All Topics / Help Needed! / How to find a new Body Corporate Manager

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Profile photo of SofijaSofija
    Member
    @sofija
    Join Date: 2009
    Post Count: 1

    A year ago I purchased a 2 bedroom apartment in an inner city apartment in Melbourne. The apartment block is low rise (3 floors) and consists of 27 apartments and is only 5 years old.

    My body corporate fees are $1600p/a, which i feel is quite steep for a building that doesn't have gym/pool/onsite manager. It really is a low maintenance building. No grassed area either.

    We are  five months overdue for the next body corporate meeting and can't seem to get eta for the next one. Our current manager barely responds to owners emails or phone calls regarding issues.  It's not uncommon for us to wait up to four weeks for a response.
    A number of us owner residents have banded together and agreed that we would like to find a new body corp service. We have done extensive internet research but don't know how to determine what is a good choice. Any ideas and/or advice?

    Some of the ongoing issues we have had to deal with over the past 12months are:

    * The only lift in the building breaks down every few weeks. This is mainly due to the high volume of students that are constantly moving in and out of the building. Luckily I have the direct number to the service desk and they send someone out to fix the issue within 12hrs.
    * The cleanliness of the building is near non existent. We are supposed to have a caretaker come twice a week. It's been close to three weeks since the foyer was cleaned and even longer since the carpeted areas were done.
    *The undercover garage has two points of entry and exit. The roller door mainly used for entry has been broken for 2months.  This leaves the sliding gate as the only point of access. Unfortunately this resulted in me damaging my car last week whilst I had to back up and let someone else enter the garage. All owners recently paid an extra $190 to have security cameras installed in the car park to minimise vandalism to these doors/gates.
    *Rubbish bins are taken out on Thursday nights and will sit outside until the Monday, Tuesday which results in residents having to leave their trash on the ground in the place where bins sit. Stray cats and mice have been seen rifling through the trash.

    As you can see, these are pressing issues that require immediate attention and we are fed up with the unresponsive body corp manager.
    Am I allowed to name and shame the body corp service here, or is that in poor taste?

    Any advice is greatly appreciated.
    Many thanks in advance.

    Profile photo of thecrestthecrest
    Participant
    @thecrest
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 992

    Hi
    Might be looking for one myself soon, so I made enquiries with the Strata Schemes section of NSW Dept of Fair Trading and a very helpful person there suggested I try :
    Institute of Strata Title Management
    http://www.istm.org.au
    Sydney tel. 02 9904 8499

    Hope we both find a good one.
    Cheers
    thecrest

    thecrest | Tony Neale - Statewide Motel Brokers
    http://www.statewidemotelbrokers.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    selling motels in NSW

    Profile photo of miikemiike
    Participant
    @miike
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 111

    How interesting, I am going through a similar problem at present.

    My situation is, I have a 2 bedroom flat in a block of 7 flats, 2 stories.

    All the owners have got together and are fed up with our Body Corp Manager, which we are currently paying 1200 PA.

    We did some investigation on some alternative Body Corp Managers and have found that in order to get a decent Manager, we are going to have to fork out 1600 PA, which is the was the similar price we received across several Managers and expect a decent service that is actively taking action on behalf of the owners.

    In order to start the process, we contacted our current Body Corp Manager and requested the contact details of all the owners. Once we received that, we sent out a 6 weeks notice with the agenda and a request for attendance to a General Meeting.

    Within the meeting, all owners attended and we passed a motion unanimously to hire a selected Body Corporate Manager.

    We have sent out a copy of the minutes to all owners, the current Body Corp Manager and the intended new Body Corporate Manager to start taking action and take over the account.

    We are now waiting on further details from the newly appointed Body Corporate Manager.

    Hope this helps…

    Cheers,
    Miike

    Profile photo of keikokeiko
    Participant
    @keiko
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 513

    Try Silver King & Burns, I am not sure if they have an office in Melbourne, I think QLD & NSW only

    Profile photo of sonyasalsonyasal
    Member
    @sonyasal
    Join Date: 2008
    Post Count: 421

    I was interested to read that owners put their rubbish on the ground where 'the bins should go'. Surely tenants can bring in their own bin. Anyone living in a house takes out and brings in their own bin. When I lived in a unit in Syndey, we took out and brought in our own bins. This simple process would stop the mice and would only take a minute to do.

    Profile photo of Ryan McLeanRyan McLean
    Participant
    @ryan-mclean
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 547

    @ Sonyasai – No usually bins are taken out when you live in apartment buildings, each person does not have their own bin….there are communal bins for everyone and a service is generally hired to take them out. Either that or one of the tenants is responsible for it.

    @ Sofija – Good luck with getting a new body corporate. It definately sounds like you need a new one. I would be worried if your lift is breaking down every couple of weeks and it is a low rise building. Might be something to look into for a more long term solution.

    I don’t think $1,600pa. is that expensive. My parents both own units in smaller blocks than yours and they have to pay around $2,000pa. and they don’t have any pools/gyms or anything like that.

    Ryan McLean | On Property
    http://onproperty.com.au
    Email Me

    Profile photo of thecrestthecrest
    Participant
    @thecrest
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 992

    Spent the whole day yesterday in Dept Fair Trading (DFT) trying to resolve issues raised by a member of the strata to which I belong.
    DFT provides a complaining strata member who makes an application with a mediator, meeting room, expert guidance in Strata Schemes laws and procedures.
    So if a strata member is dissatisfied with a Body Corporate issue, they can apply for their matter to be mediated, and if still dissatisfied, then apply for adjudication by DFT, and any orders issued thereafter by DFT are binding on the parties. 

    So if anyone needs info on strata, you can ring DFT and talk to an expert.

    Cheers
    thecrest

    thecrest | Tony Neale - Statewide Motel Brokers
    http://www.statewidemotelbrokers.com.au
    Email Me | Phone Me

    selling motels in NSW

    Profile photo of Ryan McLeanRyan McLean
    Participant
    @ryan-mclean
    Join Date: 2010
    Post Count: 547

    @ the crest – The need to do stuff like that is one of the very reasons I avoid investing in units.

    The strata fees not only kill any positive cash flow I hope to achieve, but there is so much politics that would waste my time that I try to invest in houses instead. That way I only the land and don’t share ownership with anyone.

    Ryan McLean | On Property
    http://onproperty.com.au
    Email Me

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