Question: Is there any easy way to check and test the pulse of the management company?
How do owners check if their strata records are up to date? They might not have the time and energy to do a full search of the books and records at the strata manager’s office.
Answer: Getting a third party strata inspector is the easiest way.
Owners are entitled to inspect the records. It involves effort, and perhaps they’re unfamiliar with what to look for or where to look. Search businesses like EYEON can help. We often get approached by owners, asking us to inspect the records. Maybe they’re looking for something, and the strata manager’s telling them it’s unavailable, but it should be. Usually, it’s related to some dispute that’s going on in the building. Owners may want to check that the records are up to date.
Getting a third party strata inspector is the easiest way to do this. It will cost about $330 for a search company to search the records and give you a report. It’s not a big cost if you want that peace of mind. You can then look at ways that you could improve the records. Some owners want to lift the standard of the building or the standard of the community, and getting a snapshot of how the building’s run recently is really valuable.
I was on a strata committee in a building where I owned an apartment. We asked the strata manager if they could provide a monthly report on where things were up to. We had a few insurance issues and a few maintenance issues that kept recurring, and we wanted to make sure things were moving along. That worked quite well. It helped the communication between the strata manager and the committee.
Michael Ferrier
Eyeon Property Inspections
E: michael.ferrier@eyeon.com.au
P: 02 9260 5510
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