As the title says, is anyone willing to read (skim) through a strata report and provide their opinion? Please PM your email address and I'll send it through. Cheers, pwnitat0r
If you paid for a strata report there should be a summary with issues, things of note etc. That's what you pay for. Otherwise you can just look at the strata minutes yourself (with permission of the owner of course).
Is this for the purpose of purchasing a property? If so, your solicitor should be doing this for you to see what skeletons are in the closet. If not, what is the purpose of this report?
Key points. Check insurance and it is at appropiate level Check if anyone is in arrears and how long, and if its been dealt with or noone has botherd over the years Check there should be a future works report, and a estimate on costs of whats needed, Check whats in the current kitty for money, vs the above futuure works report. If future works reports says you need 50k in sinking fund and u guys only have 5 k, then you could be hit with a special levy especially for critical work. Check what the by laws are, aka can u install air con units, can u have pets, noise restrictions, parking restrcitions etc. Check what the body corp fees are. It may seem daunting but it is relatively straight forward.
Thanks Miss_D! It is a relatively new building (3-4 years old), and they are already going the litigation route to get the builders to fix the defects... there's been $20-30k spent on legal fees and they have commissioned a building report which listed over 500 building defects. Sinking fund budget is $80k on top of an admin budget of $60.... total budget = $140k! strata fee is $5.5k after only a few years! I passed on the property, sounds like a land mine of building issues.
It's common practice in these situations to raise either a series of special levies or just increase the existing levies for the BC to fund the court case against the builder (or when the builder folds, the builder's insurer). When the court case is won (including costs), the money raised by the levies is returned to the unit holders. This can take years. I'd pass on it too.
Free Property Depreciation Calculator Property Investors! Ready to Pay Less Tax? Estimate how much Property Depreciation you can claim on your Investment Property. Washington Brown's calculator is the first calculator to draw on real properties to determine an accurate estimate. » Calculate My Savings