IMHO: As soon as I turn my back, it’s strata chaos

As I wrote in my newsletter editorial last week, it can’t be long before the strata managers of NSW pay me not to leave the country.

The last time I took an overseas trip – to Saigon, if you must know – Stephen Brell, CEO of Netstrata, felt compelled to step down as President of SCA-NSW, the strata managers’ professional body.

This was following revelations on the ABC that his company had been by-passing laws requiring them to declare commissions on insurance premiums, by calling them brokerage fees and funnelling them through a wholly owned subsidiary, Strata Insurance Services (SIS).

The problem, which led the state government to fast-track new legislation on transparency and conflicts of interest, was that the often excessive surcharges were ending up in Netstrata’s coffers anyway, representing a huge proportion of the company’s already handsome profits.

Then, as I kicked back in Berlin last week, it all erupted again. A new ABC report alleged that Netstrata has been belatedly slipping old invoices into its client strata schemes’ portals, revealing even greater brokerage fees than anyone had previously realised.

And questions are starting to be raised about their policy of “full delegation” where they take over the running of strata schemes from their owners.

Meanwhile, the NSW Building Minister Anoulack Chanthivong took advantage of my absence to announce the appointment of David Chandler’s successor as Building Commissioner.

Coincidence? I am overseas for another two weeks, during which time I expect the fate of sidelined Strata Commissioner John Minns to be resolved, the new post of Strata Ombudsman to be created and a new law ordering strata managers to divest all their scam-magnet vertical integration investments.

OK, none of those events are likely to occur, by why take a chance? How about I forward my travel plans and you pay me to stay home? 

And don’t worry, in the spirit of corporate opacity, I won’t tell a soul.

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