Paying Strata Committee Members ?

Agree with Sir H.

On the other hand, I know of some schemes where people (usually lawyers) have locked themselves into office-bearer roles then expect professional-level fees, retrospectively, for the work they do.

Strata law in NSW says committee members can only be paid for the committee work done in the previous year but they make it clear that they expect this remuneration every year. Personally, I would call their bluff.  You want power AND money? I don’t think so.

But to answer the question, in NSW there is no limit on the amount, just on how it is paid.  In Queensland I believe there is a limit on how many times committee members can claim travel expenses for attending committee meetings.  Not sure about Victoria.

I agree it is a bad idea. There have been instances in our scheme where very specific pieces of work have been done by Committee members and they have been paid for them, but these have been more in the nature of professional services and the members have invoiced for the services.

In relation to set-off of levies. An owner must pay the levies, any money they might be owed for whatever reason can’t be used to set off the amount owed. By way of example, the strata scheme might owe an owner some money for works that are the responsibility of the OC – the owner should be paid that amount separately rather than setting it off against any levies owed. Similarly, an owner can’t withhold an amount of their levy because the OC owes them money for something.

When you set the levies each year it is by reference to a budget, so set-off against levies would skew the budget.

The levies are independent of any other matter between the owner and the OC – if an owner withholds part of their levies they will be unfinancial.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Strata Committee members should not be paid. In my opinion and from bitter experience most SC members do bugger all. They never respond to emails, they lie, they gang up against certain members of the SC, they don’t contribute to matters, they know little about strata law, or the role of the Strata Manager, they’re always too busy working to bother etc etc.

So no, is my answer.

I am in Victoria.

We are in a block of 8 flats and until recently there was only 1 owner on site.  Then COVID came along and the flats were harder to rent out as they were looking “unkept” and “unloved”.  It is only when owners were starting to look at getting more renters or selling that “the look” became an issue.  Owners had relied on real estate agents and real estate agents generally only commented on the flat itself not the common areas.

We spent a lot of time and effort to clean up the front garden and documenting where maintenance needed to be done and getting quotes.

Yes we did it because we cared and yes we saved money by doing this and yes owners were happy because they went on to get renters and sell their apartments.

Our Strata Manager’s contract (from the SCA) sets out the fee of $220 per hour from arranging to come to the site, to getting quotes.   They are not on-site and certainly do not check that work done on the property has been done to a standard.

4 out of 8 owners did a lot of work last year – I will certainly not be “working” again.  My time is also valuable.

Undertaking a Building Managers role is no small task, especially with the expectation that they are on call 24/7. Average salaries for a BM are up wards of $84K, so if what he is asking for is less, you and the other owners might be getting a great bargain and potentially saving costs by nipping problems in the bud. By way of an example, our strata block was paying an electricians call out fee every time it rained and the garage lights went out. Until I realised it was just a matter of flipping the appropriate switch in the meter room. There’s plenty of opportunities to save money if you have good reliable people on site.

Payment for services either as an employee or a contractor probably should be negotiated up front, so everyone knows what to expect. If the person keeps a log of their duties, takes pics and keeps a record of hours spent fulfilling tasks then they are accountable. Having someone verify these might be a good idea, but does anyone check on the tasks of other contractors?

Getting an ABN is easy and should be no impediment.

Employing the person is also do-able. Our strata manager recently made enquires with I-care (formerly Work cover) re:Workers Compensation Insurance and was advised that Owners Corporations are considered ‘exempt employers’ if the amount of remuneration is less than  $7,500. If your building manager qualifies they are able to make a claim if injured with the payment of a $175 admin fee. See more details here

https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/employers/who-needs-workers-insurance/who-needs-a-policy

With regards to assurances, presumably your building has public liability insurance which could be extended to cover this amazing human who is doing all this great work. The coverage is only to stop him/her being from being sued by a third party in the event of damage or injury.

Our  building insurance which is the biggest yearly expense also covers volunteers, committee members, and complete randoms who don’t even have any business being at the building, so why not extend the insurance policy you already pay for rather than making him get his own public liability policy? He may still want to take out additional personal accident insurance but that should be his choice.

I am currently wrangling with a similar issue. For many years I worked voluntarily in the common area gardens to keep the weeds at bay, until I moved out a year ago. On a recent inspection with other committee members, the neglected state of the gardens was discussed. I offered to undertake the task for a reasonable rate, much less than they would pay if they got someone else. I will mention at this stage that I am a skilled and qualified horticulturist, weed control specialist and garden designer, this is my profession. I care about the state of the building and grounds so I’m willing to take the two hour round trip once a month to help bring the garden beds back to a manageable standard. If I attend every month, my yearly fee will be a fraction of the $7,500 limit set by icare for the Strata Plan to be an ‘exempt employer’.

In addition, my Landlords Insurance policy also includes public liability for up to $20 Million. This covers the whole site not just inside the unit, and when I rang the insurer to discuss my circumstances I was told that I would be covered since I have been delegated “responsible” for the gardens.

Interesting enough as a committee member I am covered for all sorts of things including making bad decisions and fraud, but not for pulling weeds apparently!? I figure between the Building Insurance and my Landlords policy this is more than enough and asking me to get my own public liability policy is over the top and unnecessary especially given the low level of risk associated with the task. Your building manger may be a different story if he is using powered tools or working at height. But really I hope common sense prevails.

I whole heartedly agree with Jimmy that committee members should undertake relevant training, and this should be completed prior to voting oneself onto the committee… a dispicable practice that I have never witnessed on other management committees. In fact why not also make reporting compulsory? I asked for a summary at our last AGM, of what the committee had achieved during their tenure and got some very defensive reactions since the short answer would have been “nothing”.

Why not improve accountability and throw in a few KPI’s to get the right people onto strata committees. People that are motivated and can make a difference instead of relying on amateurs who have no idea how to manage a multi million dollar asset, let alone understand the principles of democratic decision making. An allowance similar to a elected local government councillor, not enough to live on but enough to compensate for the endless hours of reading, research, meeting trades on site, emailing, comparing quotes etc, etc…

What do you think?

Flame Tree (Qld) wrote:

1) it’s illegal and you won’t last adjudication,

I think the point of the discussion is, should we make it legal.  But your other points are well-made.  Find a way of rewarding those who work hard for the community, and discouraging those who are more interested in the reward (cash as well as influence)  and you’ve got it.

Crack that one and move swiftly on to the Middle East, Ukraine and the US Congress.

Humphrey, the problem with that is it’s not considered an acceptable use of owner’s funds by the Qld commissioner and would likely fall over on challenge even if included in the budget. So any reward offered need come from an additional whip-around. Which makes sense I guess as those who want to can, and those who don’t, won’t thank their volunteers in this way.

Personally, I’m aware of 3 different approaches: one where the manager on behalf of the committee does such a good job the owners send them away for a lavish dinner or weekend away, one where we never need engage with the committee or manager as they do such a great job and probably wouldn’t take a reward more than a pleasant thank you, and lastly, where the committee thank themselves as no one else will!