I am frustrated to have to post this because it is all so negative and unnecessary.
We have such a beautiful estate to live in and enjoy, but there are owners and tenants in the estate who seem not to care about the appearance and livability of Silverwoods.
The committee has continuing issues with a large number of owners choosing not to pay their Owners Corporation Fees for some reason. This is frustrating and causes significant work for the Managers with the flow on being potentially higher Owners Corporation Fees for all of us. We ask that all owners please accept your responsibility and make payments as soon as possible. There will be breach notices issued for many of the arrears in coming days which will have a fee and we will then take action at VCAT for outstanding fees without further notice. All costs of this action will be levied against the owners.
We have also issued a number of breach notices for residents who refuse to put their rubbish bins behind the fence. It is a breach of the OC rules to leave the bins visible and they are an eyesore! We will not tolerate non-compliance and will continue to take action to keep the estate looking good.
There will also be a number of breach notices issued in the next few days in regard to vacant lot maintenance. We have corresponded on a number of occasions about the responsibility of owners to maintain their lots. Some have recently acted and some have asked the OC contractor to maintain the blocks but there are still around 40 lots who have not mowed or sprayed and not elected to do the maintenance as yet. We will again be continuing to pursue these owners to ensure that the blocks are kept clean and the costs will be levied against owners who choose not to comply.
From the Committee perspective, it is really frustrating that we have to spend significant time dealing with the above matters because individuals, who bought their lots knowing the responsibilities and guidelines, choose not to care about their neighbors. We do not want to be policemen, we would sooner be dealing with matters that will improve the estate and add value to our investments, the lack of thought from some is having the opposite effect.
We have also been having trouble with landscaping of individual lots. Under the design guidelines, all lots must have an approved landscaping plan. Originally, the building plans were not approved without a landscape plan but this has been relaxed over the past couple of years. The result has seen many owners not submit their landscape plan and simply go ahead and do it. The end result is that we have some serious breaches of the guidelines which requires the Committee to again act to rectify. This is not ideal as there is normally additional cost to modify non-compliant gardens which is worn by the owner. At our meeting yesterday, it was decided that no building approval will be given without a landscape plan. Any owner who has not had their landscaping approved, should act immediately to submit a plan to the Design Review Committee for approval. This must be done by February 28th, 2019 or breach notices will be issued requiring repair/removal of non compliant landscaping.

Wayne Limbrick