Body Corporate fee issues and what to do ...

[bennido]

Hi my fellow forumites,

I have a predicament (partly of my own making) with my body corporate fees.

I just moved into a new townhouse in a new development (1 of 4) and a body corporate was just set up. We have received our 1st fee notice and was quite shocked.

So, I would appreciate your advice on a certain number of items …

1. How is the fee normally pro-rated (e.g. land area, floor plan area, building valuation, etc) across the 4 units ? From what I can derive, ours is based on the floor plan in the house (including 2nd story floor area)

2. The annual management fee is $1800. Is this about average or way too high ? I own a townhouse IP in the same suburb in a slightly smaller but similar development and the body corp mgmt annual fee was only $440 !

3. There is an annual fee of "communication" for $150 and "electricity" for $100. Is this normal too ?

4. There was a meeting held and minutes were issued confirming the above rates and each unit's pro-rated fees. I did not attend the meeting due to work commitments that cropped up last minute, hence all these is partly my fault. .. But is it too late to dispute any of the above and I need to wait till next year ?

5. How does one go about changing the body corporate management company ?

Thanks in advance folks and really appreciate the help !

 

[The Y-man]

5. How does one go about changing the body corporate management company ?

Thanks in advance folks and really appreciate the help !

As long as the other owners (or majority) agree, you can change the management company any time.

The Y-man

 

[travelbug]

The management company does not set the fees. The owners do. So is there only 4? Then the other 3 must have agreed to the amount. $1800 isn't low but not over the top either.

Look at the annual expenditures and see how that compares to the total paid. They should be similar. Then you have the sinking fund which should have some money in it for maintenance issues etc. You can't compare one block with another. You need to see if it's warranted. If it's not, change it at the next AGM.

If it's just been set up maybe it's the sinking fund that is high because they (other owners) want to get some money in the kitty (good idea). If you have no money in the sinking fund you may have to have special levies every time something comes up.
The $150 would be for the strata company rep to attend the AGM. Normal.

 

[DaveM]

Unit entitlements can be derived from all kinds of ways... square meterage on title, benefit of common areas, aspect and height in building. In a 4 lot development, I would expect it to just be divided 4 ways with each having the same unit entitlements.

$1800 per annum is $150 per month management fee. That is reasonable. A little high for a 4 lot plan but not over the top.

Annual fees for communication will be expenses relating to postage of levy notices, AGM minutes etc etc. Electricity will be for common area lighting eg security lights, driveway lights, etc.

 

[Compropmanager]

hahahaha sorry to be a pest but an owners corporate that holds one AGM and sends a quartly or annual bill and mostly tells me that X is the unit holds gets paid more then the pm.

$1800/52 = $34.61pw / the percentage that you pay the pm (i.e. 7.7%) = $440pw in rent.

and then they charge to attend the AGM and "communication fees"

I am in the wrong game

 

[Wake]

Sorry Compropmanager, but best you stay in the game you are in now. If you think that all a body corporate manager does is attend 1 AGM and send out levy notices then you are greatly mistaken. Also, the $1800 management fee is for the whole scheme.

The original post stated that this is a new scheme, so there won't be any previous exenses to compare with. However, there would have been a proposed budget supplied to all the owners with their AGM Notice, and this would have detailed exactly what the levies are covering. Other posters were correct in that the owners set the levies - the manager makes a recommendation based on experience.

I know that everyone gets busy and attending the AGM is low on many owners's priority lists, but surely they can at least read the paperwork prior to the meeting, and if they feel strongly about something, fill in a proxy form to have their vote. No point bleating after the fact.

$1800 management is pretty average, although it is true that smaller blocks are somewhat penalised because a minimum fee needs to be charged for the management of the scheme regardless of whether there are 2,3 or 12 units. This is because there are many statutory requirements that have to be met by the owners corp/body corp (which are attended to by the manager) regardless of the size of the scheme so the same base level of work is done for 2 lots as for 10 lots.

 

[peastman]

I think if less than a certain percentage of owners attend the AGM, then the decisions can be objected to within a certain time.

Even if you cant attend an AGM in the future, consider offering to be on the commitee, that way you can be in more control with what goes on.

 

[Wake]

I believe that if a quorum is not achieved at the meeting (50%), then you can object to the interim resolutions (decisions) within 29 days (Victoria only)