Hi all, we had our strata AGM last night, our strata company (for a raft of reasons are the worst) advised us that our budget will increase by $4k annually to account for conducting annual fire inspections on the building.
As the building is relatively small we thought this was a bit of a copout. Any ideas on how much an inspection should cost? There's 4 2 bedroom townhouses style unit with a underground carpark underneath the units.
Cheers,
Ah should have mentioned that we're in VIC.
Our Strata company are dodgy as hell so I wouldn't trust them from a bar of soap. They didn't have a quote - just a "this is what it usually costs, it might be more, it might be less".
It is my understanding that if most(more than 50%) of title holders agree, you can change Strata companies.
You can even do it yourselves. It just means you have to appoint a secretary, treasurer, etc.
I think it may be a lot of work, but can means dollar savings…..
That maybe a battle for later, first thing I would do is find a management company, and ask for advice!
Even contact companies directly that do these compliance checks, etc, and see what they say!
We've tried that - we got dicked into a 3 year warranty that was signed by the awful developers, despite them stuffing up over and over, breaking their own terms and being completely useless they won't let us leave.
It's not worth the drama of going to VCAT with, there's only a year left on the contract and everyone is just over all the headaches we've had with the building.
if you can't be bothered then they are going to capitalise on that. Even if you have a strata management company you can still form a committee to oversee the property management and have meetings. Once set up you can ask to see all invoices and ask them to justify their costs (by saying it may be more or less is ok as a budgeting measure however ensure they get proper quotes prior to the work being completed). Even if you only have a year left, you will need to organise something prior to the end of their contract and probably have to put them on notice, so setting up something now would be a good idea anyway to ensure you are set up so you can get rid of the dodgy company as soon as you can.
exactly, i assumed they had a committee, i guess they dont.
the body corp committee should say they will organise it.
or ask them to provide a few quotes.. thats what we do at ours..
I am rather new to this too but will put in my two cents.
Firstly we are in Queensland. From what I know it depends much on the classification of your building.
And then what does this "annual fire inspections" entail? Have a good read of the quote, and note the frequency. Some are to be done annually, some once every 2/3 years.
In our case in includes checking of exit/emergency lights, fire hydrant, general WHS compliance, fire evacuation practice etc etc. But it doesnt stop there, the worst part is to pay to get those non-compliance into compliant. Also it's hard to tell which is compulsory and which is best-practice. I am contemplating meeting with our local Fire & Rescue Dept.
On Strata Company, my whinge is that they are not regulated here, but they are dealing with millions of dollars. The levies dont even go to a Trust Account.