A timely lesson for all committees. Don’t ignore the QFES and if you receive a direction to rectify then get rectifying! The owners at this scheme now have to chip in $21k to pay this fine when that money could have been spent maintaining and upgrading the fire assets at the scheme. It should never have come to this.

So levies were failed at an AGM, now the body corporate needs to call an EGM and the Committee will be called on to draft it’s own budget and guess what - they get to pay me additional fees to do so.

If you are genuinely interested in your levies and what your body corporate is spending money on then get onto your committee. Don’t go to the AGM ready to throw stones, educate yourself, get involved.

My tips and tricks for keeping occupiers informed so that they are prepared for major works to take place and inconvenience is minimised.

My top 4 difficult conversations

Preparing a budget for the AGM and noticed two fire contractors are carrying out work. Investigated further. Not. Happy. Jan.

Are more quotes better? No, not always and you may end up burning relationships with really great contractors.

For high rises in particular it is often a good use of owners money to consider getting the external parts of the building washed down. The main reason is that during that wash down, contractors will report back to the committee on the condition of the paint and this might mean the body corporate brings painting forward or leaves it for a few extra years, depending on the advice. It never hurts to get a quote.

Today I highlight some of the do’s and dont’s of unit balcony enclosure. Start by doing research.

Sometimes an owner will be embarked that they have missed paying their levies and that is ok because life happens, we all miss deadlines. Today I had a ring side seat and pretty much the opposite of a good reaction to forgetting to pay levies. An owner has decided to try and pick apart committee decisions and general meeting minutes from 6 months ago, and he is doing this without first having done his research. I hope for his sake he has not alienated the Committee. Would have been great if he had started with a question as to what to do.