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Originally Posted by rofina
Right - the issue has remained the same. BC is not known for proper Strata management or budgeting.
Our Strata fees in the province, as a blanket statement, should be at least twice what they are on average.
We very much do not allow enough for contingency, preventative maintenance and general cost increases such as seen with insurance this year.
One only has to look at maintenance fees for mature high rise markets to see where Strata fees could be headed - take a look at NYC. $600 a month for a small 1 bed is pretty standard. That same condo in Vancouver would be paying $250 on average.
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BC itself is incredibly inefficient. We build buildings that were not meant to be maintained. Who the hell puts a planter on every level outside the balcony railing and expects the strata to maintain it?
I don't think strata fees are wrong. $200-$300 a month in a 100+ unit building is fine as long as the concierge doesn't soak up too much of it. If the building is well built and older so its less complicated under $200 a unit is possible while putting 10% annually in your CRF. What happens now though is buildings do whatever the engineer says, and hire an engineer for every problem. In addition they use expensive restoration companies, Owners constantly abuse the strata, and they are just plain poorly managed. Strata managers have no schooling/experience with actual maintenance and the standards for them are incredibly low along with the pay while work hours are high. They have no actual incentive to save the building money while their ass is on the line if anything goes wrong. Plus pay is low and abuse is rampant. They are employees of the company rather than the strata so there's no worker protections for them, Council's are free to, and have often abused them. I saw one where a crowd of Owners jumped him and another was shot downtown. Recently downtown a caretaker was murdered. Council members take out all their mental problems on the strata manager because they know they can get away with it. Who wants to work 60-80 hours a week for $50,000 with constant night meetings, 24 hour emergencies and verbal abuse? Pay has actually gone down rather than up. Your basically a bus driver with lower pay, less perks, longer hours, and more responsibility. If you wonder why your strata manager sucks, its because the way you treat him is awful. I treat property managers very nicely and am always patient. Give them a gentle reminder by email if something is slow or missed. And make sure you give them a Christmas bonus. Mine hadn't gotten one from our strata in 12 years.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...ouse-1.4529740
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They work long hours, hold great responsibilities and don't get paid a lot.
With that in mind, the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C. asks, is it any wonder the province has too few strata building managers?
"It's a huge shortage," said Tony Gioventu, the condo association's executive director. "It's much more serious than people realize. We can easily use twice as many people in the industry as we have right now."
Work weeks can stretch between 60 to 80 hours, Gioventu said.
A quick scan of job listings online shows salary offerings of between $30,000 to $70,000 per year.
Managers overloaded
The Real Estate Council of B.C., which licenses strata managers, said there were 1,322 licensed strata managers in the province as of June 30, 2017.
According to the Land Title and Survey Authority, there are 31,100 strata buildings in B.C. with 637,205 units between them. That works out to an average of 23 buildings per manager.
"There are a lot of managers out there that should be managing five to seven properties, might be managing 15 to 20," Gioventu said. "They don't have the time to do the basic essentials for their clients."
When those basic duties are neglected, he said, deadlines are missed, warranties expire, response times are slow and scheduled maintenance can be missed completely.
Education and recruitment must improve
Gioventu adds that the number of working managers may be lower than what the real estate council reports because some may have switched to property sales — which is more lucrative and involves shorter hours.
Gioventu said it pays to have better-treated and better-paid managers when it comes to real estate assets that can be worth up to $100 million.
"We need to compensate better, we need to look at this as professional careers."
He says efforts toward the education and recruitment of strata managers need to improve before the number of them increases.
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