read them body corp. minutes BEFORE you buy

Hi there,

As someone who usually has more questions to ask than answers to give, I thought I’d even things up a bit by reminding any newbie buyers of the importance of checking the minutes of recent body corporate (BC) meetings if you are considering buying into a unit complex. Here is one example of what could happen if you don’t:

I recently looked into buying a unit up for auction. Had it inspected, contract reviewed etc etc. Asked for BC minutes twice from the agent – these never showed up. Finally contacted the BC secretary, who said they didn’t take minutes…hmmmm worry sign number 1 .
The secretary (who also happened to be the vendor of the unit I was interested in – worry sign number 2) then went on to say that some external building maintenance work had been approved for next year and would cost each unit about 10K each. At this stage, although a bit concerned, I was still happy to go and bid, thinking I would just have to allow for the 10K in my bid limit.
Anyway, come to auction night, the property is withdrawn from offer 2 minutes before it was due to be auctioned – another resident in the block had come forward on the day of sale and told the real estate agent that the building works was likely to be at least 30K per unit, and that not all of the required maintenance had even been defined (and therefore not costed) as yet.
This naturally upset a few would-be bidders, and hence temporary withdrawal of the property to sort things out.
The result of all this is that now the vendor has agreed to put 30K of the property sale proceeds into a fund that the new owner can use for the repairs when they are required. In addition, all quotes are to finalised, so that potential buyers will know exactly what repair costs they will be up for.
This would never have come to light unless the other resident had come forward, and the new owner would have had a nasty surprise to the tune of 30K+ waiting.
In this case, reading the minutes wouldn’t have helped, because there were none, but it goes to show you how important it is to find out as much as possible about your intended purchase beforehand. If there are no minutes to peruse, at least try and talk to the other residents and confirm what details you have been told by the vendor.

Cheers,
Anastasia