Strata Chat With Joey

I have a Committee that can not agree to pay a contractor and following a recent vote change the majority Committee now want to allow payment. It’s not straight forward as I can’t just authorise payment as a body corporate manager. In today’s episode I talk about how I will manage the situation moving forward.

A Committee member who was a bit of a handful has passed on. I feel conflicted because we didn’t always agree and projects at the scheme were not completed. Today I talk about the paperwork side of death and your body corporate. We are always the last to know.

Sometimes as a body corporate manager we will fail to meet committee expectations and they will press the owners to sack us. It’s a fact of life that I cannot please everyone. When a scheme exercises their right to go elsewhere my job is to work with them to ensure a smooth transfer of their records to the new company.

I have a scheme full of older ladies very keen not to spend any money on the place and their fire compliance was woeful until the most recent AGM where they finally agreed to get their fire doors tested and appoint a fire contractor.

As we approach the end of Stage 1 for Cladding compliance it turns out the QBCC has very unhelpfully written to some owners directly, causing alarm and concern. Doing the best we can to manage that but it’s not easy when owners often don’t read what has been sent to them at first instance.

How I usually prepare a draft sinking fund budget where there is no sinking fund forecast or it is completely out of date.

Sometimes individual Committee members will disagree with each other and it’s not always a bad thing. If Committee members can remain respectful and reasonable in their dealing with each other it can mean outside the box solutions are uncovered.

A scheme I manage was presented with a sewer pipe issue and two contractors with different points of view on how to deal with the issues. These are both good firms with experience and so I called both to get an explanation on the difference between relining a sewer pipe as opposed to replacing it.

A quick overview of what a WH&S report covers and why a body corporate would consider getting one to protect itself.

I’ve previously talked about secret commissions a body corporate manager might be taking and today I wanted to talk about the types of secret commissions a caretaker might take.

If your scheme has a Certificate of Classification noting it as a Class 2-9 then an annual fire Evacuation Practice is required by law. Today I talk about what that Practice would look like and where to find forms if you want to DIY.

An insurance valuation tells the body corporate’s insurance provider what the correct building sum insured (BSI) is for a scheme at any one point in time. They do go stale so it is an important document to keep updated. Legislation says to get one every 5 years but where the building industry is in a state of flux I normally suggest it every 2-3 years.

In this episode I describe my decision to push my comfort zone by talking to people at my local gym to see whether I could create a community that I wanted to keep coming to. I think so far I’ve been successful. There might be lessons here for those trying to feel comfortable living in the community they have chosen for themselves.

Just because you may mark an email as private and Confidential does not mean it will be treated as such. By rights everything you put in writing to your body corporate manager should go into the records but sometimes emails are sent in error.

I have a larger scheme with 7 characters Committee members one of whom is the Chair/Sec/Treasurer and who has been communicating directly with contractors without the support or knowledge of other Committee members. Today I talk about the standard 6 steps the Committee decision making process should follow.

Today an overview of concrete cancer and the main 6 steps to consider when dealing with that issue.

I am looking forward to today’s meeting because I’ve looked after this scheme for a bit over a year and now we get to catch up and reflect on all the years worth of projects that have been completed. It’s a great Monday and I really enjoy seeing Committee members happy because we’ve pitched in and got their scheme up to date. Happy days.

So this form is being presented to Committee members on site to sign and some are concerned as to what it is and what it does. Today I go over what that form contains.

A quick overview of a form provided to me by a plumber once a new HWS was installed. Details about what goes into this document and what I intend to do with it.

I am having a woeful time with fencing contractors at the moment. They either don’t return quotes or don’t show up for work. I’ve had schemes pay a deposit only for the fencing contractor to turn off their phone and not show up. Totally over it.