I was invited to talk on ABC Radio Sydney’s Drive with Thomas Oriti last week, to discuss how strata owners could save on their levies, now that mortgage rates have gone up again and the cost of living continues to rise.

It’s a tough question because cost of living increases affect strata finances too, whether it’s energy bills or the cost of repairs and maintenance, gardening or casual staff.

The original question posed by the listeners was, would it be cheaper for schemes just to run their own affairs and dispense with strata managers, and save money that way? The members of that profession who wince or curse at the mention of my name may be surprised that my answer was a resounding “no!”

Although your strata levies are paid through your strata manager, there’s only a small proportion of that money that ends up in their coffers. The last time I looked, the average cost of strata management fees was between $250 to $350 per lot, per year.

Those fees might be higher for schemes with just a few units, and should be lower for blocks with lots of apartments. Why? Because given that the basic bill-paying, levy issuing and meeting arranging cost the same, regardless of the size of a building, larger blocks’ costs can be spread more thinly.

But that’s an indication of how much you might ‘save’ if your block drops the strata manager. Admittedly there are notorious cases of strata management firms who have found exotic ways of extracting every last cent out of their customers. The answer there is to get rid of them and hire someone more honest.

But if you don’t pay a strata manager to do all the duties they perform, who’s going to do the work for less? Unpaid volunteers may be ok for small blocks, but once you get over a dozen units or more, it gets complicated and those volunteers might decide it’s just too hard.

Yes, there is software to help with organising meetings, discussions, quotes for work, levies and bill payment – our sponsors Stratabox provide an excellent package – and there probably is a sweet spot where self-management is cheaper and more effective in a building of a certain size and age, but there are other, better ways to save money.

The first thing NOT to do is stop paying your levies. That can lead to penalty interest, aggressive debt collection and disenfranchisement (although not being able to vote at an AGM may be the least of your worries).

Strata law in NSW demands that strata schemes at least consider a payment plan, so if you are in financial trouble, contact your strata manager or committee and ask what can be done. However, it doesn’t say the OC must accept your payment plan – it has to be reasonable and eventually pay off your debt while keeping up with new charges.

More generally, one way to curb levies is to get involved, attend your AGM and vote and even go to committee meetings, especially when anything that’s going to cost the building is on the agenda.

Look at your scheme’s accounts and budgets, which must be published with the agenda at your AGM. Find out what items are costing more than they should and ask why.

Maybe your scheme’s strata management agreement allows the strata manager to charge Schedule B fees for every little thing they do for the scheme. Agitate for your committee to consider changing the contract (or the manager) at the first opportunity.

Watch out for quixotic legal ventures by your committee who may want to teach miscreant owners a lesson when all they really need to do is go though mediation and, if necessary, undertake a lawyer-free tribunal hearing.

Remember the words lawyers love to hear more than any others are “it’s a matter of principle”. Tell your committee that the only principle that really matters is the one that goes for a quick, painless and inexpensive outcome for all concerned.

Encourage your committee to look at ways of saving energy costs by having low-cost, motion-activated lighting in common areas. Put timers on exhaust fans, especially in garages during low traffic periods.

Consider reducing the number of lifts in action during night times. Apparently this can make a significant difference to the energy costs of a building because even unused lifts on standby use a lot of power. And get them to look into modernising their systems, if you can.

In other words, look at every cost generator in your block and ask if savings could be made. There are heaps of agencies out there that will be delighted to offer advice – just Google “apartment energy saving” – but someone needs to ask the questions.

The savings on individual items may be small but cumulatively, they could make a big difference to your quarterly bill.

This article is based on one that appeared in last week’s newsletter.