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).
Six versions of Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s alleged costs in NCAT case SC 20/33352:
Cost figures (GST excl) provided by Solicitor Adrian Mueller on 12 July 2021, 7 February 2022 (no invoices were included by the Solicitor), and 25 March 2022, and listed on Waratah Strata Manager’s agenda for Annual General Meeting on 7 October 2021 differ to a large extent.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller refused to respond to emails dated 27 February 2022, 5 April 2022, and 20 April 2022 – not only ignoring the Applicant, but Supreme Court Cost Assessor as well. Solicitor Adrian Mueller used silence as his defence, or providing statements that had no evidence. Such actions can bring penalties against lawyers, as Legal Services Commissioner v Yakenian [2019] NSWCATOD [98] proved: a solicitor of Fairfield in western Sydney, neighbour of Cabramatta and Villawood. He was referred to the NSW Legal Services Commissioner by District Court Judge, her Honour Wass DCJ. The defendants’ solicitor requested particulars of Mr Yakenian’s builder client’s statement of claim and said the defendants would provide defences within a reasonable time after the particulars were given. They invited the solicitor to advise them if he had any difficulty with this course. He did not do so. There was also talk of a security for costs application.
https://lawyerslawyer.net/2019/07/08/snapping-on-judgment-and-misleading-by-silence
Extract from Lot 158 submissions (all files are unredacted copies of evidence) to Supreme Court which Solicitor AdrianMueller could not refute and instead simply ignored, whilst failing to co-operate with Supreme Court Costs Assessor:
This raises justifiable and serious concerns about costs which were confirmed at strata document search on 8 June 2022 (including the fact that Solicitor Adrian Mueller, strata committee, and Waratah Strata Management failed to disclose secret insurance claims to Supreme Court):
First version of total expenses (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller: in his letter dated 12 July 2021 (reference AM:CP:37289), allegedly without prejudice, Solicitor Adrian Mueller made the claim of $20,020.00 ($15,015.00 exclusive of GST representing 75% of the actual costs the owners corporation incurred in the proceedings).
Second version of total expenses (GST inclusive!) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller in FY 2021 as listed by Waratah Strata Management in their agenda for Annual General Meeting sent on 7 October 2021 on page 108: $25,714.30:
Waratah Strata Management provided these figures in the Agenda for Annual General Meeting in October 2021 on pages 14 to 17 (for account code 153200), which include costs not related to NCAT case and not approved at any meeting:
28/09/2020 Advice on Motions requested by Applicant $2,700.00
26/10/2020 Defamation by Applicant $413.50
23/11/2020 Defamation by Applicant (Hussein Elachkar) $1,218.75
14/12/2020 NCAT application by Applicant Lot 158 $8,030.00
8/02/2021 NCAT application by Applicant Lot 158 $2,213.55
19/04/2021 NCAT application by Applicant Lot 158 $4,921.40
10/05/2021 Defamation by Applicant $3,198.75
11/06/2021 NCAT application by Applicant $1,899.45
Document search on 8 June 2022 uncovered secret correspondence between Waratah Strata Management and Body Corporate Brokers (insurance broker) dated 16 October 2020, one week before Annual General Meeting, where Mr. Robert Crosbie initiated process of advanced legal claims and confirmed that Lot 158 reports of strata mismanagement were ignored by him and committee members:
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.
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:
21 October 2020 (attempt by Solicitor Adrian Mueller to prevent Applicant from proceeding with NCAT case SC 20/33352).
Second version of total costs (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller in FY 2021 as listed by Waratah Strata Management in their agenda for Annual General Meeting sent on 7 October 2021 on page 108: $23,142.87.
Third version of total expenses (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller (based on figures in agenda for account code 153200 for Annual General Meeting sent on 7 October 2021 on pages 14 to 17, without costs for barrister Hussein Elachkar, and without alleged defamation costs in FY 2021 which are NOT part of NCAT proceedings and not legally approved at Annual General Meeting 2020): $19,764.4.
Total expenses (GST exclusive) for legal and debt collection fees for all lawyers and solicitors in FY 2021 as listed by Waratah Strata Management in their agenda for Annual General Meeting sent on 7 October 2021 on page 18: $24,171.90.
Fourth version of total expenses (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller (based on figures in agenda for account code 153200 for Annual General Meeting sent on 7 October 2021 on pages 14 to 17, without costs for barrister Hussein Elachkar, and with defamation costs in FY 2021 which are NOT part of NCAT proceedings and not legally approved at Annual General Meeting 2020): $23,376.62.
Fifth version of total expenses (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller: in his Costs Assessment Application on page 3 on 7 February 2022 (no GST is claimed on the costs that are the subject of this costs assessment as the Costs Applicant is registered for GST and entitled to an input tax credit in respect of those costs), Solicitor Adrian Mueller claims costs of $25,158.14.
Sixth version of total expenses (GST exclusive) for Solicitor Adrian Mueller: in his Costs Assessment Application on 25 March 2022, Solicitor Adrian Mueller claims costs of $24,694.72.>
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to provide information about sudden insurance claim in amount of $19,758.14 (on 25 March 2022 Waratah Strata Management listed revenue from insurance claims in amount of $19,758.14 in Income & Expenditure Report):
Waratah Strata Management failed to provide evidence of notifications to Supreme Court, insurance company, and owners, and access to requested strata files.
On 27 June 2022, Waratah Strata Management and committee members sent the following response to Lot 158, not allowing owners to have knowledge of Lot 158 investigations, disallowing support to Lot 158 to assist Police, OLSC, and NCAT, and refusing to repay insurance company for six claims of alleged legal costs until later stage:
Email dated 8 July 2022 was not responded by Waratah Strata Management and request to provide invoice for payment in amount of $5,000.00 (GST does not apply to this payment for alleged legal work by Solicitor Adrian Mueller) was ignored:
Income and Expenditure Report dated 12 July 2022 does not list $5,000.00 (GST exclusive) and owner did not get an invoice. It also appears that insurance company was not reimbursed for their payment for alleged work by Solicitor Adrian Mueller as amount of money receive from insurance was still listed as $19,758.14. Admin Fund reported negative balance of $35,938.08 on 15 July 2022, with negative balance growing to $61,273.39 on 22 July 2022:
Extract from alleged committee meeting on 28 July 2022 shows that owners are poorly informed about insurance claims and legal costs for Solicitor Adrian Mueller. In addition, information about problems with Lot 1 and mediation at Fair Trading NSW are undisclosed to owners too:
Income and Expenditure Report dated 4 August 2022 does not list $5,000.00 (GST exclusive) and owner did not get an invoice. It also appears that insurance company was not reimbursed for their payment for alleged work by Solicitor Adrian Mueller as amount of money receive from insurance was still listed as $19,758.14:
SP52948-Income-and-Expenditure-Report-1Sep2021-to-4Aug2022.pdf.
Income and Expenditure report dated 8 August 2022 suddenly removed miscellaneous income in amount of $4,545.45 (accounting code 144000):
Waratah Strata Management stayed silent and failed to inform owners or make any statements to court in spite of having knowledge of the following false statements by Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
On 25 March 2022, Solicitor Adrian Mueller submitted to Supreme Court costs assessor statement that he was only person involved in NCAT case SC 20/33352, which was false:
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Hidden metadata in PDF file dated 25 January 2021 (sent to NCAT and Lot 158 two month after the deadline imposed by the Tribunal), as an example, easily refute his statements to court, which is standard modus operandi for Solicitor Adrian Mueller:
Hidden metadata in two PDF files dated 6 July 2021 and 24 March 2022, as an example, easily refute his statements to court, which is standard modus operandi for Solicitor Adrian Mueller:
To prevent Lot 158 from submitting response to court, Solicitor Adrian Mueller used another trick repeatedly - sent his submisssion close to deadline on 20 April 2022 although it was preared and ready one week earlier on 14 April 2022:
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Waratah Strata Management stayed silent and failed to inform owners or make any statements to court in spite of having knowledge of the following false statements by Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
On 25 March 2022, Solicitor Adrian Mueller submitted to Supreme Court costs assessor affidavit by his assistant Ms. Hala Awad, which was false:
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Lot 158 provided the following extract from evidence to Supreme Court on 20 April 2022, which was, for yet unknown reasons, ignored(!?):
"As stated in Respondent's document dated 5 April 2022, in paragraph 6.2) only one letter allegedly sent by Ms. Hala Awad dated 8 February 2022 arrived to respondent's address, Macquarie Park. Letter for Mrs. Lot 158 did not arrive and Costs Applicant did not provide any evidence of its delivery. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's document dated 5 April 2022, in Paragraph 6.1) where Solicitor Adrian Mueller did not serve his briefs (letter or email) to Mrs. Lot 158 on 12 July 2021, as confirmed by himself stating that delivery was only through a single email address of Mr. Lot 158. Only Mr. Lot 158 responded and confirmed to Costs Applicant’s emails on 8 February 2022 and 27 February 2022.
2.1. Special attachment "Strong-case-for-Solicitor-Adrian-Mueller-being-accessory-before-and-after-insurance-fraud-five-times-CTTT-12-32675-and-NCAT-20-33352.pdf" documents (in another folder under URL sent to Cost Assessor and Costs Applicant on 5 April 2022) contains irrefutable evidence that Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to assist District Court in case 2013/360456 on 31 January 2014 where strata manager Peter Bone provided false statements in his Affidavit and Solicitor had such knowledge. Solicitor Adrian Mueller presented Affidavit by BCS Strata Management Peter Bone, knowing that it contained false information about Applicant never being denied access to strata files, which is easily confirmed by following evidence:
12 November 2012
15 November 2012 (complaint to BCS Strata Management that Respondent failed to honour)
Agreement signed by Solicitor Adrian Mueller during CTTT hearing on 17 October 2012)
8 March 2013
5 June 2013
17 October 2013
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to acknowledge that committee meeting held on 3 April 2022 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) (pages 15-16 of Costs Respondent's document dated 5 April 2022). Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to acknowledge that in his invoices he claimed he had received authorisation from strata manager to lodge Supreme Court case on 1 March 2022 - two days before committee meeting. There is no evidence of such email and no evidence that Costs Applicant made such decision at any legally-compliant meeting. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's paragraphs 17.1), 23), 23.1), and 23.2) in document dated 5 April 2022.
4. Solicitor Adrian Mueller continues to avoid presentation of alleged email from strata manager dated 23 October 2020. The attachment he provided is not an unredacted version of the email and contains no information about alleged attachments sent in that email. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's paragraphs 57.1), 57.3), and 57.5) in document dated 5 April 2022. Solicitor Adrian Mueller did not provide evidence of legality of Annual General Meeting 2020 (owners who were financial to vote
and overall conduct of the meeting).5. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to address six versions of the alleged legal costs, including evidence that he was approved for these costs at any legal meeting.
5.1. Solicitor Adrian Mueller continues to mislead Cost Assessor.
...
Solicitor Adrian Mueller was asked the direct question about who was involved in preparing documents and here is the extract of his response on 25 March 2022: “The work was carried out by Adrian Mueller a partner of JS Mueller did the work e.g. Partner, & Co Lawyers. Mr Mueller was admitted as a solicitor of the was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in February 2002 and in 2012 was admitted as a Fellow of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers in recognition of his expertise in strata title law.” His statement is clear, unambiguous, and excludes any other staff working on this case.
Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to respond to Costs Respondent's paragraphs 54.2) in document dated 5 April 2022.
7. Solicitor Adrian Mueller failed to address Costs Respondent's previous correspondence and specific objections, especially, those dated 5 April 2022, including document "Costs-Respondent-Questions-on-Validity-of-Legal-Cost-Items.pdf".
8. The Costs Respondent has no interest or desire to “reagitate issues”, as asserted by Cost Applicant, rather pursue a just and fair process. As per Costs Respondent’s submission on 5 April 2022; “The purpose of documents being requested is to clarify inaccuracies, ambiguities and most importantly whether Solicitor could act as a legal representative on behalf of the Owners Corporation. As stated in Cost Assessor's original letter, goal is to "assess the amount of costs that is fair and reasonable". We appreciate this case is complex with comprehensive evidence. This has culminated over ten years as a result of lack of transparency in legitimately and legally employing the services of Solicitor Adrian Mueller on behalf of the Owners Corporation, numerous attempts of mediation, self investigation of obtaining these documents with mediation attempts not being fruitful, and consequently the need for Costs Respondent to defend litigation.”
Waratah Strata Management stayed silent and failed to inform owners or make any statements to court in spite of having knowledge of the following false statements by Solicitor Adrian Mueller.
On 7 February 2022, Solicitor Adrian Mueller submitted to Supreme Court which was false, because he provied no access to evidence to Lot 158 or the court, in soite of repeated requests to prove his alleged "facts":
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Solicitor Adrian Mueller received the following submission on 27 February 2022, which he completely ignored:
"Good evening Solicitor Adrian Mueller,
CC-ed to NCAT as witness.
a) By way of email (and ordinary post), the following response is provided, highlighting the fact that you failed to respond to first offer of settlement dated 19 July 2021. In period from 19 July 2021 to 7 February 2022 you continued to incur costs to owners corporation but failed to respond to Lot 158.
Attachment "SP52948-Lot-158-cost-submission-reply-27Feb2022.pdf".
b) Recent requests to you and committee members were ignored and not responded to. Attachments:
"20220202-UPDATE - LOT 158 REQUESTS TO SETTLE COSTS IGNORED BY SOLICITOR ADRIAN MUELLER AND SP52948 NCAT File No. SC 20_33352 - 2Feb2022-1742.pdf"
"20220209-Re_OLSC case CAS005901 - Request for Solicitor Adrian Mueller to respond with evidence on 8Feb2022-1750.pdf"
"20220208-OLSC case CAS005901 - Request for Solicitor Adrian Mueller to respond with evidence on 8Feb2022-1748.pdf"
In minutes of secret meeting dated 10 February 2022 (read our costs submission to find out why it is illegal and non-compliant with strata laws), the decision was allegedly made yet again to ignore Lot 158 (as per by-law designed and prepared exclusively by Solicitor Adrian Mueller):
"Lot 158: It was discussed that lot 158 has communicated with members of the strata committee. The correspondence has been ignored by all receiving members as per Special By-Law 11 - Unreasonable Communications."
c) You are strongly encouraged to carefully read "SP52948-Lot-158-cost-submission-reply-27Feb2022.pdf" and consider your options."
Lot 158 document "SP52948-Lot-158-cost-submission-reply-27Feb2022.pdf" was 116 pages of evidence. What was the response by Solicitor Adrian Mueller: damning silence and ignorance of facts.