Body corporate document inspection fees

I have looked over body corp docs before purchasing (and actually changed my mind about a place on the basis of the fees vs facilities available)…I think it’s worth looking at them before purchase, but just ask for an electronic version. That seems ridiculous to me….(and indicative of the jerky behaviour that will follow with them!)

octagonalman said :

So they mentioned that included is an immutable package of room hire plus “minutes of the last AGM, an insurance certificate, any Articles/Rules of the Owners Corporation and a financial report”. It seems like the minutes are only required to be included in the contract if it was ‘class A’ – something about being bounded by walls, floor, ceiling rather than by area. I’m sure the mandatory room hire goes against the spirit of the maximum fee – where would one go to raise that issue?

to be perfectly honest, if the body corporate admin manager is charging like that for a copy of the minutes, then they probably charge like a wounded bull on their management fees and other services for the complex itself. body corporate managers generally speaking – and i speak from the experience of serving on a BC committee for a number of excruciating years – are an ongoing financial bleed and pain in the A for owners – unfortunately difficult to avoid in canberra unless you want to pay a fortune to live in the ‘burbs.

So they mentioned that included is an immutable package of room hire plus “minutes of the last AGM, an insurance certificate, any Articles/Rules of the Owners Corporation and a financial report”. It seems like the minutes are only required to be included in the contract if it was ‘class A’ – something about being bounded by walls, floor, ceiling rather than by area. I’m sure the mandatory room hire goes against the spirit of the maximum fee – where would one go to raise that issue?

this does seem ridiculous – and i wonder without basis as i have looked at a few places recently for myself and for my girlfriend of late and the last 2 years of BC record has been offered (as per regulations?) without charge in lieu of the (vendor purchases and ultimate buyer refunds the cost of) the building report required by regulation for certain class units (not multi-storey) or free-standing houses.

Ah yes, they said the $55 was a room hire fee which was non-negotiable, otherwise I would have opted for purely electronic viewing. It seems like they’re getting around that maximum amount in a dodgy way then. I was able to obtain documents from someone already in the body corporate so it turned out okay.

It doesn’t surprise me, but its well worth doing. you don’t want to buy into a complex with a bad body corporate. I’ve made sure I’ve been on the committee of mine since I moved in. Fortunately we don’t block too many things, just have an issue with a public housing tennant causing problems and the occasional tree/fence issue.

The maximum they are allowed to charge is $100 with GST.