September: the community's back-to-school month

January has the resolutions, but the real year of a community starts in September.

The post-summer review

• Incidents piled up over August: record them all (the emergencies patched up in summer need a proper repair).
• Pool: end of season, final analysis and correct winterisation (cheaper than replacing things in June).
• State of collections: summer knocks direct debits out of line — review and reminders now, not in December.

A meeting in September?

Not the annual one (that usually goes with the year-end accounts), but a short extraordinary kick-off meeting works beautifully if there are matters to settle: budgeting works to be done in autumn (the trades have availability now), getting ready for winter, or resolving what summer left half-done.

The best month to change systems

If the community wants to get its management in order (visible accounts, incidents on the record, accessible minutes, automated dues), September is the natural moment: there is back-to-work energy, there are months of the financial year left to test it, and January's annual meeting arrives with the system already running smoothly.

The chair's short list for September

1. Summer incidents → recorded and prioritised.
2. Collections → up to date before October.
3. Quotes for autumn works → requested.
4. Winter checklist → in the calendar (October).
5. Date of the annual meeting → already proposed.