Strata Living: My Strata Manager Says It's Not Possible to Get Ledger of Charges

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  avoidfullprice on 21/05/2021 - 23:59

  Are you on the committee? Committee members would have access to those records.

  Strata Management fees are set in the agreement. The email fees would be set in schedule for extra work.

  Not sure who told you those A,B,C.

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  yjun355 on 22/05/2021 - 05:27

  +1

  I'm not on committee. Strata manager have me above information.
  Yes the fee rates are there for extra work. But you don't know how much extra work they have actually donr.

  I understand for strata management it's in their best interest that it is not shown and not transparent.
  The whole thing seems odd to me on why it is not possible to get access to detailed records. Also my last point on his it makes the whole system vulnerable to fraud.

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  lubos on 22/05/2021 - 08:13

  For the sake of transparency, anybody should be allowed to see the full ledger.

  If your strata management is refusing to provide this, then accuse them of misappropriation of funds and gather enough votes from other owners to simply replace strata management.

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  skid on 22/05/2021 - 08:28

  I was told by my strata manager that this change (not being able to see the itemised with dates) came into effect this year. Have you been able to see the itemised breakdown in previous years? They did say that I can ask someone on the committee (including the treasurer) if I'd like to see the itemised breakdown.

  Maybe you have to ask for the current year "Financial statements" instead of the "ledger of charges". It might be the terminology that you are using.

  • 

    yjun355 on 22/05/2021 - 08:33

    Financial statements I thought is the one in the annual reports which is summary.
    Main thing I want to see if breakdown of strata manager charges on actuals and everything they put in. I can see why they don't want it to be transparent.
    But strata committee don't have access either. As per them it's only treasurer.

    • 

      brad1-8tsi on 22/05/2021 - 10:26

      This seems a bit odd as the committee has to vote on the financial report.

      Our Strata Manager is happy to provide explanation of any charges that don't make sense.

      I would suggest you get involved in the committee.

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  AndyC1 on 22/05/2021 - 10:11

  When you buy an apartment you can look at the books in NSW via some law and it gives the person access to the full ledger.

  If you are an owner of one of the units in the strata I would put in writing (if it's in writing it has to be included) a request that a motion or motion(s) included in the letter be included in the next AGM or EGM. One of them is to change strata managers as owners of units cannot gain access to the full strata ledger and as such there is a lack transparency in the way the budgets are handled, unless the unit owners are able to access the full ledger so they can see how the bugets are handled.

  Be aware that you do NOT want to put in anything that could look like accusing or interpreted as accusing anyone of the following as then the strata management could not putmit in as it would then become contraversial:
  - fraud
  - collusion
  - miss apropriation
  - bias
  - anything illegal

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    yjun355 on 23/05/2021 - 23:19

    Thanks a lot. Thats a great suggestion.
    Just curious what experience do you have in the strara management world?

    • 

      AndyC1 on 24/05/2021 - 08:56

      I used to be on a body corporate as the treasurer 20 years ago in NSW and did all of the banking and paying bills while the secretary organized work to fix things and looked after the mail that was sent to us. It was for a small block of 12 units and I was treasurer for about 10 years before I upgraded to a house. Me and the secretary got out as there were two idiot owners who made a few complaints to the NSW Dept of Fair Trading and it back fired w.r.t. the dept told them that they were in the wrong and had to do what we told them they had to do, and BTW we told then to call the dept a number of times to see what who was responsible for what. One of the complaints was that we should not be paid and as such they wanted a strata manager. They did not think of the ramifications of this as it would cost a minimum of $1K more per year plus any correspondence and costs of organizing anything to be fixed etc.

      I have spoken with current owners of units and they all say that nothing they report gets auctioned and I say have you asked for it to be brought up at the next EGM/AGM and they say yes they have asked the strata manager to put it on then list of items for the next EGM/AGM and I then ask did you out it in writing and they all say no… I say you need to put it wiring and then I ask in 6 months time and guess what, it appears on the items at the next EGM/AGM.

      • 

        yjun355 on 24/05/2021 - 10:53

        Thanks a lot. Makes sense.
        Just curious on how did you decide on how much you should be paid if you are doing the role?

        • 

          AndyC1 on 24/05/2021 - 11:30

          @yjun355: Check around for how much strata managers charge per unit or for a similar block of units to get the very high amount.

          Think of how many hours you are putting in and multiply by the min hourly rate to get the very min amount.

          Average the two and this would be the amount paid for both the secretary, treasurer and anyone else on the committee. Then pay a proportion of the amount based on the proportion of work the treasurer and secretary did compared to each other. In our case it was 50/50 as chasing up outstanding levies and paying bills took time as you needed to keep the books balanced and up to date as you never knew when someone would want to look at them.

          At the end of the day it worked out that you only got about 1/2 or 2/3 the min wage as things went wrong and as the block of units got older more things went wrong and dealing with stupid owners took more and more time.

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  elgrande on 22/05/2021 - 11:50

  Any units for sale in your blocl? Request a strata report, might get some extra details.