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There are just too many variables to average out a common levy.
You have two blocks the same size land size but one has 12 lots and the other 20. The lower lot number will have higher levies as they get in less than the other block.
Levy compliance. The smaller the lot number the bigger the levy if you have recalcitrant owners who wont pay and you have to chase them to court.
Building age. Older buildings can have bigger repair bills because the building code of today is far different. Repairs can get complicated replacing old and now non compliant infrastructure.
Management. You can have nice looking quarterly levies set, but discover that’s because your OC set aside next to nothing in your capital works fund. One building I know had a grand total of $200 per annum per owner set aside for capital works in a building of 18 lots. Special levy here I come.
As an owner you are entitled to the minutes of any meetings and general AGM reports. In them you may see whether an upcoming item replacement may be the cause or the general management of the scheme has been poor.
I read the minutes of several AGM meetings for a friend who wanted to buy into a scheme. They had a Capital works levy of $20 a quarter between 12 units. There was a scheme with a special levy just waiting to be struck.
We had a hoarder who literally had every room in his unit piled high with garbage 4-5 feet high. To enter his unit, he had to climb through a window to get in as his rubbish wouldn’t allow him to be able to open his door. He was on the ground floor
The only thing I can think of is the place is a fire hazard and you perhaps can report it to the local fire department to investigate and maybe they can enforce something.
For us, our hoarder got stuck between his front door and garbage on the inside and he was found dead a month later.
A neighbour detected a smell emanating from the unit and his body was discovered by the police. They had to break in through the window to discover the body. Sad story.
Unpaid levies have a great impact on smaller schemes where every other owner has to carry the debt of others.
This forces future budgets on smaller schemes to be recalculated at the AGM.
Since I know there are particular owners who are notoriously late with levies and in our case one who we have before the court, I have to factor that in to future budgets.
I have to build in a buffer to run the scheme because of late payers and basically calculate the division of levies to not how many lots in the scheme, but to how many lots I know will pay their levies consistently. This causes increased levies to cover that culture in the building
I am sympathetic to genuine cases with short term financial problems, but you get many owners who claim financial distress on their investment properties. Sorry, but if you have an investment property, you are NOT in financial distress. You have the luxury of an investment property that you shouldn’t own if you can’t pay for it.
The court process can take while to work itself out, but it is necessary with some lot owners
Our case is near nine months in to a stage of garnishee orders, writ for levy of property and forced sale of property if pushed to the limit. The legal system is slow unfortunately.
When you have bad owners with bad faith, I would rather make them sell the property and perhaps take a loss even in a bankruptcy, than be stuck with an owner who will continually be an issue. Who you know may end up being forced to pay their debt by the court, but you just know they will do it all again and again.
Whilst it is standard that owners get 3 reminders about late levies automatically, the 4th stage of calling in the debt collectors is not triggered in the system. It’s up to committees to alert Strata managers when the 4th stage is triggered. Why it’s not automatically triggered in the system as the other 3 stages is a mystery to me.
It can take quite sometime before Debt Recovery steps in and it gets to the point of property seizure. 3 months to get to stage four and then when debt recovery steps in, that can go on for many months on top of that. How many quarters have you not paid?
Unapproved renovations are quite common in smaller schemes. In talking to a number of people there is a wink and a nod between residents and even strata committee members when it comes to renovations. You do yours and I’ll be doing mine and we’ll keep it between ourselves. Again it happens on smaller schemes and also ground floor units that will have less effect on other units. Residents, understandably feel agrieved they have to fork out money even when a building has a blanket bylaw for renovation before they even start the reno and its costs.
I clarified this with our strata manager who had this reply.
“The building does have the major renovation by-law so any lot owner wanting to complete major renovations do not need to individually get one drafted.
They do still need to complete the renovation application, submit all plans and get the by-law approved at a General Meeting and then the works registered as part of special by-law 9 with LRS. This is to ensure the lot owner and any future lot owners are responsible to repair and maintain the works going forwarded rather then the owners corporation. “
People get flustered when you tell them this and it’s not surprising owners think it all too hard and cumbersome and do it on the quiet knowing the risk.
I would not risk doing it on the quiet on a second level or above unit as you have units below that could bare the brunt of a reno gone wrong.
Would depend if they are the original tiles and not a renovation somewhere along the line.
I would of thought a built in cistern in the CP wall would only fall to the OC for repair if it’s the original. If an owner replaced it at some stage, then the problem is his?
If the infrastructure meets the code at time of construction, then it’s fine, but when it breaks down, you then run into problems. A bit like many old balustrades that don’t meet the height code of today. If part of it is damaged, you can’t just fix that section. You gotta replace the whole thing to meet current code.
Another pandora’s box is getting a WHS report. Insurance companies LOVE to go through those and demand fixes.
An issue with WHS is they do a bit of one size fits all report. You have NO tactile indicators!
Well and good for a high traffic shopping centre and a huge apartment complex, but for a less than 10 lot apartment block?
I’m sure my block built in 1965 meets next to nothing of the current building code.
I run a strata scheme of 12 units with approximately a quarter of consistent non payers. The owners happily collect their rents but feel they don’t need to stump up their contribution to the levies.
I have little sympathy for the elderly couple who have racked up such an enormous debt to the OC and seemed to think everyone else has to foot the bill for them.
Owners benefit from common property upgrades in both function and also the value of the property.
I aint going to cry river for consistent non payers and whatever their sob story is.
Temporary issues with individual liquidity I understand, but you always have a cohort who never consistently pay and know how to game the system when regulations to pay up only can kick in after a certain time frame or amount owing.
Whilst it may seem the use of local tradies would be cheaper, they may likely fail to meet the criteria of the Strata manager in terms if insurance, workers comp etc, and they therefore would take no responsibility for any failure in the work of the contractor you chose. You would have to follow up the deficiencies and not the Strata manager.
I do agree Strata work is a cash cow for the big companies and they charge like wounded bulls.
High levies, as people have said, could be a failure of a committee to build up sufficient reserves in the capital works fund.
Look at your building’s 10 year plan. That may clue you in the works down the road and you are building up reserves to meet that.