Trustee's Guide
Congratulations you have just been elected as a Trustee of your Body Corporate. You are about to embark on an important adventure, assume responsibilities and make decisions that will affect not only yourself, but everyone else in the scheme.
The Trustees’ lot is an arduous, time consuming and for the most part a thankless one. It requires a great deal of patience and not a little diplomacy, forbearance and legal knowledge.
Criticism on a daily basis is almost inevitable from the remaining owners of units in the scheme, bearing in mind that they do have a vested and direct interest in the running of the scheme and the preservation of their investment.
Nevertheless the Trustees fulfil a vital and indispensable function. We would go so far as to say that a proper, skilled and careful discharge of their functions and duties by the Trustees can make all the difference between a successful scheme (which not only benefits the owners on a day to day basis, but also contributes towards an escalation in the value of the individual units) and a poor or non-successful scheme (where through discontent amongst the members, internal squabbling and the like, the general standard of the scheme deteriorates at worst and at best the reputation of the scheme becomes known in the market place and property values slump as a result.
We would just like to conclude by saying that the degree of care and skill and commitment that is required from trustees militates most strongly in favour of the retention by Trustees of professional management. This day to day administration of the scheme can be left in professional hands and the Trustees themselves can concentrate on their more important function of conceptualising and supervising the manner in which a scheme is and should be controlled, managed and administered in the best possible way for the benefit of its members.
These guide notes have been prepared for the Trustees so that they will be aware of their responsibilities and realise the importance of the trust placed in them as well as explaining Trafalgar’s systems and procedures.