Ridiculous strata fees gripe (again)!

[jaycee]

Yes, this is all very true.

I had no problem with the strata fees when we bought. They were $42 a week. Seemed reasonable. The identical apartment block down the street (which had 21 units, and we have 15), their fees were $55 a week. The block was slightly bigger than our's, the gardens the same, the pool the same. Everything else is identical including number of levels, no lift, 2 stairwells, and identical in terms of apartment layouts inside. So we were happy to be paying $42. It was manageable.

Then a year later the fees increased to $48 a week. 6 months later they increased to $55 a week, and now they are $62 a week.

We never received any actual notice of fee increases. Our bills just went up. They were never mentioned in any of the meeting correspondence, but maybe they aren't in any strata building things like this.

They also changed the billing from every 6 months to every 3 months, and last month we received a bill for $743.00 in mid December which was due on 24 December (only giving us 2-3 weeks to pay it, when usually we get 2 months). We paid it on 20 December. Then last week we received another bill for $743.00 which was issued on 19 December (before the last one was even due) and payable on 2 February.

My partner thinks we are being screwed by this more frequent billing. I certainly don't agree. You can see what each bill is for (the one due by 24 December was for Dec - Feb period and the one due 2 February is for Mar - May period), it's just for some reason they didn't send out the December one until late and they also didn't send the next one until later too (received a month after it was issued).

My issue is I don't know what we are paying that increased $20 a week for. Since we moved in, nothing has changed. The pool remains the same - well maintained. Same with the gardens. Since we moved in, they actually should be SAVING money as the garden, maintainence and pool guy is an owner in the building as opposed to having to hire an outside company who may charge more.

Since we have moved in, certain maintenance things require fixing but only a small amount has been done. A cracked tile in the stairwell was repaired finally after 6 months. A faulty constantly flickering stairwell light has never been repaired over 2 years. The stairwell glass door had a large crack down it (from where someone had kicked it before we even moved in 3 years ago) and was only repaired 3 months ago after several years. At the entrance brick wall fence of the complex are 2 large dome lights, and about 3 months after we moved in, it was smashed. It is still broken.

The body corporate commitee agreed to "enhance" the pool surrounds with new plants and new chairs. But...there are 2 new small plants and 4 chairs that resemble office chairs.

The sinking fund was already healthy when we moved in (which also pleased us, assuming the strata fees wouldn't need to go up much in the coming years to allow for that)...

I'm just not sure why it's gone up to this extent. Is it normal for that to happen? I know everything else has gone up a significant amount lately.

One other thing - 18 months ago our strata manager changed companies. Maybe this new company is greedy or something.

Strata fee went up cause the strata managers and the owners committee decided to put them up.

Ask the strata manager and they will be able to give you the details.

Also ask if owners received notifcationof this ("because I didn't") and see what they say.....

 

[Ed Barton]

Thank you.

Yes, I too find it stupid and odd to always have the meetings at 10am (or 11am in some cases) on weekdays. We get the documentation from meetings, minutes, agendas, etc, in the mail and they have NEVER been at any other time or on a weekend. So...yeah. Most people would NOT be willing to miss a morning of work for that.

the strata is you, or a collection of ewes. put a resolution forward to change the meeting time and or place?

 

[Ed Barton]

Since we moved in, they actually should be SAVING money as the garden, maintainence and pool guy is an owner in the building as opposed to having to hire an outside company who may charge more.

One other thing - 18 months ago our strata manager changed companies. Maybe this new company is greedy or something.

there's two potential reasons for the strata increases.

1. mates rates that are higher than commercial rates.
2. an expensive strata manager

 

[Aaron Sice]

in WA most strata fees fall into the $250-$400 PER QUARTER range.

$100pw is just plain theft.

 

[stevie_sloth]

Well, around here there are a heap of high rise holiday units and the strata fees for them are anywhere from $80 pw to $200 pw. So maybe because my building, although strictly residential (no holiday letting), is within that tourist area, they just think higher fees are normal. *shrug*

The meetings are always held at the strata manager's office. Is that a normal venue? I would've thought so. And the meetings are held during office hours because they're held at an office...so...yeah.

 

[luckyone]

Ours are usually held at the local community hall. it does come at a cost of ~$200 for 3 hours, but it means they can be held after hours and close to our home, so I think it's worth it.

We have written into the body corporate agreement that if you call a meeting for a change to your townhouse (say adding a pergola), then you have to pay the meeting fee. Think it's fair seeing as it's for one persons benefit.

 

[stevie_sloth]

Oh yeah, that's fair, definitely.

Our meetings only ever concern general overall building things. Maintenance, gardening, etc. In fact, mostly the meetings seem to relate to hiring new people for those things. So maybe nobody stays doing it for very long or something...except I know the garden and pool man's been doing it for years.

There's never anything in the meetings about individual units requesting anything.

 

[jaycee]

Ours are usually held at the local community hall. it does come at a cost of ~$200 for 3 hours, but it means they can be held after hours and close to our home, so I think it's worth it.

We have written into the body corporate agreement that if you call a meeting for a change to your townhouse (say adding a pergola), then you have to pay the meeting fee. Think it's fair seeing as it's for one persons benefit.

Office buildings are still accesible after office hours and 3 x Strata Manager's we've had did not hire an alternative venue (except once, when their offcie was booked) and never held a meeting during office hours.

Requests have been reviewed and detials postedLuckily in my complex in 12 yrs we've only had 1 extra meeting besides AGM's.