Strata Chat With Joey

This episode is a quick over view of goals I have set for myself and topics I would love to cover this year.

I’ve had a lot of yelling this week, people are angry, upset, tired, hot, stressed, not feeling well and are suffering pain that’s making them take that out on me over the phone. I get it. I wish I could fix everything always and forever and I’m sorry so here is my apology recognising that you as a lot owner, are currently having a shit time of it for whatever reason.

If you are sitting at home with stuff stored in your car park thinking everything will be ok if it gets stolen And the body corporate will pay up you might not enjoy what I have to say. Check your by laws and do not store stuff in the common property.

There are pitfalls to being the gardener at your scheme for you and for the body corporate. Today I outline a few issues.

A scheme I manage had significant storm water repairs done and lately depressions in the grasses common area have showed up. Looks like filling those areas with dirt is not going to fix the issue. It may be a sink hole. We’ve had s contractor do a make good at the scheme until we have a quote to fix it properly.

Owners go through issues and I’m not afraid to reach out and look like a dick checking they are ok.

If you are handling the maintenance issues at your scheme and interacting with the garage door contractor just be aware that if you state that X is the problem, they might only look for that as opposed to having a good look around at anything else causing issues. The pattern to look for is how often is the door needing to be fixed? Should be serviced every six months or so but if you are spending $$$$ every month start asking why.

In theory when we take over a building as a body corporate manager we should receive a Certificate of Classification however the document is often forgotten and therefore we must obtain a copy from the Council. Today I explain why the document is important.

Brisbane has had a lot of rain this week, as a result we are seeing minor flooding. Blocked drains can be difficult because the cause of the blockage is not always immediately obvious.

A quick overview of the rules that I follow in order to look after lot owners.

So I’ve you are on the receiving end of calls or emails from the Committee or your fellow owners as you to vote Yes or No to a particular motion coming up at a meeting, what can you do and what options are open to you?

Have been getting a lot of quotes from fire contractors for one scheme and have lost a bit of faith that they are being honest with us. Tried to get a second opinion but not having much success. Learning new things though.

I have to celebrate the wins when they happen. Working for a larger scheme with a ratbag tenant and I’ve been working with an excellent real estate agent who after about six weeks of breaches and a bylaw contravention from us, was able to issue the tenant a notice to leave. They moved out this week and the Committee are really happy. I’m counting that as a win.

Before your committee races out to spend $30k fixing a retaining wall stop and ask: do we need a surveyor? Do we need a structural engineer? Who owns that retaining wall and what do we need to do?

Quick Cladding update on questions being asked by committees and current trends.

Sometimes it is not worth the cost and time paying a body corporate manager to chase for a warranty claim. Cost benefit analysis is important. So is looking at the warranty documents handed over to check what is covered.

I know your building might be made of brick but trust me when I say termites don’t read your building plans, they don’t check with Council, if they can get to it and eat it- they will. Get a report done, protect your asset.

Today I talk about lessons learned from the EGM we had to have. A body corporate committee trimmed $400 off their admin budget only to spend it on the EGM. Had the committee members responded to the draft budget or attended the budget committee meeting, they could have saved themselves the trouble.

Quick discussion about lessons learned from an RPEQ Fire Engineer regarding the cladding debacle.

We now have compliance dates! The QBCC website is live and it’s up to bodies corporate to check their certificate of classification and if they are a Class 2-9 building, of type A or B construction and have been built with cladding or had cladding altered after January 1994 but before October 2018 then get that building registered with the QBCC,