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There can be many reasons why similar apartments in different blocks have wildly different levies. On top of the unit entitlement items mentioned by Jimmy, there can be other reasons for differences between blocks.
Between blocks it will also be affected by the level of facilities and amenities in the block. For example does one have luxury foyers with plush carpets , with artworks, cleaned daily, and a 24×7 onsite concierge and manager, plus well kept gardens maintained regularly. Another block can have tiled , simple utilitarian foyers only cleaned weekly (or monthly). Also look at then number and age of lifts, pools, gyms and their equipment and other amentities such as common BBQ or cinema rooms.
Similarly on age and past financial performance- is one block adding to a low sinking fund, as there are large expenses coming – eg new lifts, or major works such as painting that were not correctly budgeted for in the past.
Perhaps one block has a poor insurance claim record, so much larger premium to be paid. Different strata managers can also charge different fees.
There is also the differences in how buildings run – some like to run on bare bones finances with just enough to cover expenses, others run with large buffers for “just in case” scenarios.
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Have you verified there is a common main swichboard. Again in our ACT class B units, each townhouse has there own board and meter box on the lot. A number have Solar installed and in all cases only that Units board was affected.
Then there is another meter and board for our CP driveway lights .
Sounds a lot like class-B units in ACT Strata. Our townhouse complex in ACT is Class B, and pretty much runs as you have described. Individual owners are responsible for heir own unit maintenance, but painting and colors need to align with the agreed common scheme.
The Strata fees cover common ground garden, shared driveway+lights, and our biggest cost, the Building insurance.
You might also want to consider stormwater and sewer services. In our complex Owners are responsible for those inside lot boundaries that serve individual units, but the complex is responsible for shared lines and those in common property.
Our Strata manager (for our ACT Class B Units) has an emergency contact number, used after hours for urgent maintenance requests – think plumbing emergency like blocked sewer .
The downside is of course, that any call to the emergency number results in sched B fee – I think it was $80 at the last instance.
From my POV the worst thing that happens out of this is that all that happens when you call the emergency number, is the Manager emergency contact then gets the plumber to call the original caller, and organise to visit and fix the issue. Last time we had a problem, we just called the plumber direct, who came out and fixed the issue, billing the strata complex. We advised the Strata manger by email what we had done. Same outcome, and we saved the Schedule B fee.
I think it would be good practice to always have some sort of contingency and not be targeting a $0 EOFY balance. It only takes 1 or 2 units to not pay levies, or pay late , and you are facing not having enough funds for large expenditures (eg insurance) as they fall due.
Can’t you just give notice to vacate on the end date of the fixed term lease, within the appropriate time of the lease ?
Where does the line get drawn? Is it only lithium ion batteries, or all rechargeable batteries, irrespective of chemistry?
And if it is all , are strata dwellers to be banned or restricted in recharging laptops, mobile phones, cordless drills, ipads, torches and the myriad of other devices containing rechargeable batteries.
What impact is it having on other residents? If there is no one affected, what is the issue?
You say “common property in front of their garage”. I wonder if this is like the situation in our townhouse complex, where many lots have dedicated drive in front of their garage, leading to the shared drive.
Visitors, tradies, and even the owners park their cars on this dedicated drive, with no impact on anyone else, and none on access to the common drive. Technically they are parking on common property, but no one else could park there as if they did they would be blocking access to the lot garage.
It seems the same as a standalone house parking in their driveway.
Is this much different to paying $100 as an Administrative fee? I mean owners can still calculate the final fee? What is the advantage of having per unit rate? In fact this per unit rate would magnify the rather meaningless headline rate which contracts are usually “sold” on.
Yes Owners can still calculate the final fees, as long as they look carefully at all the charges. It allows the SM to correctly say “We charge $x per unit as as a management fee”, but not say and we also charge per unit for
- Accounting services
- Banking management
- Disbursements
- online portal fees
- Trades compliance
So the actual payment to the SM is much larger than the $x management fee.
And also note that this is not charged to each unit as a flat rate, it is
Number of units x rate = Total
Then that total is charged to each unit in accordance with their unit entitlements
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Agree with these sentiments. While it would be good nice for a strata corp to allow payment plans, the costs for that would need to be born by the recalcitrant levy payer.
It is not the strata manager putting up fees, but the owners corp, that you and your neighbors are part of. If a unit is not paying, the other owners will need to pay more so that the required bills can be paid. Noting this will include essential items like Insurance, electricity and water .
As UberOwner says owners should be involved with the process of monitoring and setting budgets.
Some of the ideas suggested in the Media would be unworkable – eg a suggestion that there should be a limit on how much “strata fees” can go up in a year. Thats not going to work, as there is not also a limit on how much electricity, insurance and other charges can rise.
I would suspect it is one of the ways the Strata Manager(SM) covers for a low headline rate management fee.
The SM for our complex has a per unit rate for each of
- Management Fees
- Accounting sevices
- Banking management
- Disbursements
- online portal fees
- Trades compliance
Which as far as I can see serves no purpose other than to split the actual per unit management fee over a number of items, to try and make the Management fee look smaller to those who do not inspect the financial statements closely.
And agree with Jimmy on the tax statement, I ask every year why we pay for an accountant to lodge a tax return for the unit plan when we have no income.
Note this is for an ACT complex
I think you are confusing GST registration with liability to pay GST. I am no accountant or tax lawyer, so do not take my thoughts as definitive advice.
I think you are correct in that your strata plan does not need to be GST registered, as your turnover is under the threshold (which is actually $150,000 for non profit entity) .
Being registered for GST has no impact on the requirement to pay GST when you purchase goods/services from an entity that is GST registered (eg the tradesman who perform work at your strata plan) . Just like you as individual, you are not registered for GST, but you still pay it when you buy fuel, care servicing, clothes etc. You do not avoid GST by not being registered for GST.
Have a look at the ATO website here
In the ACT, we had a lot of pushback from our Strata manager(SM) when we wanted to use a concrete contracter who was not on their “approved” list. The contractor had done previous work for the complex, was well known and long in business locally, and his quote was 50% less than the “approved” contractor.
We had to direct the SM to issue the work order, and then once the work was satisfactorily completed, their accounting section “lost” the invoice twice , and we had to follow up multiple times to have payment made.
So would the now fairly normal 2 bowl kitchen sink meet this requirement. Could you argue 1 bowl is for the kitchen and one for the laundry? Especially if there is a separate drain outlet provided for the washing machine in the kitchen.
Thats an interesting bylaw – I wonder if it would survive an NCAT appeal (Assuming your in NSW) or the equivalent tribunal in other jurisdictions.
What is the reasoning behind the need for the law? If it is the perceived risk Lithium ion and similar batteries, what is next?. Banning charging phones, laptops, cordless drills, portable fridges, bluetooth headsets? They all have batteries.