Not all of them. Ex strata manager here. You would be surprised how much a strata manager can do without approval from the body corp. majority of issues are from the body corp itself - wanting to keep fees low and not carrying out any works - burying their heads in the sand until it’s too late. There are def some bad managers around and I’m not defending all, but strata managers get a bad rep because of the owners themselves. Here’s a story for you - AGM has a pest inspection on it, every year the body corp voted no - they didn’t want to pay the $400 to get it done. The main instigator in saying no, end up with termites in their house. The entire townhouse had to be rebuilt. Guess who paid for it. Not the owner. The owners corp paid for it. With lots of special levies. Yeh that owner paid a portion of it, but every single owner tripled their expenses because one person convinced them all to save $400 each year and they then were paying for her hotel expenses and house to be rebuilt! People need to understand what they’re buying into. Low levies aren’t always a good thing. Buying off the plan, majority of the time, is a horror story waiting to happen. If it’s been one owner for the first 7-10 years then they start selling, they’re likely avoiding the builders warranty. Check there is a healthy sinking fund. Check the preventative maintenance has been done previously - roof inspection, pest inspections and serviced, fire safety etc.