For a more detailed guide to some aspects of management rights, please see our associated site. Australian Management Rights - www.managementrights.com.au

FULL REAL ESTATE LICENSES
More and more managers of complexes are opting to undertake a Full Real Estate Agent's Licence Course which is now offered on the basis of proven competencies rather than on spending two years working in a real estate office.

Up until now a manager has not been able to obtain a Restricted Letting Licence and work in a real estate office as it is a standard condition on the grant of Restricted Letting Licenses that the manager is not entitled to sell real estate. This has all now changed with the introduction of competency based real estate courses which are now available to people in the management rights industry.

Obtaining a full real estate licence allows a manager to sell units on site and thus the potential to generate substantial additional income. The courses are run by the leading registered training authority in Queensland for real estate, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and the cost is $2,900.00 for members.

The course can be undertaken on a fast track basis over three months or over a longer period for those who wish to obtain their qualifications at a more leisurely pace. The course is also offered on a distance education basis for those who cannot attend an REIQtraining facility.
For more information contact Frank Furness on (07) 5527 1614 (for people on the Gold Coast) or the REIQ Professional Development Team on (07) 3891 5711.

Managers warned about
unscrupulous practices
By Rob Balanda
IF you're in management rights and you're involved in secret commissions and/or any other forms of unscrupulous practice, set aside some thinking time right now and consider your situation very carefully.

What you're doing could be jeopardising the agreement under which you operate your business and you could also face criminal charges.
I make no apologies for the bluntness of these comments.
The fact of the matter is that some management rights people do everything they can to squeeze every last dollar out of the complex they manage, to the extent that they step across the line separating fair dealing from illegal behaviour.

A couple of instances that I have encountered recently are worth mentioning:
• Retaining no-show deposits
The manager in a complex who owned one of the units himself kept the deposit payments paid by guests who subsequently did not turn up to take their accommodation. They were shown in the books as 'no-show' deposits for nights when the manager's unit was vacant, thus ensuring that all of the income from this source passed to the manager rather than the unit owners, to whom it should rightfully have been credited.

• Repayment of monies by wholesalers/airlines
Travel wholesalers and airlines are commonly granted unit allocations by complex managers of units at discounted rates, usually on condition that all of the allocations are utilised and taken up. In some cases where the minimum allocations are not taken up, the airline or wholesaler pays the manager directly the discounted amount agreed to. This money should be paid to the owners of the complex or at least used for their benefit, eg. advertising. In one recent case, a manager insisted that the airline draw the cheque to his company so that no refund needed to be made to the owners.

In my experience, the vast majority of those in the management rights industry are decent, honest and hard-working men and women who have invested their life savings in the business.
Those who do not fit such a description put at risk their own livelihoods and the reputation of their industry as a whole.
Again, anyone erring in such ways should immediately consider their situation and take time for a good hard think.

OVERVIEW OF THE AMENDMENTS TO THE BODY CORPORATE & COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT ACT MARCH 2003 >>

By Rob Balanda
Partner, McDonald Balanda & Associates