Do we need a professional report to set up a maintenance fund?

No, a professional report is not legally required to set up a maintenance fund. However, many owners corporations choose to engage a Quantity Surveyor or building Consultant to prepare a maintenance plan. This helps forecast future capital works and ensures contributions are based on realistic cost estimates rather than guesswork.

How often should a maintenance plan and fund be reviewed?

A maintenance plan and fund should be reviewed regularly, typically at each annual general meeting. Reviews are also important when there are changes in building condition, rising costs, or unexpected repairs. Keeping the plan up to date helps the owners corporation avoid funding shortfalls and sudden levies.

How can you tell if your maintenance fund is being poorly managed?

Common signs include frequent special levies, a lack of a clear long-term maintenance plan, outdated reports, or insufficient funds for upcoming works. If your Committee is experiencing these issues, it may indicate your current manager is not planning effectively and that a change may need to be considered.

Body Corporate Repairs and Maintenance Victoria

What is an owners corporation maintenance fund?

A Maintenance Fund is essentially a financial safety net. It is thoroughly designed to empower an Owners Corporation to carry the essential costs that come with the maintenance, upkeep and repairs of a building. As specifically guided by the pre-established maintenance plan of the scheme.

The utilisation of the maintenance fund can encompass a variety of diverse ranges of expenditures. These expenditures primarily cater to anticipated capital expenses and non-associated items. These costs would typically consider one-time expenses such as painting operations or structural repairs to the strata property. While the fund is also equipped to replace capital items within the shared complex such as carpets in common areas, shared fencing or communal furniture.

There are three primary sources for the accumulation of the maintenance fund:

Financial contributions made by owners corporations to the fund.
Interest generated and received from the investment of the fund.
Proceeds from insurance claims (pertaining to destroyed or damaged capital items).

Key Takeaways:

A maintenance fund protects Owners Corporations from sudden levies by covering major repairs and upkeep in advance.
Larger schemes must set up a 10-year plan and fund, while smaller ones can choose but still benefit from avoiding surprise costs.
Funds can be built through expert reports or owner agreements and kept separate in an interest-earning account.

What is a prescribed owners corporation and what are its maintenance fund obligations?

Prescribed Owners Corporation is having more than 100 lots (including storage lots, car parking lots, and accessory or ancillary lots), or collects more than $200,000 in annual fees in a financial year.

The $200,000 limit does not include special levies raised under section 24 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006.

Thus, CAV stipulates the duties of a Prescribed Owners Corporation relating to the set-up of a maintenance plan/fund as follows:

prepare and maintain a 10-year maintenance plan for major capital items that are its responsibility
establish a fund to implement the plan
report on the implementation of the plan at every general meeting

In addition, buildings with multiple owners corporations which are comprised of more than 100 lots may also be considered prescribed owners corporation and carry the same duties as maintenance funds according to CAV.

Does an owners corporation with 100 lots or fewer need a maintenance fund?

An owners’ corporation having 100 or less than 100 lots can set up a maintenance plan and fund but is not required to formally adopt it (unlike the requirements of a prescribed owners corporation). This approach gives the owners’ corporation the flexibility on how to manage the spending of the maintenance funds or the option to move it to an administrative fund.

The benefit of having a fund for your maintenance on this set-up is that i.e. if in 5 – year time the roof needs replacement at a cost of $80,000 you’ll have enough/excess/some funds set aside – rather than the owners being hit with a special levy out of the blue.

Your Committee may be dealing with unexpected repairs because your current manager is not planning effectively. If you are considering changing managers, you can contact a strata expert here to discuss your options.

The building or the Owners Corporation has the option of setting up a maintenance fund (for owners to contribute to, in addition to contributing to the annual admin fund/budget).

If the Owners’ Corporation chooses to set up a fund (i.e. vs owners being hit with special levies when large repairs/upkeep is needed), then below are some options:

Engage a Quantity Surveyor to prepare a maintenance report (at an estimated cost of ~$800-$2,000; it’s a pretty precise way to budget how much owners should contribute for items and when things will need replacement/repainting/fixing etc.)
Consult with the new manager on what a reasonable amount is for the Owners Corporation to contribute to the maintenance fund.
The committee/Owners at the AGM compute an amount that’s acceptable for everyone to set aside and contribute to the fund.

The maintenance fund sits in a separate account from the admin fund – and can sit in an interest-bearing account (though it is currently a low interest rate environment).

How much money should be in a strata sinking fund?

There is no fixed amount that a strata sinking fund should hold, as the appropriate balance depends on:

size
age
condition of the building

Rather than aiming for a specific figure, the fund should reflect the expected cost of future capital works based on a maintenance plan.

A well-funded sinking fund is one that can cover upcoming major expenses without requiring sudden special levies.

If contributions are too low or not regularly reviewed, the fund may fall short when significant works are needed.

For this reason, the focus should be on ensuring the fund is aligned with the building’s long-term maintenance needs, rather than reaching a set dollar amount.

For further information about maintenance funds or if you are ready to have a conversation about your strata situation. Contact Strata Management Consultants ™ for our strata consulting services at 03 9007 2618.