Body Corporate Retrospectively Charging Future Fee Increase

[Deactivated] on 09/11/2015 - 16:09
Last edited 09/11/2015 - 16:42 by 1 other user

I received a letter requesting approval to change the level of service body corporate provides.

For simplicity sake we'll say
$10 is monthly fee.
on 20 October the group including I agreed to increase the level of service.

So surprisingly I get an invoice that states in accordance with agreed changes x amount is payable

An invoice requesting for $13 for back payment of October 1 - 30
and also same $13 for November 1 - 30

Does anyone else find it strange to bill for a service from the 1st of the month in the past to charge for a service that was provided or approved?

I did call to question the Body Corporate they raised their voice and said its the way it works and stay out of their business.

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  QW3RTY on 09/11/2015 - 16:22

  +1

  20 october the group including i agreed to increase the level of service

  Assuming that the level of service changed immediately after the Strata General meeting (highly unlikely); If the level of service did not change until 20 October 2015, then you should only be liable to pay the pro-rated amount for the remaining 11 days of October 2015.

  I did call to question the Body Corporate they raised their voice and said its the way it works and stay out of their business.

  Remind them that they work for the owners of the Strata and that "their business" is very much your business. If the snotty receptionist doesn't assist, send them a letter/email (anything in writing) noting that you will not be paying October's Body Corporate fees until the charges are properly justified.

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    [Deactivated] on 09/11/2015 - 19:28

    it was actually the business manager at wal jones that spoke to me that way
    But your right i'll try the written approach to seek pro rata
    otherwise take appropriate actions

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  MelBourne on 09/11/2015 - 21:51

  I ditched our body corporate management for our 3 units as they played this sort of crap all the time. There is hardly anything for them to maintain anyway…

  Now we just maintain the shared drive-way ourselves and have a shared insurance policy for the shared driveway. Don't need to pay exorbitant fees to an asshole company that does things just like what they have done to you

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  shadowarrior on 09/11/2015 - 22:00

  How do you get along with the rest of the strata holders? How well do they perform during the monthly meetings? If you guys have monthly meetings, work out on monthly expenses for maintenance and work out a future maintenance plan, I think that would work out cheaper and hassle free for you guys.

  For example, every month the place needs $100 worth of maintenance by different contractors. So contribute a total of $300 or $500 per month in total shared equally among the owners. Appoint someone as the secretary, and another one as the treasurer. Get them to keep financial logs of deposits/savings and expenses. Create a bank account to manage that fund.

  Worst case scenario, change your body corporate. You employ them, not the other way around.

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  [Deactivated] on 11/11/2015 - 12:13

  Yup - Ditch them. I ditched mine because they did zip and charged for doing zip. Every time we needed a tradie they wanted one of us to be there. They also overcharged on ALL their services. You can request/initiate an extraordinary general meeting to discuss this with other owners. From memory I think you need to give 14 days notice of the meeting - but make your own enquiries.

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  [Deactivated] on 17/11/2015 - 19:01

  spoke to CAV
  they suggested vcat was the only method but reiterated that it would be ugly and drawn out.

  In true PC CAV can't provide advice so outcome is alternative Body Corporates poll vote have been shipped to the other premises to hit the bad Corp where it hurts the balance sheet