For many bodies corporate, insurance is one of the biggest ongoing costs.

While the body corporate is responsible for arranging insurance, each lot owner contributes to the premium through levies.

Understanding how these contributions are calculated is essential for both committees and owners...

If you own a lot in a body corporate, you’re probably familiar with receiving a levy notice. But have you ever stopped to consider the budget behind it – and what happens before that levy amount reaches you?

Behind every levy is a broader financial process designed to help a body corporate meet its day-to-day expenses, maintain its property and prepare for future financial needs.

Last week, we explored some of the factors that can place pressure on body corporate levies, from insurance and operating costs to maintenance, compliance and future expenditure.

This week, we’re taking a step behind the numbers to look at the bigger picture: how are body corporate budgets prepared, how do those budgets relate to levies, and how are funds managed throughout the year?

Where does it all start?

Walk into any building and you know within five seconds whether it's well run. Nobody reads the by-laws on their way through the foyer; they look at the carpet, the lift buttons, the bin room door propped open with last week's smell still lingering.

Most committees only look closely at their cleaning contract when something's gone wrong: a complaint at the AGM, a resale falling through over a scruffy lobby, a "but I thought that was included" moment mid-dispute. By then it's too late to ask the questions that would have avoided it.

Here are five questions worth asking before the next renewal lands on the agenda...

Committee Membership Is Borrowed, Not Owned – By Archers the Strata Professionals

Why Are Levies Increasing? – By Smart Strata

Bleach Is Not a Strategy – By Elite Maintenance Services Group

Body Corporate Finance Seminars: Registrations Now Open!  - By Smart Strata

Confused by AGM Levy Motions? – By Archers the Strata Professionals

Strata Lots Should Not Be a Set-And-Forget Investment – By Redchip Strata Law