What it does
Levies
Strata Managers
What the Owners’ Corporation Does
The Owners’ Corporation is responsible for administering the building and looking after the common property such as the pathways, walls, fences, and common contents like carpets on the stairwells. The Owners’ Corporation is also responsible for building insurance. Each owner is responsible for their own contents insurance and pays council and water rates for their own lot.
The Owners’ Corporation elects an executive committee of between one and nine members to administer the general affairs of the building. The executive committee appoints office holders to fill positions such as chair, secretary and treasurer.
The Owners’ Corporation is required to convene and hold a General Meeting once a year. This must be held on a date not earlier than one month before and not later than one month after each anniversary date of the first Annual General Meeting.
Levies
Levies are monies paid to the Owners’ Corporation either directly or through a strata manager. Administrative and Sinking Fund levies are usually paid quarterly.
Administrative Fund
Administrative Levies are the sums of money collected by the owners’ corporation for council rates, insurance and services needed by the owners’ corporation (everyday things such as cleaning the common areas and gardening services). They are kept in an Administrative Fund account.
Sinking Fund
Money is held in a Sinking Fund so that owners contribute little and often to avoid paying large sums on demand for such things as paving, painting or updates to the fire regulations. This money is kept in a separate Sinking Fund account.
Special Levies
These are needed when the Sinking Fund does not have enough in it to cover the cost of expensive items such as carpet replacements in common areas, major structural and repair work or upgrades to the fire protection.
Strata Managers
At its Annual General Meeting the Owners’ Corporation appoints a Strata Manager for the following year.
This manager must be licensed under the Strata Schemes Management Act.
Financial tasks falling to the Strata Manager include
- collecting the levies;
- paying the bills;
- seeing that the building is adequately insured; and
- preparing annual accounts for the Owners’ Corporation.