Afaik you need to have one by law. But the law aside - without one you have no way of forecasting costs and major expenses. If you don't have one both the trustees and the managing agents have been slacking. The managing agents especially should be aware of this.
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Any complex trustees on here? Please help.
- Thread starter Foxhound5366
- Start date
Trustee on about 60 units for last 6 years (new build) forming part of a 300 unit HOA.
1. Set your boundaries, too many people get themselves elected then crash out after a month after trying to do daily whatsapps/emails. Wasting everyone's time.
2. never deal directly with owners, Always go via the managing agent as go between. First time you speak directly is at a AGM. Otherwise they will phone you at sunday to fix their geyser.
3. Absolutely never engage with tenants. If someone breaks a rule fine the owner via levy and they must deal with the tenant.
4. Ensure you set procedures and approval limits with managing agent. ie they should not be coming to you when cleaners run out of soap. They should come to you once they hit their budget of R2k a month in cleaning supplies and there is still two weeks to go.
5. Dont all be responsible for everything. Each trustee should have a set area they can look after (finance, cleaning, security etc).
6. Make sure you maintenance plan & adequate insurance. To often people try to blow a budget on indigenous rare flowers instead of the basics.
7. If part of a larger scheme/HOA ensure you getting monthly report backs on what the HOA is doing as you foot the bill if they run out of money.
8. No exceptions on late payments of levies/utilities. 7 days late we chase and apply admin penalty, 14 days another penalty, 21 days handed to lawyers. All fees applied to account for lawyers to collect on. Any leniency shown to people is broken every time. If its a trustee you should have a bylaw saying they should be suspended from board until paid up. Same complex we tend to have 1 or 2 bad payers a year. Other 4 Body corporates sitting at about 12-16 because they keep trying to do payment plans that are never honored.
9. Don't entertain a pensioner complaining every week about something unless they are will to join the board or act as a representative for the trustees.
Basically no one will like you once you are in the BC but you are there to protect your investment.
1. Set your boundaries, too many people get themselves elected then crash out after a month after trying to do daily whatsapps/emails. Wasting everyone's time.
2. never deal directly with owners, Always go via the managing agent as go between. First time you speak directly is at a AGM. Otherwise they will phone you at sunday to fix their geyser.
3. Absolutely never engage with tenants. If someone breaks a rule fine the owner via levy and they must deal with the tenant.
4. Ensure you set procedures and approval limits with managing agent. ie they should not be coming to you when cleaners run out of soap. They should come to you once they hit their budget of R2k a month in cleaning supplies and there is still two weeks to go.
5. Dont all be responsible for everything. Each trustee should have a set area they can look after (finance, cleaning, security etc).
6. Make sure you maintenance plan & adequate insurance. To often people try to blow a budget on indigenous rare flowers instead of the basics.
7. If part of a larger scheme/HOA ensure you getting monthly report backs on what the HOA is doing as you foot the bill if they run out of money.
8. No exceptions on late payments of levies/utilities. 7 days late we chase and apply admin penalty, 14 days another penalty, 21 days handed to lawyers. All fees applied to account for lawyers to collect on. Any leniency shown to people is broken every time. If its a trustee you should have a bylaw saying they should be suspended from board until paid up. Same complex we tend to have 1 or 2 bad payers a year. Other 4 Body corporates sitting at about 12-16 because they keep trying to do payment plans that are never honored.
9. Don't entertain a pensioner complaining every week about something unless they are will to join the board or act as a representative for the trustees.
Basically no one will like you once you are in the BC but you are there to protect your investment.
Lupus
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So no one will like the owners? As that's what the BC is. Trustees represent the BC
BC tries to represent the ownership as a whole. Cant represent the owners individually which people miss if i am following you correctly. Classic example. Someone putting their bin out in the stairwell because it smells better for them. Better for that owner. Not for the benefit of the entire scheme.
Supervan II
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BC Chairman or nothing!
In my 10 years of experience as a BC Chairman I have, without fail, identified the Doers and the Slackers:
The Doers attend each and every AGM and any other meeting I requested;
The Slackers are also the Karens and the Moanas, and will NEVER attend any meeting unless they have some serious issue (in their own mind) that they need to complain about;
The Doers are quite co-operative and have the complex interests at heart;
The Slackers don't GAF about anyone else but themselves, not even in their own investment (the complex), and it is quite obvious in their general behaviour;
Lupus
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BC is the body corporate, the body corporate is the collection of owners.
Sectional titles: What is the role of the body corporate? - NGL Attorneys | Commercial, Business and Property Law
When it comes to sectional title schemes, there is still widespread misunderstanding of even the basics, starting with the body corporate and how it is established, as well as what its functions and powers are. This misunderstanding often gives rise to many problems and disputes in sectional...
ngllaw.co.za
rh1
Honorary Master
A good friend of mine was flat sharing with her sister. Her sister became a trustee and drafted letters to the owners of the flats who were in arrears with thier levies. One owner had multiple flats in the conplex who had Nigerian tenants. They showed up en masse at their door at night and warned the two of them to mind their own business.
Needless to say they sold the flat and bought a freestanding house.
rh1
Honorary Master
In my post above this, I meant freehold house, thanks Lupus.You mean free hold? Free standing just means it's not attached to anything, which you can get in sectional titles.
South Africans need to learn the lingo
Tongs of Destiny
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ahhh sectional titles, body corporates, trustees... it's the literal the second disease of South Africa. I am yet to find an estate that manages itself well and DOES NOT spend a flippen fortune on everything. It's all just a money printing exercise.
Brieuse
Expert Member
good luck. My best advice is to resign right away.
Have you watched Days of Our Lives?
Now combine it with GTA6, Alien and The Joker and you are about to touch the surface of how much stress you're going to have. i did it once, never ever again. People are selfish, want their own way and scheming of note.
Brieuse
Expert Member
yeah, not really sure how they managed that, firstly nobody had time, secondly nobody wanted to meet in each other's homes, so therefore find a meeting venue, then had to drive all the way there, as nobody wanted to meet in the driveway.
Brieuse
Expert Member
and take on financial and legal liability for every owner.
What?
Brieuse
Expert Member
Fiduciary duties of sectional title trustees
Trustees are responsible for ensuring that the body corporate is well-run. These are their responsibilities.
If they fail to exercise their responsibilities correctly they can be held responsible.
Yes but also:Fiduciary duties of sectional title trustees
Trustees are responsible for ensuring that the body corporate is well-run. These are their responsibilities.www.privateproperty.co.za
If they fail to exercise their responsibilities correctly they can be held responsible.
Brieuse
Expert Member
Yeah, that's why a sectional tile must have a good managing agent to ensure those insurances are in place.
if a trustee decides to spend complex money on servicing his/her own car for example, that would not be covered by an indemnity.
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Brieuse
Expert Member
from my experience, biggest headache items are pools and painting. Try to invest in a complex that doesn't have a pool and requires minimal painting.
edit: Rather spend that pool money on a decent managing agent.
edit2, whatever you decide to do, do not employ someone to look after the pool, rather bring in a pool company to look after it.
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