body corp and rates?

[2CheekyMonkeys]

thanks, so it is something i would have to talk to the real estate agent about? or do you speak to the body corp themselves? i have no idea about this really :-) there is a townhouse we are going to look at and the body corp is 2000 a year but there are 4 pools and a tennis court in there, so i assume that it would be bigger fee than the usual smaller complex?

[Arimeh]

Hollo - I'm glad you are in Queensland - I hate it when I give advice that might be wrong in other states.

When you sign the contract - or look at the contract - they will have included a body corporate disclosure statement annexed to the contract. That should outlay all the fees - sometimes the agent isn't aware of them - and you USUALLY are recommended to do a body corporate records inspection search in your conveyancing. I recommend it to all my clients when I do conveyancing (I'm in litigation at the moment)

So if they don't put it on the disclosure notice - nothing stopping you asking the agent what they are. They may be willing to shell out for a body corporate information certificate (different than the search - this costs $49.00 - search costs $200 usually) and the certificate will tell you how much everything is, when the periods are etc, lot entitlement etc - so you can see your percentage as opposed to the other units etc - but the search will go into finer details and tell you where the money in the sinking fund is going.

HTH.

[2CheekyMonkeys]

thanks arimeh, oh it is all so very confusing. LOL more comlicated than i first thought it would be!

[Arimeh]

If you have any questions - just ask. I'm pretty up to date with my knowledge (even though they change legislation and rules all the time) i last did conveyancing in November.

[Karina]

We live in a unit and we pay body corp and council rates. It would really depend on whether you have a body corp or not, as some townhouses dont have it.

Usually, BodyCorp insures the Building and I think for us they also insure the fixtures and fittings, but we are responsible for insuring our contents. When we were having all the conveyancing done, we got the strata/body corp report and it showed us information about the levies, what was in the sinking fund at the time and a few other things. We pay $450/quarter for body corp and $180/quarter for council rates. There are some units in my building that have larger garages/balconies or the unit is just bigger and those people pay a higher body corp levy. For a house, you'd have to pay more in council rates than you would for a villa//townhouse.

[Maruschke]

I think the 4 pools would make it overall more expensive to run, hence higher BC fees. Although to be honest 500 a quarter isnt that bad!

I am the BC chairman for our complex . It's a lot of work!

[2CheekyMonkeys]

so the BC covers insurance of the building? so you wouldnt need to get home insurance just contents insurance?