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[NSW unit owner]

Hi there comrades

I have a question about the amount I am paying in strata levies for a unit I bought recently. The amount seems very high for the amount of maintenance and admin that the building requires (in my opinion). So I am reaching out to ask for others opinions on this forum on the matter.

If others in the forum agree and urge me to do so, I will proceed with contacting individual owners and organise quotes from a different strata agency.

First I will list some features of the unit and the condition it is currently in.

-Built in the mid 1970’s in the inner west of Sydney.
-Brick building with original ceramic roof tiles.
-Garages on ground level, with 3 levels of apartments on top (4-storey).
-Original aluminium window frames, timber window frames and glass throughout units and common area.
-Original tiles in foyer.
-Carpet in stairwells approx. 5-10 years old.
-Common areas painted approx. 5 years ago.
-Intercom at entry to common areas.
-Small amount of grass and garden around perimeter of building.
-No elevators, swimming pools or any other common areas requiring maintenance or upkeep.
-12 apartments, each with a lounge, 2-bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen, an internal laundry, 1 or 2 balconies and an individual secured parking garage.

Note: one of the other owners does gardening, some cleaning around the grounds and takes the bins out. She says she is happy to do it as she’s retired. I don’t believe we employ a company to do this work at all.

Now I will provide some financial information from the last general meeting so you can judge if any of the amounts seem unreasonably high. I have adjusted the figures slightly to ensure anonymity. Figures are from the year 2017.

Each unit pays $3640 a year in levies.
($590 to admin and $320 to capital works per quarter)

$50,000 in capital works fund.
($15k revenue from levies and $15k expenses on “Maint bldg-general replacement” in 2017)

Negative balance in admin fund.
($30k revenue from levies and over $30k total admin expenses) Breakdown of admin expenses below..

Agent management fees $2900
Agent disburse $1000
Agent storage/document holding fee $100
Auditors $400
Other admin expenses $2000
Insurance premiums $8000
Insurance valuation $300
Maint bldg – cleaning and lawns $2600
Maint bldg – fire protection $1200
Maint bldg – general repairs $3600
Maint bldg – misc $500
Maint grounds – lawns and gardening $1200
Trades monitoring $100
Utility – electricity $700
Utility – water and sewerage $4000

Please let me know what you think about my situation. Thanks for reading.

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