Read this first from Consumer Affairs Vic: Complaints about your manager Discuss any concerns with your manager in the first instance. Many complaints or disputes start as misunderstandings and your manager may not be aware of the issue. If this fails, you can: contact the committee or chairperson and clarify the manager’s duties and responsibilities in the contract of appointment. The contract may also set out a process for complaints with the manager make a written complaint to the owners corporation or committee. Your owners corporation is required to have a process for dealing with grievances make a written complaint to Consumer Affairs Victoria apply for an order at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) if your manager is a member of a professional body, make a complaint about any breach of its code of conduct. The complaint may need to be lodged by the owners corporation rather than an individual. _____________________________________ So as a first step (absolutely free) why don't you write a formal written complaint to the Chairperson outlining all the steps you have taken etc & the threats you have received etc. Make the letter logical, chronological & unemotional & include all the reports, emails etc that you have. I would copy this letter to: a) the manager you have been dealing with b) the MD/CEO of Strata Plan c) all other owners d) Consumer Affairs Victoria e) all associations that they belong to - according to their website Strata Plan is an active member of industry associations such as Owners Corporation Victoria, REIV, NCTI f) CEO of the insurance company involved By copying all these people in on the complaint you make it very clear that you are serious & you are not going away. It also applies pressure to Strata Plan to do something.They won't like it & should start talking to you in a sensible way. I would state at the end that if a satisfactory consultation and resolution was not found within 14 days you would be left with no option but to lodge an application with VCAT and engage legal advice. Good luck!

Looks like you have a corner block and north is at the front. I would ditch the void over the front door as it creates constraint upstairs for limited benefit given it’s small size. The alfresco is my biggest concern. It seems too small and will be impacted by western sun in the afternoons when you want to dine making it even smaller if you have to screen off the sun. Living would be better on the west than the kitchen too. So have a look at how you would use that space. Can’t see eaves but really important to protect kids bedroom from western sun too. Limiting window helps and using external Louvres are some techniques. Is it possible to get a design that links to the garage?

Just a quick update... The guy never got back to me after I offered ( rude!) So the night we got an offer on our house... 2 weeks on market, I emailed 7 House building companies asking if they had homes being completed soon, but not yet on the market. The next morning one rang me at 8.30 and said we have one, a family just pulled out, foundation's have been consented, u can tweak inside a little, move kitchen, add bi folds etc choose colours.. Want to look? Yes if it's west facing backyard... It was but the plan was facing south with the living areas.. Asked if I could flip it.. Yes.. SEND IT OVER 501k Inc patio, drive and path. So we have paid a 3k holding deposit. Just going over plan with my tweaks, and my upgrade costs like ducted heating etc.. Eeek But at least we found one, as all blocks have now been sold in the estate Thank you for all your help. This new plan is only 150sq over brick. But the things we discussed above.. I got!!

Hi Oklouise I prefer to just keep the image of the back part of the house as that's our next project. More details include: - Existing kitchen sits on the other side of the Bed 3 wall and on the wall on the south, with the door between going to the alfresco. It's a galley style kitchen with a window on the south wall and runs about half way along that wall (not very big). - External door at the top left of the red area of the plan - this door goes to the side yard/side of the house down to the Carport. - 10m wide block and approx 40m deep. - Fence on the southern boundary (same side as the external Fibro Shed/Laundry) is approx 1.4m from that side of the house - Fence on the north facing boundary (top of the picture) is approx 2.8m from that side of the house. - Distance from back of house to back fence would be 10-12m (though I'm not sure). - The current alfresco is approx 4m deep and 5m wide (it is a covered area). - We do not intend to move any walls towards boundary fences, and we are not going up a level. We want to work within the structure that we have to minimise costs. - We live in Sydney so we enjoy eating and relaxing in the Alfresco area a lot during summer. - 1.4m wall - we had an approved Exempt Development for the Alfresco with previous plans lodged with our local Council. Exempt Development means that we cannot fully enclose the Alfresco and if we put walls up on the sides, they can only be built to a height of 1.4m max to be compliant. - Breeze, rain, hail come from the south (from the Fibro Shed side). We had a certified Complying Development Certificate for an Extension of the area in red which was a total demolition and rebuild involving moving the north facing wall out towards the fence (and over a sewer line) and extending the wall facing the Alfresco out by about 2m and then extending the alfresco into the yard about 1.5m, and getting rid of the Fibro Shed. We didn't go ahead with this extension/reno because builders' quotes came in double our budget. We are now looking to improve the back part of the house within the structure that we have, but moving the kitchen, blocking in the kitchen window (think the TV might be good in that position) and maybe installing some higher windows further along that wall. Hope this is useful.