A building will need structural repairs, a lift modernisation, or a facade overhaul roughly every twelve to fifteen years. The engineering is the simple part. The hard part is that the cost lands in one year on people who joined the building at different times, and someone has to decide who pays what.
The three routes
The sinking fund. Money already collected, month by month, precisely for this. Fairest, least disruptive, and almost always insufficient — because contributions were set years ago against costs that have since doubled.
A special levy. A one-time contribution, usually apportioned by area. Fast, transparent, and the source of most society disputes we are asked to help unwind — chiefly because it lands hardest on members who bought most recently and have effectively pre-paid for years of deferred maintenance they did not enjoy.
Borrowing. A society loan against future maintenance collections, repaid over three to five years. Spreads the cost across current and incoming members, which arguably matches who benefits. Costs interest, requires the general body’s approval, and demands a collection record good enough to service it.
What we recommend
A blend, presented as a single costed plan rather than a series of requests. Typically: draw the sinking fund down to a defined floor rather than to zero, raise a moderate levy payable in instalments, and fund the balance from a revised monthly contribution that also rebuilds the fund for the next cycle. The last part matters most and is the part most often dropped in the meeting — a building that empties its sinking fund without raising contributions has simply scheduled the same fight for twelve years from now.
How to run the meeting
- Circulate an independent engineer’s report and at least three comparable quotations two weeks before, not on the day.
- Show the cost of doing nothing, with a timeline. Deferred structural repair compounds; put a number on the compounding.
- Present per-unit figures, not just totals. People cannot vote on a number they have not converted into their own.
- Offer an instalment schedule up front rather than negotiating one afterwards under pressure.
- Name a small oversight group with authority to approve variations within a stated limit, so the work does not stall between general body meetings.
The underlying fix
Revise the sinking fund contribution against current replacement cost every three years, in a quiet year, when nothing is broken. A small increase agreed calmly is politically trivial. A large one demanded during a crisis is where committees lose elections and buildings lose years.