If you own property in a strata building, you will be familiar with the Owners Corporation (OC) meetings that take place on a regular basis.  

If you aren’t on the Executive Committee (EC) and you don’t take an active role in the meetings or general running of the building, you would typically be sent strata meeting minutes and information via post or email after the meetings have taken place. These notes usually outline the items that were discussed and any decisions that have been made about the running of the building by the EC. This information is usually documented thoroughly and therefore can be a pretty big document. It can be overwhelming and difficult to read. As a result, many owners tend to put in the 'I’ll get to it later' pile, but never get to it.  

The start of the year is a great time to get out the last meeting minutes and info you were sent and and catch up on what’s happening in the complex. If you don’t catch up regularly you may be hit with an unexpected strata levy or fail to understand any changes to the complex that may negatively affect your tenant. If they are impacted, you may have a very unhappy tenant and even worse they may ask for compensation or a rent reduction. These may be legitimate requests, but at least if you’re all over the running of the complex you’ll have a heads up and be able to plan for it.