Changing Your Owners Corporation Manager

When a manager performs their job poorly, fails to maintain the common areas of the strata, or is not doing a good job of maintaining accounts and financial records, the Owners Corporation may decide to look for a change in management.

• The most typical reasons for changing owners corporation managers in Melbourne are the following:
• Intolerable presentation of common areas like dirty hallways, non-working lifts, broken lighting fixtures
• Discrepancies in accounting
• Issues related to communication like taking too long to respond to calls or failure to disseminate important information related to the owners corporation
• Always absent or unavailable
• Lack of transparency in getting quotes for the maintenance of common facilities

How to Change Management

The OC has the power to decide to change the manager, and a resolution of the OC Committee can either appoint or terminate a manager. The OC has the last say concerning the matter. If there is an agreement to change owners corporation managers in Melbourne because the current one is not performing as they should, the process may be as follows:

• Check the existing management contract – most contracts feature rollover clauses, which means they may continue for another term. The first step is to get a copy of the current contract and peruse the terms therein with special attention to the termination clauses.

However, it is important to note that the OC can change current management even if it is within the current contract period, but there may still be some financial obligations due under the contract. When this is the case, contract law may require that some payment be made to the current management to payout the remaining contract term. Legal advice from a lawyer should be sought to avoid issues.

If there are no problems with the termination clauses and the services of the present manager have been successfully terminated, then proceed to the next step.

• The owners corporation can now choose new owners corporation managers in Melbourne at either a committee meeting or an annual general meeting. When a new manager has been chosen, they can take over the change process on behalf of the owners corporation.

It is important to note that the old manager is still technically responsible for the management of the OC until all records have been transferred to the new management, and have about a month to make arrangements for the transfer of funds and records.

The process of changing owners corporation managers in Melbourne is relatively simple. The above steps can help provide some guidance as to how the process can unfold. However, it is always best to seek legal advice to ensure a smooth change process.