We were lucky to have a bank manager, who was serving on the strata committee of a self managed strata. He told us we would save a lot of money by going self managed.
This is a very broad statement when you balance the investment of personal time to manage the property (because not having an SM doesn’t mean you get to stop doing all that is needed) vs the fact that not all companies are out there trying to make a tonne off your scheme.
It is a lot of work. Fortunately, I know how to use a computer. I have spreadsheet, word processor, personal finance software, a laser printer, a scanner and plenty of paper and envelopes. The most important thing is trust. With the money we saved, we completed two expensive capital works projects which benefit all owners in the strata plan. Had we not rid ourselves of the strata manager, we would still be dreaming of making just one improvement to the common property.
The company I work for has fees that run between $1 to $2 per day per lot and we’re very upfront with notifying when requests could result in a schedule b charge and give the committee an opportunity to side step it or accept it.
You are saying that not all strata managers should be tarred with the same brush. You are defending the honour of the honest strata manager. Unfortunately, I have not met one of those.
My family suffered at the hands of a rather pathetic strata manager since the 1970s. We got rid of them when I asked them to stop wasting money.
The real cost of our strata manager was $4,900 per year. The dodgy thing was that they split this into two amounts so that we wouldn’t know how expensive they were. At the annual general meeting, they presented a contract with management fee of $3,600 per year. A few minutes later, when it came time approve the budget, a further $1,300 in management costs was added. These costs were nonsense:
$950 per year for “postage, copying, calls”. Each month a different amount was charged. It added up to exactly $950 at the end of the year. I could not see how these amounts coincided with anything like issuing meeting agendas or financial statements.
$130 per year for tax return which we did not need because we have no income
$220 per year for insurance valuation paid to a company owned by the strata manager
When everyone gets along, it’s great. The first person that doesn’t like how things are going or the first by-law that starts getting broken it will be then you have to wonder if $1-$2 per day per lot is worth the headache.
I have dealt with by-law breaches, parking in the wrong place, unpaid levies, court hearings, verbal abuse, people hosing each other with water. Some owners have the idea that if they pay levies, strata should make their life utopia.