This Q&A about duties of a building manager has been answered by Todd Garsden, Hynes Legal.
Question: What are the duties of a building manager when it comes to providing relevant information to committee members before a vote is taken?
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I would like to know the duties of a building manager, and if it is their responsibility to provide all relevant information to committee members before a vote is taken?
Should they do the research or expect the committee members to?
I live in Queensland many of our lot owners are very unhappy with the managers’ level of commitment and execution of their duties.
Answer: It depends on the terms of the caretaking agreement – and what you consider to be all relevant information.
It depends on the terms of the caretaking agreement – and what you consider to be all relevant information.
As an example – if the issue was getting some concreting done and the caretaking agreement required the manager to get two quotes, the manager would just need to get the two quotes and present them to the committee. The manager wouldn’t need to go as far as researching the contractor and doing a background check on them. That would be something the committee is then responsible for.
If the caretaking agreement required the manager to make a recommendation to the committee about which quote to use, then the manager would probably need to do some research so that they could back up their recommendation.
Related article:
QLD: Q&A Builder Manager Duties and Privacy
This post appears in Strata News #129
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Thankful for this article.
Very interesting .
Hi
A detailed clause we use for this aspect of our Building Management / Facility Manager contract is copied below as a sample. In accordance with the advice above, your agreement must specify the level of performance you require of the Building Manager for the agreed remuneration. The key word is ‘must’……….This clause works well for me in a NSW holiday letting scheme with a resident manager and in a QLD residential CTS with a non-resident manager.
PL
1.1 Facility Manager’s obligation to assist Committee
The Facility Manager must:
(a) investigate, and advise the Community Association of, appropriate suppliers of:
(i) repair and maintenance services that the Facility Manager is not required to undertake under this Agreement; and
(ii) materials and equipment that must be provided by the Community Association;
(b) arrange any tenders and quotations that are needed before the service contracts and the purchases can be authorised;
(c) make the purchases and arrange the service contracts authorised by the Community Association;
(d) supervise the employees and contractors engaged by the Community Association to perform work or services and as far as reasonably possible ensure that those employees and contractors perform their duties in accordance with their employment or contracts;
(e) use reasonable endeavours to ensure that the work is done properly and safely;
(f) make sure any certificates or approvals required from relevant authorities are obtained and that appropriate records are kept of the work and must provide to the Strata Manager the original copies of all such certificates, approvals and records;
(g) ensure that a person doing any work on the Community Property has all required licences and insurances before the work begins; and
(h) give the Community Association copies of tenders, quotes, contracts, work orders, invoices, appointment letters, receipts and other relevant documents relating to the work.
Thank you for you input, Phillip.
We have received the following reply from Todd Garsden, Hynes Legal:
That is quite a comprehensive clause and probably balances the expectations of a more involved building manager with an active committee.
If that clause was in the agreement for the original question – then there would be a duty to provide more than just the quotes and go a little further from the building manager’s perspective.