Given the severe belt-tightening that we are all experiencing due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no doubt be a flow-down effect to bodies corporate that manage the operation of strata-titled complexes.
Those bodies corporate engage specialist body corporate managers to conduct the business of the body corporate and to manage the by-laws that regulate those complexes. The body corporate manager is paid from the levies that are paid by owners of the individual lots.
It is reported that a Gold Coast luxury hotel has closed as a result of financial stress on its owners that operate the hotel. As a result, the owners of the lots in the hotel have called an extraordinary general meeting to vote on whether the body corporate company be placed into liquidation.
If this is happening in a complex with multimillion-dollar lots it will surely happen to complexes owned by mums and dads and self-funded retirees.
Owners of lots in a body corporate need to take action now and engage with their body corporate managers. An understanding needs to be reached to determine how much longer the body corporate fees can pay the body corporate manager for its services.
“I never worry about action, but only inaction”. Winston Churchill
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This article was authored by Jacob Duane while under employment of Bennett & Philp Lawyers.