Question: We would like to self manage our strata building rather than engage a strata manager. Is this possible? And if so, how do we go about this?
Answer: The owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring the strata scheme meets its obligations but strata managers often provide very important support.
It is possible for buildings to become self-managed. In reality, strata managers provide administrative and compliance support to an owners corporation. The owners are ultimately responsible for ensuring the strata scheme meets its obligations but strata managers often provide very important support. Often buildings become self-managed to avoid the cost of strata management and it can work well. However there are a few things to consider before you take this step.
The owners need to understand their legal and administrative obligations. These include, but aren’t limited to, holding and running meetings, keeping minutes of meetings and implementing decisions by owners, keeping financial accounts, levying owners and chasing payments, managing insurances, co-ordinating works at the property and managing disputes. Usually, one owner takes on the bulk of this responsibility and it can be time consuming, depending on the size of the building and ongoing issues in the building. If that owner decides to sell or no longer wishes to have this responsibility it can cause issues.
In our experience, self-managed buildings generally do not keep records nearly as well as strata managers. This is not a surprise as strata managers specialise n this area. Poor records can cause issues on the sale of a unit because buyers might view a building as a higher risk if it is unclear from the records what has been happening in the building.
If you are just looking to save some money then think carefully before making this decision. If there are other reasons, like a very small scheme with few owners who all get on well, then it might be a sensible and straightforward decision. I hope that helps.
Michael Ferrier Eyeon Property Inspections E: michael.ferrier@eyeon.com.au P: 02 9260 5510