# Management company & Residence committee



## DuBsTa (24 Nov 2009)

Hi, not sure about this and am looking for any feedback please.....

Friend of mine has currently got fees out standing with our management company & has been sent a solicitors letter etc.... 

She has since contacted the Mgt company and offered to pay a monthly amount as she does not have the funding to pay it all off right now. (Yes I know that it should have been paid before now so no need for that rant, thanks)

Any hoo.... The mgt company have come back and stated that they have to ask the res committee if they are happy to accept her monthly instalment???

IMO it has nothing to do with other residents? Regardless if they have set up a committee? 

The developers have recently handed over the directors seats to two residents that are now directors and yes they should be made aware however not the general joe soap (IE her neighbours) should be made aware of her predicament??

So my question is, do resident committees have the right to know? 

Should it be solely the business of the apt owner and the mgt company? 

At the end of the day they are employed to collect the funding and leaving it so long have let the amount build up? 

Any feedback here would be brill.

Thanks a mill,

DuBsTa


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## purpeller (24 Nov 2009)

The residents committee is probably not comprised of everyone who owns an apartment in the building.  If there are people actively involved in a committee, then yes, they have a right to know who has asked for what.  They need not publicise the particulars of individual cases but it certainly would come up at a meeting "X has asked to pay her outstanding fees on a monthly basis".

Re: your last question - I can't comment on a particular situation but obviously things were let slide.  Your friend should be glad there is now something more pro-active in place.


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## DuBsTa (24 Nov 2009)

Totally understand that... but they are there to forsee that the mgt company are doing what they are being paid to do & bring issues to their attention. 

What I dont understand is that anyone that is a member of the committiee is privy to this situation/information? Can lead to a number of issues, surly it cant be legal?

Directors/mgt company yes! Everyone else, No? IMO Like??


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## purpeller (24 Nov 2009)

Ah, you misunderstand the difference between management companies and managing agents.

MC: each owner in the development is a member of it.
MA: appointed by the MC to run the day to day business.

Discretion is obviously important but it is up to each individual board how involved their ordinary committee members are.  It's just like any committee.  At a golf club, they wouldn't ask the ordinary committee members to step out while they discuss finances!


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## DuBsTa (24 Nov 2009)

Yea I get what you are saying, however the res committee should not be discussing finances..... The MA should be directly with the "Newly appointed directors"

Maybe I am wrong, just cant see how its legal?

:/


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## purpeller (24 Nov 2009)

Any member of the management company is entitled to the financial information at any time.


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## Aurnia (27 Nov 2009)

Dubsta -the "newly appointed directors" are very more than likely members of the residents committee and who tend to be owner occupiers.

When the complex is being signed over by the developer directors who tend to be sleeping directors, what generally happens is that the developer directors sign it over to the committee until the next AGM. The committee (mostly about 5-8 members in total) nominate 2/3 members of the committee to the board and the rest of the committee stay as committee members. Most directors don't change after that unless they resign.

Yes active committee's prior and post signing over, are privy to all sorts of financial matters relating to the upkeep of the complex (budget, contractors, spends, debitors), security matters and general issues.

The reason they are is that they are privy is they took leadership at some stage and in a lot of cases but not all, were voted by other owners to sort things out between developer & managing agent etc on their behalf for the common area's prior to the signing over.
The committee tend to liaise with the managing agents on a weekly/regular basis on said matters and thus earned trust and a working relationship would be established.

I'm on a committee (we've yet to take over) and am privy to the details of each debtors debit. We reduced our debtors significantly this year (complex 3 yrs old) by pushing the managing agents to get the back fees into the a/c's by taking legal action and we request quarterly updates from the managing agent as it impacts on decisions that we need to take to improve the complex and on the budget spends. We wouldn't disclose the information we have to other owners outside the committee unless it was put out with the published a/c's, an idea which we have toyed with but not sure if legally we can do.

However that said, we requested for the agm that the list of debtors and amounts be made available if other owners wanted to see them as it is part of the financial information that belongs to the management company that we all belong to and it was an apprioprate forum. The owners who attended the agm, declined to take the list but it was there at the top table. 

You didn't say how long is the fee unpaid? Most agents leave it to a year and in some cases a year and a quarter in arrears before the threat of legal action is taken. In my own complex, we will be pushing for the time delay to be shortened ourselves as we've debitors of 1-2 yrs. 

Also be aware it can come up in a pre-AGM letter and at the AGM details of judgements on mortgages for outstanding fees for people with serious levels of debt and the total of the amount outstanding can be made public to the owners. 
I know of an owner run complex where the management board have done this for some apts that have high levels of outstanding fees, one in particular was 18k of debit. 
I kid you not. They had to do it as it got out of hand, so court action was taken and won. However I'm not privy to the actual apt no or owners name as it is not my complex.


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## Papercut (27 Nov 2009)

A _resident’s committee_ is more of an informal group who deal with things such as discussing day-to-day issues such as cleaning & maintenance, noise issues, satellite aerials, highlighting problems etc. They might discuss overdue fees in general but should not be discussing confidential or sensitive information such as a person’s name or circumstances in relation to overdue fees.

  A _management committee_ however, is different & would be comprised of _management company directors & other shareholders (owners)_, who would have the right to know the name & apartment number of late or non-payers. A management committee would typically do the work themselves instead of employing a managing agent company. 

  All owners are members/shareholders of the _management company._

  A _managing agent_ reports to the board of directors of the _management company_. The _management company directors_ could decide to ‘name & shame’ who owes what to other management company members/shareholders or they could put it to a vote at an AGM whether to ‘name & shame’ or not.

But a _resident’s committee_ should not be privy to any personal financial details – general details such as the amount of outstanding fees: Yes, but individual details: No.


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## AMCD (2 Dec 2009)

Hi does anyone know about the process of appointing new management agents?  I have emailed several companies in that line of business to see about a tendering process but have not had any luck.... any suggestions


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## shesells (2 Dec 2009)

AMCD said:


> Hi does anyone know about the process of appointing new management agents?  I have emailed several companies in that line of business to see about a tendering process but have not had any luck.... any suggestions



Try starting a specific thread rather than commenting on other not so relevant ones?


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## DuBsTa (9 Jan 2010)

Anyone here have the res com/management company set up a Permit Parking system in your complex???


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## jdwex (9 Jan 2010)

DuBsTa said:


> Anyone here have the res com/management company set up a Permit Parking system in your complex???



Yes ours did (Santry). It was probably the only way to manage things in the end. Has yours? Are there problems?


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## shesells (9 Jan 2010)

DuBsTa said:


> Anyone here have the res com/management company set up a Permit Parking system in your complex???




Again I think this deserves a new thread. People with the specific answer more likely to reply there. BTW I think it depends on your lease, ours would require an EGM to introduce permit parking


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