Most strata schemes find the gap too late. A lift needs replacing, the plan said so, and the reserve fund does not hold the money. What follows is a special levy, a hurried quote, and an annual general meeting where the council is answering for a decision made years earlier by nobody in the room. The same gap found three years out is an ordinary budget item. It gets levied gradually, across three annual contributions, and nobody has to find a large sum at short notice.
The Reserve Fund Health Check is a reconciliation between two documents that a strata scheme already owns and that almost nobody reads side by side: the ten year maintenance plan, and the actual reserve fund spending and balance. Cameron Facilities writes these plans as building manager, so we know how they are put together and where the two records drift apart.
Why the Two Documents Drift Apart
Since 1 May 2020, under the Strata Titles Act 1985 as amended, a designated strata company in Western Australia must hold a reserve fund and must have a ten year maintenance plan. A designated strata company is a scheme of ten or more lots, or one with a building replacement cost above five million dollars. The plan has to be revised at least once in every five years.
The plan and the fund are written and managed at different times, often by different people, and there is no step in the process that forces one to be checked against the other. The plan is a forecast. The reserve fund is a bank balance and a spending history. Between revisions the two records move independently, and the distance between them only becomes visible when a large item falls due.
What the Reserve Fund Health Check Does
We take the scheme's ten year maintenance plan and read it against what has actually been spent from and held in the reserve fund since the plan was written. We identify the items the plan scheduled that were not carried out, the items that were carried out and drew on the fund, and the items falling due in the next twenty four months that the current contributions do not cover. We then set out what the council would need to levy, and over how many years, to reach each of those items with the money in place.
The check is done against the scheme's own documents. It is a desktop reconciliation of the plan, the reserve fund statements and the maintenance history, so the council gets a clear position without waiting on a new inspection cycle.
What Your Council Receives
- A written reconciliation of the ten year maintenance plan against reserve fund spending and the current balance.
- A list of items falling due in the next twenty four months, with the ones that are not funded marked.
- The gradual contribution figures required to fund each item by the time it falls due.
- A statement of where the plan and the fund have diverged, and which entries the next five year revision should correct.
- A summary written to be read aloud at a council meeting or an annual general meeting.
Who This Is For
Strata councils and strata managers in Perth and across Western Australia responsible for a scheme of ten or more lots, or a scheme with a building replacement cost above five million dollars. It suits a council approaching its five year plan revision, a council that has changed strata managers, and a council that wants to know its position before it sets next year's contributions.
Related Building Management Services
- 10 Year Maintenance Planning Perth
- 10 Year Maintenance Plans for Strata Buildings Perth
- Strata Building Management Perth
- Building Condition Reports Perth
- Asset Lifecycle Management Perth
For the legislation and the guidance behind the reserve fund and the ten year plan, see Landgate resources for strata companies.
Book a Reserve Fund Health Check
Send us your scheme's ten year maintenance plan and its reserve fund statements and we will reconcile them. Request a quote or call (08) 6154 0910.