Sometimes, you might feel you are facing a significant legal issue when the reality of the situation might be something completely different.
Recently, a client contacted me about a strata shop that his wife owned. He informed me that a developer had offered to buy the strata scheme consisting of 6 shops (including his wife’s) and 6 townhouses. A vast majority of the owners had approved the proposal but his wife was being offered far below the market value for the shop so my legal assistance was required.
When the client and his wife came to see me, they brought me copies of all the meetings of the owners corporation for the last year so I could check what had actually happened and where the process was up to. To my surprise, I could find no mention of the developer’s offer having been accepted.
When I asked the client why he was so convinced that sale was going ahead, he pointed to a section of the minutes of the last meeting showing that everyone had voted “Yes”. I then told him that what he had shown me was merely those owners who indicated that they were present at the meeting! Otherwise, the minutes did not refer to the proposal.
I then offered to call the strata manager to confirm my view. The client then took out his mobile phone to let me see the contact details of the strata manager in an e-mail. Fortunately, I read the e-mail which informed my client that, due to a lack of sufficient interest amongst owners, the sale was not proceeding!
The lesson here is never assume things are as bad as they might seem to you. A fresh perspective, especially from an experienced lawyer, can lead to a most satisfactory outcome.
July 2023