We were instructed to prepare a vendor statement for a sale of an apartment in Building No 5, Lorimer Street Docklands Melbourne
Joke 1. The apartment is affected by 5 body corporates, now called owners corporations. The new legislation Owners Corporation Act mandates the inclusion in the vendors statement of an owners corporation s151 certificate for each body corporate. So, unless the vendor includes the 5 certificates at $150 a pop, this could give rise to the vendor statement being invalid and giving the purchaser an option to withdraw from the sale any time before settlement. It is indeed perverse that One of the five owners corporations, levies the apartment a mere $29 per annum. Yet the owners corporation manager, Property Essentials, can charge our mutual client $750 for providing the 5 certificates. Is this one of the unintended consequences of the new legislation?
Joke 2. The size of the vendors statement could be used as a boat anchor, weighing in at a whopping 308 pages and a slip of a 60 megabyte file. And the agent wants 3 copies. The offending document was the Plan Subdivision as well as the 5 owners corporations certificates. This is not an uncommon problem around Docklands and any hi-rise apartment building in inner city Melbourne. The answer is digital signing of digital vendors statements by vendors and buyers. It can be done and will take some re-educating of estate agents et al.
Is there are answer to the first issue? I guess our politicians need to review the effect of the legislation after 12 months or so. Perhaps a $150 cap on what managers can charge to any vendor whether there is one, two or 5 owners corporations
If you want to view the offending documentation 1303, 90 Lorimer Street Docklands
Do not attempt to print
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1 comment:
Hi Brett,
I am an Owners Corporation Manager - Quantum United Management P/L in Melbourne. I specialise in golf and residential communities as well as apartment complexes.
I can add that the work load/time required to prepare and compile these new Certificates in the prescribed format is the same for each owners corporation even when they under one plan. Mostly due to the fact that as you mentioned there are separate budgets and therfore fees that affect the one lot within each different owners corporation as well as different AGM Minutes, agreements, leases, licenses etc.
Having said that the new changes to the O/C legislation passed on 12th Feb '08 do allow a Manager to charge less than $150 per Certificate if they wish. This may be used in the situation you refer to if it is seen the Certificates are similar, unlikey though.
Cheers.
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