Property Manager’s care of Common Property Keys

We’re a self-managed Plan of 31 Units.

As Secretary, my problem is with a Real Estate Agent
who as the Property Manager for seven (7) Units within our Plan, seems to have
no process in place to effectively safeguard unit keys, common property keys,
and security access cards.

The keys are to the entry doors of individual Units and
to common property areas, and the security access cards are specifically allocated
to those same Units

This is the third occasion within two (2) years where
an Owners Corporation audit of all security access cards and common property
keys on issue has revealed that this Agency has lost a number of those, and has
misallocated others after removing them from one Unit’s key ring and placing
them on another!!

This situation compromises the security of our
Building, and creates costs to the Owners Corporation through the purchase of
additional common property keys (restricted), and as the serial numbers of lost
/ missing access cards have to be removed from the security control system, and
replacements have to be purchased and enrolled on that system.

Our Plan has a security deposit on common property keys
and security access cards, but that does not cover the Owners Corporation’s costs
of rectifying the frequent key / card losses by this Agency!

Right now, the Owners Corporation is in a stalemate
situation, as this Agency / Property Manager will not pay the costs of
replacing lost items, presumably because it’s reluctant to show that cost on
Proprietor’s Statements, and we won’t issue any more until they do pay.

Does anyone know if there is a provision within
Property Management Agreements (NSW) that requires Agencies to keep a key register
or similar to safeguard Common Property Keys and Security Access Cards?

If so, is it drawing too long a bow to classify all unit
the entry keys as Common Property; after all the locks to those doors are Common
Property?

So after that long-winded explanation, I’m open to
suggestions about how best to manage this problem.

Cheers – “The Whale”