Hi,
Body corporate fees are one of the most hated part of owning a body corporate related property.
I have been looking at various developments for some time now. Other than chasing good investment property – I was focusing on sustainability as being a key element of what I was looking for. I guess hoping to find something that made the sustainability a positive function of the development.
I had seen a few developments boasting 'green' elements. All of those 'green' elements came with a price tag whether at time of purchase or, body corporate fees which seemed to be higher in comparison with body corporate fees in other developments. I am not sure that the average investor is willing to pay extra for 'green' elements at the current time?
I finally have found a development whereby the developer is using sustainability to lower the body corporate fees… Specifically, by placing solar panels on the roof of the development (returning power to the grid), water tanks under the driveway, architectural features and the usual lighting and energy efficient appliances as standard.
The conservative estimates I have conducted, seem to indicate that this unit development will have much lower body corporate fees in comparison with the competitors in the area.
This development is on the Sunshine Coast – I would be interested in hearing as to whether you had seen any developments using sustainability to lower body corp fees and how they were doing it?
All good in theory but yet to be proven. There are higher capital costs associated with this type of development and the payoff takes a long time.
There is one eco-friendly development recently completed in Sera St, Lane Cove. Lots of EF features but not cheap. Whether BC costs will be lower will yet to be proved.
Who gets the income from the power generated by the solar panels?
Each unit may use different amounts of power; will they pay via seperate meters?…will the excess income go into the BC funds?
Whos going to pay for the yearly cleaning of the water tanks?
Whos going to foot the additional repair and maintenance bills in the future? This has to be factured in NOW with a sunking fund established to cover future costs.Sorry Scott No Mates, there are no capital costs. They must be declared in QLD…
And colinewland… Not really fussed about the water tank cleaning.. The cost is negligible. There is already $1mill in sinking fund as per Qld requirements… The power goes only to body corp and back to the energy company which is why the body corp is so low…
Capital costs = cost to build, not cgt or profit. Essentially, buyers will need to pay more for initial purchase costs due to higher construction costs with resale values still generally unproven. Sinking fund costs eg provisions for replacements are also higher as there are no subsidies for replacements only new installations.
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