31–May–2026
Northmarque
Some owners have asked why Northmarque’s levies look higher than other townhouse complexes nearby. It’s a fair question, and the answer comes down to one thing most comparisons miss: what the body corporate actually pays for.
You can’t compare two body corporate fees just because the buildings look alike. The fee depends on what each body corporate is responsible for – and that’s set by the type of plan the complex was built under, not by how it looks from the street.
Northmarque is a building format plan. In plain terms, the body corporate owns and looks after the buildings themselves. The roofs, the outside walls, and the doors and windows in those walls are shared property. The body corporate also insures every building under one policy. All of that sits inside your levy.
Many other townhouse complexes are built under a different plan, called standard format. In those schemes, each owner owns their own building and the land under it. They pay for their own building insurance, and they pay to fix their own roof and walls when something goes wrong. The body corporate there only looks after shared things like the driveway and gardens – so naturally its fee is lower.
Here’s the part that matters: a lower fee somewhere else does not mean a lower total cost. If the complex you’re comparing us to is a standard format scheme, those owners are paying – separately, out of their own pocket – for building insurance and structural repairs that we cover through the levy. Add that back in, and the gap closes fast.
So the right comparison isn’t fee against fee. It’s the total cost of owning the home. At Northmarque you pay it all in one levy. Elsewhere it can be split across a body corporate fee, a separate insurance bill, and repair costs that land whenever something breaks.
There are also costs specific to Northmarque that a generic comparison can’t see.
Like most schemes of this kind, Northmarque has a caretaking agreement in place. This is a long-term contract for the maintenance and management of the common property, and it’s a fixed cost the body corporate is committed to – it isn’t something the levy can simply trim from year to year. A meaningful part of every levy goes to meeting this obligation.
The scheme is also rebuilding its financial reserves. For a range of historical reasons, Northmarque’s funds were left lower than they should have been, and part of the current budget is directed at restoring them to a healthy level – so the scheme can meet major maintenance costs as they arise without resorting to special levies. This is prudent management, not extravagance, and it’s an investment in keeping future levies stable.
One more thing worth knowing. The amount printed on your levy notice is not the real cost of running Northmarque. It’s set higher on purpose, so that paying on time earns you a discount and paying late costs more. The real levy is the lower amount you pay when you pay by the due date – currently about $1,816 a quarter. The bigger number only exists to make the discount work.
We’re always happy to explain how your levy is worked out. The full budget breakdown is on the budgets page.