Inadvertent Errors the Bane of Strata Owners 12/12/2006 Prospective owners thinking of buying into a strata titled building need to remain alert to the fact that strata title schemes do take proper administration. An inadvertent error can see owners left open to financial liability. This is due to the fact that whilst such schemes are well protected by law, they are also answerable.
Strata titled buildings have grown in both type and popularity. Today these owners, who collectively live and play whilst effectively sharing the costs of maintaining a structure and its communal amenities, are many.
The strata owners themselves elect a team of administrators from amongst their midst. This becomes the executive committee which acts to represent the scheme. But who is it that overseas these administrators, many of whom may have had little prior experience?
Mr Richard Tooker, the director of New South Wales Strata Management Pty Ltd., says that it is the job of the professional strata manager to provide the oversight role that keeps an owners’ corporation on the proverbial fairway and out of the rough.
“Yes, it’s quite true that inadvertent errors are the bane of an owners’ corporation. No one wants to discover that a mistake has been made by accident. Unintentional errors often occur due to unfamiliarity with the law or a failure to keep up with changes to relevant legislation.”
He says it is the strata managers role to see that the scheme is efficiently managed on behalf of all owners according to the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996.
“The professional strata manager can act as an important intermediary between the building’s various owners and their elected executive committee. Their stance is impartial, a protective measure that operates at arms length from any single person.”
In many instances the manager is asked to fulfil a role similar to that of a secretary to the executive committee, attending to such functions as arranging annual general meetings, preparing meeting papers and attending to minutes, financial reports or agendas.
Mr Tooker noted that strata titled buildings can extend from large to small, complex to simple, and the role delegated by the owners’ corporation to the strata manager can be tailored accordingly.
“Whilst the legal procedures, which have been set in place to protect all the owners, remains constant, the participation of the strata manager can be adjusted according to the specific needs of the building’s executive committee.
“The executive committee, for example, on behalf of all the owners, may ask the strata manager to work-up a draft budget. The strata manager’s experience in doing such work can provide an accurate, highly efficient financial plan that the committee can amend if it wishes or present to the owner’s corporation at the Annual General Meeting.
Mr Tooker says there is sometimes confusion over the differences in function between the strata manager and the property manager.
“The strata manager’s role is to follow the instructions of the executive committee, with the strata manager using their expertise to provide suggestions or recommendation on matters relating to the strata scheme”.
By contrast the property manager looks after the internals of a rented lot, including the collection of rent.
“It is normally the executive committee that is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of common property areas, so if someone is unhappy with the state of the building or its gardens, for example, the first point of contact should be the buildings executive committee, unless they have delegated this task to the strata managing agent.”
New South Wales Strata Management (formerly Gilmour Strata Management) commenced business in early 1991, as a member of the highly respected J A Gilmour & Sons group of companies. Licensed solely and specialising only in strata management services, the company has steadily grown to become one of the largest such organisations in New South Wales.
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