Hi…
Late notice i know, but i am the owner of a flat in a block of six. i have owned it for about 18 months and have never heard from the body coporate, untill a week ago. We have a meeting this evening and was just wondering if there was anything i should ask. I am only 21 and therfore have limited knowledge in this area. But curruntly it seems to be a bit of a shomozzel. This is the first time i have heard from the body coporate and previous i had knocked on their door many times but had no response. This is because they dont even seem to be able to manage the most simplyist of things, such as the lawn is always mowed WAY to late and curruntly is over a foot high. This never bothered me much when i was living there but no it is rented and i dont think my tennatnt should have to put up with this….
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
I've just sacked our Body Corporate Manager who has been useless for four years after getting consensus from the other owners – bad Body Corporate Managers are like tinea – bloody annoying and hard to get rid of.
You are paying them money to do a job and if they are not doing the job or even responding to your communications, I suggest you speak with the other owners to see how they feel and get rid of them. If it's an AGM you should be able to add a vote to the agenda.
It's simply not good enough and there are plenty of BC companies that would want your business.
At the meeting today:
Find out when their contract expires
Get a copy of the administrative agreement
Ask for end of year financials (income and expenditure report – my previous BCM could even provide this!)
Ask for last year's AGM mintues – are there things that haven't been actioned since then?Ask why you haven't heard form them in 18 months (how do you pay their fee?)
Ask why they don't respond to your communication
Ask who the garden contrator is and how much they're paid and what the arragement is. Get the details and contact them yourself to check facts.
Grill them on every last detail of everything – they are being paid to know these things and action the requests of the Body Corporate owners.
If your property is in Brisbane I can recommend a decent BCM and happy to advise which one in particular to avoid from recent and personal experience. Are we allow to out 'shoddy' and shady managers in this forum?
Cheers
Noni
Sorry that was meant to say:
Ask for end of year financials (income and expenditure report – my previous BCM could NOT even provide this!)
Noni (the bad BCM slayer)
Noni
Thanks, i will make sure i ask those questions.
But yes i think some of the other owners are also annoyed with the currunt BCM. What is a reasonably amount to pay a BCM?
Is it worth taking on the job myself, not for the finicial gain but rather just to ensure that things are done correctly, or is there a fair bit of work involved.
Sorry for the newbie questions but i really have NO IDEA when it comes to BC. Espically whwn the BCM manager makes it so hard to find out anything.Cheers Tim
P.S THe falt is in Ballarat VIctoria
Let them know if there is something you are not happy with, such as the lawns, and there will probably be others who agree with you and together you can ensure something is done about it. The first body corporate meeting I attended I was the mediator between two feuding owners who would not agree on an issue. I got them to see the issue from the others point of view and eventually they agreed.
Hello there, I have recently experinced a similar scenario with one of my units. I attended the meeting where everyone seemed fairly intimidated by the managing agent running the body corporate, however as soon as I started listing complaints other owners joined in and it was revealed how frustrated everyone was. We put our managing agent on notice, shape up or next year a new manager appointed. Also I requested for the books to be independently audited (you wonder where all the money goes). To compare fees with other blocks is difficult, as it depends on the amount of money your sinking fund has or lacks and what work your building needs doing. However you can certainly start contacting other body corporate managing agents and get quotes, to present to the other owners and also to help get the current one doing some work. Fair trading has a helpful publication online about strata issues. You can also ring Fair Trading with your questions.
Hi Tim,
I probably wouldn't take it on myself – but that doesn't stop you from keeping a close eye on everything – you can also nominate for Chairman on the BC Owners Committee. Make yourself heard very clearly and keep the pressure on if things aren't getting done. I told my ex-BCM I'd turn up at his house to discuss if he couldn't provide the info I wanted in a reasonable time – which ironically he somehow managed to do in record time after ignoring emails and calls for weeks. And if things aren't getting done – consider why you should pay their quarterly fee. If they don't do the job, in my opinion they don't deserve the pay – you're not donating to a charity.
The fees and level of service of BCM vary with each business and complex but if you get a few quotes you'll soon work out a reasonable average for your area.
Good luck
Hey all,
Thanks for all your advice, i had my meeting last night so just thought i would report back….Bascially the body corporate is in a very bad state. There is no external mangager, rather on of the owners runs it. The problem is he dosn't get paid to do this so dosn't have much moviation and worse still the at the last body coprorate meeting (2 years ago, befoor i became a owner) they elected a disabled person as the body coporate manager…… PLEASE DO NOT think i have a problem with disabled people, (in fact one of my best mates at school was disabled). But this person can hardly get around, that is why he never answered the door when i knocked, he couldn't get up to answer it….. personaly i think it is a discrace that the previous owners put this person into a job he clearly cant do, doesn't want to do nor should have to…
The last thing that was recorded in the books was in April 2005, and no one even knew how much money was in the bank account or who has paid and who owes what………A complete mess i know.
On the postive side, we elected a new body corporate manager ( a person who owns three of the six units), i sugessted just paying an external manager (real estate agent) to do this but due to the cost none of the other owners agreed. So basically the plan is now the new BCM, (who i think will do a good job, he seems to have a good grasp of things but having said that he has been resposinble for allow the currunt situation to come to hand) is going to obtain bank statement for the last two years and get the books in order, and then we will have another meeting in about 2 weeks to bascially start again and try to get things running propely again…..finger crossed…… But the insurance has been paid which is the main thing and there are no serious maintance problems so at least thats somthing….
Cheers Tim
P.S Someone at the meeting mentioned that they heard apparently you are ment to get a OH&S assesment of the flats done every twelve months by an independent OH&S officer……. has anyone heard of this?
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