Best and worst (recent) strata news from 2023

They say those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Outside of war zones, nowhere is that more appropriate than in strata.

So we thought we’d have a look at the best and worst stories to come out of the last couple of months of 2023, before it disappears into the mists of forgotten lessons.

The fact that we only got to November before we ran out of space shows how much has been going on in the past couple of months – and the fact that we have almost doubled our coverage in recent months.

Recently we had Fair Trading policy director Angus Abadee explaining what the huge growth in NSW Building Commission staffing means for the drive to improve building quality across the state.

He also hinted very strongly that the reason we don’t hear about defects in Victoria is because the complaints and reporting system is less advanced there, not because they don’t exist.  True, that.

The other bookend of that story is a report that almost half of the apartment blocks in NSW have serious or structural defects.

We had a  whole raft of new strata laws for NSW – including the ability to use a simple majority of votes at a general meeting (rather than a 75 per cent special resolution) to sack members of the committee.

The growing concern – make that alarm – about the fire dangers of mishandled Lithium-ion batteries in apartment blocks has prompted an off-the-peg by-law and  planned webinar by the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) – and you can still sign up for that.

The benighted owners of apartments in the crumbling Mascot Towers lost their court bid that would have allowed them to extinguish the strata scheme, sell the builidng (if only as a demolition site) and walk away from their mounting debts.  There are rumours flying around that there is some relief  on the way but we’re not sure what form that will take.

Last month we learned that 60 per cent of apartment buyers would pay more if it meant they could be more confident of the build quality in their proposed purchases.

And we read the detailed and at times harrowing account of an owner who tried to get their neighbours to stop blowing smoke into her flat – and how the smokers got other owners to gang up against her and demanded access to her medical records.

We learned that the iniquitous inequity of the trade in management rights – mostly in Queensland – is now worth $8 billion.  The new Queensland government is rushing through legislation to fix this. Ha ha ha!  Just joking. 

With banks and developers making a motza out of the sale of owners’ democratic rights to choose their service providers, and local councils refusing to enforce their own planning laws, the QLD government is rushing to do nothing except pretend it’s not a problem and build another 40,000 homes for unsuspecting dupes.   

In rare good news, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has had his powers increased, including the ability to inspect any home anywhere for defects, as well as hunt down phoenixing developers and put them out of business.

The end of the NSW Emergency Services Levy on insurance policies is a double benefit for strata owners as you have to pay your share of strata insurance as well as domestic policies. All we need now is for someone in government to heed the call to ban insurance commissions for strata managers.

Also last month we learned that there is $10m dollars lying around for strata schemes that want to install EV chargers.  And we had a long chat with the new strata commissioner John (no relation) Minns.

That’s just two months of Flat Chat highlights – there are literally years and years of reports, comments and podcasts. The Flat Chat website is eminently searchable but be specific in your choice of keywords.  E.g. if you have a problem with someone smoking, search for “smoking” or “smoke” not “problem”.

Finally, I can’t let 2023 pass without mentioning a hugely ironic falling out I’ve had with one of the senior people in Strata Community Association, the strata manager’s professional body.

This person – no names, no packdrill – has made it clear in a number of insulting emails that he can’t tolerate any criticism I make of NSW strata managers, even in a joke.

Ironically, right now I am involved in an arm wrestle with the strata manager of our investment property in a regional area.  He’s refusing to hand over the strata roll to the secretary, because it’s “private and you don’t need it because we handle all the communications.”

In short, this strata manager is breaking the law, according to some very senior people in Fair Trading.  And guess who the CEO of his strata management company is. Yup, it’s Mr Sensitive in the SCA.

For a writer with a sense of humour, strata is a gift that keeps giving. Have a great and hassle-free New Year.