Hi, my name is Roy Manchip and I have been the owner of unit 32002 Southport Central Residential for 15 years. I am nominating as an ordinary member of the Body Corporate Committee at the forthcoming AGM in October. As a former Army officer who transitioned to the private sector in 2001, I bring more than 40 years of experience to the committee in leadership, business, project and risk management consulting in Australia and overseas, and small business ownership. I have two adult sons who live in Melbourne and although currently living in Gippsland, my partner Claire and I plan to move to warmer climes in SE Queensland in the next few years. I enjoy jogging and keeping fit, water sports and am a private pilot and light aircraft owner.
As an absentee owner and landlord, I have been concerned about the high body corporate fees at SCR, the lack of proper maintenance and visibly deteriorating infrastructure in the ageing towers complex. I have witnessed the apparent resistance by successive committees to adopting owners motions for improving the facilities or reducing costs, and the overall lack of transparency around committee decisions, expenditures and body corporate management, and their arrogance and negative attitude towards owners who question their decisions and activities.
Of particular concern is the CTS 35751 investment P/L scheme, under which nearly $1.5 million from the Sinking Fund was used to purchase four SCR units without prior owner approval. The scheme remained undisclosed to owners for more than a year and only came to light following an application by a former owner to the Queensland BCCM Commission. At the AGM in October 2022, owners were asked to retrospectively approve the scheme. The BCCM Commission’s Adjudicator subsequently ruled the scheme unlawful, ordered it to cease, and directed the committee to sell the units and return proceeds to the Sinking Fund. Those orders were challenged through QCAT by the committee’s legal counsel. Five years on, the investment has delivered limited returns beyond unrealised capital growth, while owners face a forecast 70 per cent increase in sinking fund levies from 2027. It is reasonable to ask whether selling one or more of these units would better serve owners’ interests. Apparently not according to the Chairman’s latest newsletter!
If elected to the body corporate committee, my aim will be to influence a positive change in the committee’s approach and management culture, to improve transparency for owners on the committee’s plans and expenditure, to keep levies down and deliver value for money by managing expenses carefully and competitive tendering for goods and services, and to give owners more of a voice in the way the complex is managed. All of this will help keep levies low.