The Role of a Body Corporate Manager

What is the purpose of a body corporate manager and why is it beneficial to have one?  

Think of your body corporate manager as a professional secretary. A body corporate manager can be engaged to supply administrative support to the Committee via an administration agreement.  

Ultimately, the body corporate manager acts as the committee’s secretary and conduit between the committee, lot owners and other stakeholders. 

Engaging a body corporate manager does not relieve the committee (which is made up of voluntary lot owners or other eligible persons) of its statutory obligations as set out in legislation. The voting members are responsible for the administration and day-to-day operations, making decisions on behalf of the body corporate and enacting the lawful decisions of the body corporate, of course with the assistance of the body corporate manager. A body corporate manager has no authority to make decisions and rather may only act upon instructions received from the committee unless they are engaged to exercise all committee powers under a separate agreement in which case there is no owner’s committee.

So, what can a body corporate manager do? 

As touched on above, a body corporate manager’s role is to assist the committee with their administrative duties and guide them through the framework of legislation that governs the body corporate.  

Duties performed and services offered by a body corporate manager are rather diverse. These include, but are not limited to: 

• Facilitating the AGM process in line with legislation  
• Facilitating committee meetings and extraordinary general meetings  
• Issue and collect levies as adopted by the body corporate, pay supplier invoices and financial reconciliation  
• Preparing annual financial statements  
• Maintaining the records by updating registers and owners roll, filing of correspondence and other documents 
• Monitoring and informing the committee of incoming and outgoing correspondence 
• Liaising with the committee on matters and providing general advice on legislative requirements 
• Arranging quotations and assisting with effecting insurance 
• Assisting the committee with statutory obligations surrounding taxation and building compliance  
• Assisting with arranging maintenance as instructed by the committee 
• Preparing documentation and communications on matters as instructed by the committee

In the absence of a body corporate manager, the voluntary owners forming the committee would be responsible for carrying out all duties and tasks associated with operating a body corporate.  

Engaging a body corporate manager could be considered instrumental as they have the industry expertise and working knowledge that is vital to the operational maintenance of bodies corporate and takes the pressure off the volunteer lot owners elected to the committee.  

Additionally, volunteering and being elected to a committee position in a body corporate can at times be a laborious undertaking which is why body corporate managers exist; so that the committee have a helping hand to see through the operations and to build and promote a happy and harmonious community.