions of unpaid gas heating levies. He contradicted his own calculations in 2015 and 2025.

His debt for unpaid gas heating levies is much larger than expected (figure for his outstanding levies was calculated in April 2025 as $13,091.39 but after obtaining Lot 181 signed statement to NCAT on 22 July 2025, losses to owners corporation became much larger).

In addition, he was a primary accessory in organising two non-compliant meetings on 9 July 2012 and 26 April 2013 that created massive insurance losses and legal risks.

Attachment "SP52948-Lot-181-gas-levy-payments-self-assessment-miscalculated-10Jun2015.png".

Attachment "SP52948-Lot-181-self-calculated-payments-for-gas-heating-levies-17Mar2025.png".

END HERE

Any doubts for above statements - just ask for evidence. We are happy to provide it. Trust through verification.

Research of "nswstratasleuth.info".