Contracts killer: Dodgy SCA deals targetted

An eminent construction lawyer and government adviser has slammed Strata Community Australia’s standard strata management contracts as “appalling”, “disgraceful” and unfair to consumers.

And, according to an ABC report, Bronwyn Weir has called for a comprehensive review into strata management contracts to create a more balanced model, preferably established by the various state governments.

In the ABC article, Ms Weir takes pot shots at one SCA-sanctioned contract that released and indemnified the strata manager from all claims and losses against them, even if they are negligent, “to the extent permitted by law”.

“It’s appalling that SCA would put such clauses into a contract and encourage their members to use them,’ she told the ABC, adding that she received considerable push-back when she tried to have the clauses altered in the strata scheme where she lives.

“The manager said … we are not to alter them, because we’re members of SCA and therefore we rely on these contracts, and we expect that SCA must have had legal advice to say that these were appropriate clauses,” Ms Weir said.

If Ms Weir’s name is familiar it’s because in 2018, in the wake of London’s Grenfell Fire tragedy, she co-authored the Building Confidence Report with Professor Peter Shergold which was commissioned by Ministers of Australia’s nine jurisdictions.

She was also hugely influential in the development of former Building Commissioner David Chandler’s battle against dodgy developers.

The SCA’s response to the ABC was that its state-based template contracts were intended as a helpful resource only.

“Our members can choose to use these templates, but they are not mandatory,” an SCA spokesperson said. “Ultimately, any contracts are between the client and the company.”

This, however, is not the experience reported by Flat Chat readers who claim strata managers say they are bound by their companies’ practises and they adhere to the SCA contracts or slight variations thereof.

You can read the entire ABC report on this link.

How little has changed in 20 years of one-sided strata management contracts.