No sinking fund

Fiftyfilthy wrote: »

I think anytime I go to see an apartment I’ll only find out about mgt accounts and sink funds when I’m in the final stages of closing a potential purchase

This is true. Most appartment buyers (bar investors) are first time buyers looking to get on the ladder, I know I didnt ask about sinking funds when I was viewing places. I think one EA may have mentioned it to me, but at the time I probably didnt understand the significance.

That said, sinking funds are important. Its positive that theres a new board in palce and an agent to manage the day to day. I'm on the board where I live and while its often tedious, I do like knowing whats going on with the biggest single thing I own.

We had a fire stopping issue a few months after I bought and we got off very lightly. Ultimately we part funded the fix by placing a levy on the apartment owners, but we offset some of the cost by using about €30k from the sinking fund, so people only had bills of about €600 extra to cover the works (as I say in the grand scheme of fire stopping, it was minor.)

That said, there was a fraught few months trying to work out what to do. Getting quotes and then needing to find people to certify any work done.
Ultimately no one wanted to be left with an uninsurable/unsalable asset and payed up, but it can take time for people to have that "come to Jesus" moment. The original estimate came in at a few grand per unit, but thankfully we had an investor (who owned multiple units) who is also a developer and he sorted work for us at a better rate.

Owning in a MUD is complex. Its great in a lot of ways, 99% of the time the place runs like clockwork and lifestyle wise it suits us, but a well run MC is critical. I'd advise being a director if possible if you really want to safe guard your money.

We have roughly 90 units (40 houses and 50 apartments)
No lifts, no underground parking and no electic gates. Our main area of concern would be roofs over the longer term. We're typically proactive in our maintenance approach.
Sinking fund of almost €100,000 (we've built it back up in the last few years by slowing increasing the charge.)
We also have low levels of delinquency when it comes to getting our fees in. Most pay by quarterly DD, but we've a few who seem to enjoy getting reminder letters (annoying). We always have all the money in by the end of the year.

There are well run MUD's out there OP!