Welcome to the blog of NSW strata investigative journalism
Primary audience on the website are owners (current and previous), tenants, investors, and potential buyers in large strata complex SP52948. Attempts to get Waratah Strata Management to keep all parties informed has been ignored since 1 February 2017. Strata files are kept undisclosed and even events like mediation at Fair Trading NSW, NCAT case SC 20/33352, Police Events, and OLSC reports about professional misconduct of Solicitor Adrian Mueller are not provided to owners (current and previous), tenants, investors, and potential buyers in large strata complex SP52948. Committee members and Waratah Strata Management refused to offer assistance to these organisations.
Number of SP52948 owners, tenants, and investors expressed gratitude towards this website as that was the only way to gain access to lot of critical information, which is not available in minutes and notices of meetings, or on Waratah Strata website.
The rest of the audience is anyone who might be interested in problems with strata schemes in NSW...
This website does not have any desire or intent to add own comments and therefore it is up to anybody to make up their own conclusions based on evidence and statements by others who did it in public forums, in courts, or elsewhere. All files on this website were provided to Fair Trading NSW, Office of legal Services Commissioner, NCAT, Supreme Court, and Police. The same files were repeatedly sent to Solicitor Adrian Mueller, committee members and strata managers - silence is their response.
Public is voicing strong concerns about problems with Tribunals. Issues with strata complexes and dubious quality of services provided by those who should enforce laws are common and frequent - examples: NSW-Civil-Tribunal-failing-to-deliver-services
Solicitor Adrian Mueller created dangerous precedence in two CTTT/NCAT cases (SCS 12/32675 and SC 20/33352) which, based on Australian legal system, allow other parties to use as valid defence (legal precedents). CTTT/NCAT fully co-operated with the Solicitor and effectively rendered NSW strata laws useless, and even allowed Solicitor's reprentation of large strata plan SP52948 without having any evidence of being approved by owners corporation (in fact, Solicitor was not approved at any legally-convened meeting).
CTTT/NCAT actively supported Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s predictive behaviour, contempt of court, falsified documents, and insurance claims in two cases in 2012/2013 (SCS 12/32675 and SCS 12/50460, conducted by Tribunal member M. Harrowell) and 2020/2021 (SC 20/33352, conducted by Tribunal member G.J. Sarginson). The precedence means that all evidence of the Applicant can be ignored if the Respondent fails to attend Hearings.
Tribunal had full knowledge of the Applicant's submissions about Solicitor Adrian Mueller, including ones dated 8, 27 February 2022, and 22 June 2022, which they completely ignored.
Democracy should be the leading avenue for managing strata complexes. But, democracy requires high level of sense and ethics, and right for all owners to have full access to strata files in order to make informed decisions. And when that does not happen, how to proceed? One way is to educate public and rise awareness that license to be a strata manager is one of the easiest in any industry: Strata Community Australia (SCA) are offering a three-day course on qualifying to be a strata manager with no prior educational requirements (apparently educational requirements are fulfilled by completing the course).
Waratah Strata Management and committee members failed to inform owners about Office of Legal Services report against Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
Breach of section 172 LPUL (NSW) - legal costs must be fair and reasonable,
Breach of section 178 LPUL (NSW) - non-compliance with disclosure obligations,
Breach of section 180 LPUL (NSW) - making costs agreements,
Breach of section 185 LPUL (NSW) - certain costs agreements are void,
Misappropriation, caused deficiency in owners corporation SP52948 funds and insurance company’s funds,
Failure to comply with a requirement under section 371 LPUL (NSW) and failure to assist an investigator in the investigation of a complaint,
Breach of section 387 LPUL (NSW) - obstruction of investigator,
Breach of section 388 LPUL (NSW) – obligation of lawyers,
Breach of sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 14 of Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 under the LPUL.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller refused to respond to email sent to Supreme Court and him on 20 April 2022:
Committee members and Waratah Strata Management refused to offer assistance to OLSC, so OLSC simply ignored the submitted evidence that consisted of 12 emails with 79 attachments.
OLSC also refused to view unredacted evidence on a secure website.
Here is an extract from a reply to OLSC:
"Dear Commissioner,
Thank you for one-page response. It lacked any response to my evidence, not even for a single document that I sent.
For example, on 16 February 2022, I sent an email with 41 attachments, and email on 6 May 2022 with 14 attachments: which one OLSC found to be "weak", "inconclusive", or "lacked evidence"? Or the three attachments enclosed herewith?
Disappointment is a weak word to express the outcome when my own life was/is endangered due to Solicitor Adrian Mueller and significant amount of money lost due to fraudulent actions by the Solicitor.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller even prevented 218 owners from voting at general meetings in 2017 and 2018 to force him to assist Police in fraud investigations (see attachments)! It appears Solicitor Adrian Mueller is either well-protected, or above the law. If that is the case, then let's stop stating that my evidence was carefully analyzed.
One would normally expect a response from a reputable organization like OLSC that addresses at least major items in my submission and reasons why they are rejected.
OLSC did not even attempt to ask for access to secure website with UNREDACTED files.
OLSC claims that Solicitor Adrian Mueller is legally engaged by owners corporation but there is no such evidence, nor it can be produced because general and committee meetings failed to satisfy SSMA 2015 and SSMR 2016 requirements (or SSMA 1996 in 2012/2013).
I also note that I see no evidence that OLSC office contacted Mr. Mueller for official statement, as listed in your document dated 17 February 2022: "However, they may need to contact the lawyer first so it could be some time before you hear from them. With our current workload, the initial assessment of complaints may take up to 6-8 weeks."
If you did contact the Solicitor (which I doubt), I deserve the right to see his "defence".
As listed in my evidence that neither OLSC nor anyone else can dispute, Solicitor Adrian Mueller created dangerous precedence in two CTTT/NCAT cases (SCS 12/32675 and SC 20/33352) which, based on Australian legal system, allow other parties to use as valid defence. Waratah Strata Management and committee members failed to inform owners about Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s predictive behaviour, contempt of court, falsified documents, and insurance claims in two CTTT/NCAT cases in 2012/2013 (SCS 12/32675 and SCS 12/50460, conducted by Tribunal member M. Harrowell) and 2020/2021 (SC 20/33352, conducted by Tribunal member G.J. Sarginson).
Coerce Tribunal he was legal representative of Respondent without offering evidence of valid procedure for his Standard Costs Agreement or legally-compliant meetings of Respondent,
Suggest to Respondent use of insurance claims for his legal costs,
Send secret defamation threats to Applicant before two Tribunal Hearings as an attempt of intimidation and deterrent,
Prevent Applicant’s Motion for Annual General Meetings,
Had direct knowledge of Applicant being denied to access strata documents, in spite of paid document searches and evidence of being legal member of the committee,
Not comply with Tribunal orders at Directions Hearings to submit evidence of behalf of Respondent (Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to comply with Tribunal orders six times whilst not authorised to represent owners corporation in period 2012 to 2021),
Prevent Respondent from attending Hearings and coercing Tribunal to ignore Applicant’s evidence due to Respondent’s absence,
Actively support threats (even death threats) to Applicant, without taking actions to prevent such behaviour,
Bring no evidence at Hearings and deny/refute all Applicant’s statements (without offering any files to counter their claims),
Co-operate with Respondent to submit false insurance claims for his legal costs (four claims) in CTTT SCS 12/32675 in GST exclusive amount of $24,919.31 in 2012/2013 and undisclosed insurance claim in NCAT case SC 20/33352 in GST exclusive amount of $19,758.14 in March 2022,
Directly responsible for preparing falsified evidence in Statutory Declaration for CTTT on behalf of BCS Strata Management Peter Bone on 19 April 2013, and had full knowledge of false statements by Peter Bone in Affidavit to District Court case 2013/360456 on 31 January 2014, and not providing any evidence in Affidavit by Solicitor’s receptionist for case SC 20/33352 dated 8 February 2022,
Coerce Tribunal to enforce costs recovery from Applicant without approval of SP52948 at any legally-convened meeting, whilst being accessory to insurance claims as back-up option for his legal costs,
Attempt to justify non-compliant committee meetings dated 8 July 2012, 19 April 2013 (scheduled for 26 March 2013 and brought forward as time-warped event), and all meetings in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (CTTT dismissed Solicitor’s claims and declared meetings 8 July 2012 and 19 April 2013 ineffective in their decision in SCS 12/32675 on 6 November 2013),
Prevent Police, CTTT/NCAT, Fair Trading NSW, Office of Legal Services Commissioner, District Court, and Supreme Court from access to Respondent’s files and his alleged correspondence with Respondent."
In an updated submission to NCAT (CC-ed to OLSC), the following was requested:
"On 8 March 2022, we conducted document search for case SC 20/33352 and found no evidence of Solicitor Adrian Mueller's alleged correspondence with NCAT dated December 2020 and January 2021, in spite of careful check of all folders.
We reported our finding to NCAT on the same day (8 March 2022). Attachments:
NCAT-20-33352-file-viewing-record-8Mar2022.webp
NCAT-20-33352-submissions-and-document-report-from-18Aug2020-to-9Jun2021-for-document-search-photo-1-8Mar2022.webp
We also obtained certified copy of audio recording on NCAT SC 20/33352 Hearing and Directions Hearing, with irrefutable evidence that:
Senior Member Sarginson was repeatedly asked to show evidence of Solicitor's legal representation, which he ignored to address,
Solicitor lied to the Tribunal about all six committee members still being valid Respondents (in spite of Solicitor's knowledge that Mr. Moses Levitt resigned in November 2020), and advance warnings to Tribunal,
Senior Member Sarginson did not warn the Applicant their evidence would be ignored due to lack of attendance by the Respondent.
And much more.
Impact
Solicitor Adrian Mueller involvement in NCAT case SC 20/33352 has lot of unanswered questions.
Apart from his personal involvement in obtaining insurance claims in GST exclusive amount of $19,758.14 in March 2022, he also initiated legal cost recovery through Supreme Court, where he declined to offer evidence or respond to inquiries about six dubious versions of his legal costs.
OLSC was asked to investigate misconduct of Solicitor Adrian Mueller and so far, they are of the belief that Solicitor was legal representative of SP52948. OLSC office was now asked for some proof of it.
Desired Outcome
To assist all parties, as I paid for document search at NCAT on 8 March 2022, I kindly request electronic delivery of the following unredacted emails, as listed in three versions of alleged work by Solicitor Adrian Mueller:
Email from NCAT to Solicitor Adrian Mueller regarding request for file inspection dated 11 December 2020.
Email from Solicitor Adrian Mueller to NCAT regarding request for file inspection dated 14 December 2020.
Email from Solicitor Adrian Mueller to NCAT filing and service electronically Outline of Submissions of owners corporation on 14 December 2020.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller attending NCAT on telephone to discuss file inspection on 14 December 2020.
Email from NCAT to Solicitor Adrian Mueller regarding electronic filing of submissions on 25 January 2021.
Email from Solicitor Adrian Mueller to NCAT regarding electronic filing of submissions on 29 January 2021.
Any evidence that Solicitor Adrian Mueller provided conclusive proof of his legal retainer to NCAT before Hearing on 11 February 2021.
I do not expect to be charged for these files as I already paid for document search. If the above files existed, they should already have been made available on 8 March 2022.
Your prompt response would be appreciated.
We already wasted so much time and effort to prevent abuse in our complex, which includes serious financial problems (SP52948-effects-of-Waratah-Strata-Management-on-Balance-Sheet-from-31Jan2017-to-29Apr2022-with-chart.pdf).
Thank you in advance,
PS. Attachments:
NCAT-20-33352-file-viewing-record-8Mar2022.webp
Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-invoices-for-NCAT-case-20-33352-as-per-email-dated-12Jul2021.pdf
Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-invoices-for-NCAT-case-20-33352-as-per-email-dated-7Feb2022.pdf
Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-invoices-for-NCAT-case-20-33352-as-per-email-dated-25Mar2022.pdf
CAS006791_1-Part-9-Questions-on-Validity-of-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-Legal-Cost-Items-NCAT-20-33352.pdf
CAS006791_1-PART-9-Strong-case-for-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-being-accessory-before-and-after-insurance-fraud-five-times-CTTT-12-32675-and-NCAT-20-33352.pdf
Costs-Respondent-letter-to-Ms-Julie-Wright-5Aprl2022.pdf (Solicitor Adrian Mueller refused to respond to it)
Six versions of Solicitor Adrian Mueller alleged costs in NCAT case SC 20/33352
The following document was also prepared and delivered:
Examples of Solicitor Adrian Mueller and his colleagues refused to follow SP52948 orders or failed to deliver service:
The following screenshot was taken from Waratah Strata Management computer on 21 June 2019, when Solicitor Adrian Mueller was directly asked by the strata manager about the conflict of interest due to OLSC case against him (note for simplicity the email is also transcribed below and included herewith):
"Adrian,
We advise your fee proposal was discussed and accepted at last night’s strata committee meeting. WE advise that your advice is being funded jointly by the OC. Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco (the building managers) and therefore your advice should be on behalf of all 3 parties.
We do however provide you with the attached email from Lot 158 which states that he has lodged a complain against you with the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner. Please advise whether there is any conflict of interest for you in acting on this matter based on this complaint. If yes, please advise how you suggest we should proceed.
We are current preparing a USB with a copy of all of the correspondence received from Lot 158 since the 2018 AGM. This will be grouped into those documents that have been issued publicly to owners and those that have been issued to the committee, strata manager and building manager.
On a related issue, we received from BCS at the change of strata managers a USB of their archive records. In April 2018 we provide that USB to the Police who were investigating a complained lodged with them by Lot 158. Unfortunately the Police lost the USB (We have the correspondence to support that fact) WE have requested on a number of occasions for BCS to provide us with a copy of that USB (which we assume they will still have in their archive records), with no response. Please advise whether you have any connection with BCS management that may assist in having a copy of that USB provided.
Regards,
Robert Crosbie
Waratah Strata Management
P.O. Box 125 Eastwood NSW 2122"
Solicitor Adrian Mueller, whilst knowingly acting in breach of "Section 178 LPUL (NSW) - non-compliance with disclosure obligations", devised plan to attack Lot 158 through Deed trying to stop their further actions.
Extract from Minutes of committee meeting on 5 September 2019, 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 30 August 2019 and scheduled for 5 September 2019. 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 Lot 158. 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).
Solicitor Adrian Mueller, prepared advanced so-called Deed before AGM 2019 and tried to force both female and male owners of Lot 158 to sign it, in spite of clear Motion that only male owner of Lot 158 was supposed to be targeted for “admission of guilt”.
Extract from Minutes of AGM on 17 October 2019 confirmed that alleged decision at committee meeting was changed by Solicitor Adrian Mueller. Undeclared Admin Fund balance sheet on 17 October 2019 (day of Annual General Meeting), when Solicitor Adrian Mueller was allegedly approved to spent up to $150,000.00 in defamation case against the Costs Respondent, had a negative balance of $131,852.25. Unnamed barrister and Solicitor Adrian Mueller tried to force the Costs Respondent into Deed under duress and failed in all attempts. In financial statements for FY 2020 (1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020), in spite of extensive legal involvement, Waratah Strata Management reported only $2,940.00 for legal costs in audited accounts, which is an impossible amount considering daily rates for barristers and senior legal professionals.
The same meeting also “forgave” all unpaid levies for gas heating, including 10% simple interest for overdue payments per each year, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue to owners.
The same meeting, based on Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s advice, rejected all Lot 158 Motions again.
SP52948-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-non-compliance-with-committee-decision-5Sep2019
Extract from committee meeting on 13 February 2020 showing continuous legal threats without success against Lot 158 in attempt to prevent proper management of complex:
Extract from committee meeting on 7 May 2020, where they gave direct orders to Solicitor and his barrister to respond to Lot 158 legal team: O'Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors.
Strata Plan SP52948 committee meeting dated 7 May 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 1 May 2020 and scheduled for 7 May 2020. 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 Lot 158.
Solicitors failed to comply with alleged decision at this meeting, and owners were never informed about it:
Waratah Strata Management allowed two 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). One other committee member was not allowed to vote due to unpaid levies, just for this meeting: Lot 88 Mrs. Marianna Paltikian:
Solicitor Adrian Mueller submitted to Supreme Court Cost Assessor redacted version of alleged email from Waratah Strata Manager to Solicitor Adrian Mueller dated 23 October 2020 (Solicitor was multiple times asked to provide UNREDACTED version fo the email which he refused):
Forensic evidence exists that Solicitor Adrian Mueller never attempted to review Lot 158 evidence on secure website.
Evidence obtained from NCAT so far shows that Solicitor Adrian Mueller did not notify Tribunal, or provide conclusive evidence, that he was legal representative of SP52948 in case NCAT SC 20/33352 at any time before Hearing on 11 February 2020.
Irrefutable evidence exists that Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to comply with Tribunal orders two times in case NCAT SC 20/33352, whilst continuing to earn benefits from owners corporation common funds.
Since 2012, committee members, BCS Strata Management, Waratah Strata Management, and building manager failed in their efforts to get Solicitor Adrian Mueller act against Lot 158 by engaging in fruitless defamation cases and threats. Four defamation threats initiated by Solicitor Adrian Mueller without success, without owners corporation approval at any legally-valid meeting, and without disclosure of costs to owners:
6 September 2012 (attempt by Solicitor Adrian Mueller to prevent Applicant from proceeding with CTTT case SCS 12/32675, claimed payment for his legal costs from owners corporation insurance),
20 June 2019 (attempt by Solicitor Adrian Mueller to use his own “Unreasonable Communications” Special By-Law to prevent Applicant from reporting problems with strata management, whilst ignoring conflict of interest due to Police Event E65804633 and Office of Legal Services Commissioner case 56561),
17 October 2019 (premeditated attempt by Solicitor Adrian Mueller to force Applicant to sign Deed of Agreement for alleged defamation of Uniqueco Property Services, Waratah Strata Management, and committee members). Undeclared Admin Fund balance sheet on 17 October 2019 (day of Annual General Meeting), when Solicitor Adrian Mueller was allegedly approved to spent up to $150,000.00 in defamation case against the Costs Respondent, had a negative balance of $131,852.25. Unnamed barrister and Solicitor Adrian Mueller tried to force the Costs Respondent into Deed under duress and failed in all attempts. In financial statements for FY 2020 (1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020), in spite of extensive legal involvement, Waratah Strata Management reported only $2,940.00 for legal costs in audited accounts, which is an impossible amount considering daily rates for barristers and senior legal professionals.
21 October 2020 (attempt by Solicitor Adrian Mueller to prevent Applicant from proceeding with NCAT case SC 20/33352).