What exactly a body corp's job???

[hong]

Hi All,

I have an unit in a block of five that is sharing the same water meter, which means I have to pay the water usage for the tenant.

I have raised a request to separate the meter during a body corp meeting, but because I am the only one who attends the meeting, so no decision is made, but the body corp has said they will sent someone to do a quote and ask other owners' decision.

After 2 months, I follow the matter up with the body corp, but this time they said it is not their responsibility to deal with a task like this, keep insist it is costing too much and not worth to do it, so they don't even bother to arrange someone for a quote, lets along to ask other owners.

I still want to go ahead with it, at a bare minimum, to know how much it cost and how other owners' think about it.

But other owners have never turned up in the meeting, I can't contact them to ask their opinions directly, and I can't sent someone to do the quote myself.

Is there anything I can do from here? And is there anywhere that I can find out exactly what tasks a body corp will/won't do?

Any suggest is appreciated.

Hong.

 

[DavidMc]

I don't know the answer to your question but I also find it annoying how body corporates avoid issues like this. I thought it is their responsible to at manage these issues.

What I do know is this:

• Any sort of issues like this can be sorted through mediation with help from the Dispute Resolution Centre in your state.
• Water meters (and meters in general) are very expensive. The cost of a single meter will be many years of water usage.

If you'd like to recoup some of this cost, it's probably most efficiently done through charging an extra few dollars rent.

 

[The Y-man]

Hi Hong,

You should be able to raise a proposal as you have done, get a quote, and have a vote to have it installed.

If it is not proposed at the AGM, you may need to then run a postal ballot.

If the majority agree (no response is taken as agreement), a levy should be struck to raise the funding for the works.

If your BC manager is not doing this for you, they are not doing their work - I suggest getting another manager.

Talk to another managing company (which area is your block in?) and they will be able to advise you (happily!) of how to move your management to them.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[hong]

David and Y-man,

Thanks for your input. I think I would take David's suggestion to increase a few extra dollars rent to deal with the soon-to-come increased water bill...

In term of changing BC manager, I have thought about that a number of times, but firstly, not sure if other owners are on the same boat, and secondly, busy with the next IP at the moment, so may have to leave it aside for the time being.

Just curiosity about the cost of the meter, we are talking in term of few hundred? few thousand? or more?

Thanks.

Hong.

 

[The Y-man]

I kind of vaguely recall figures in the thousands.....could be totally out though...

Cheers,

The Y-man