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Members of my strata committee have been impressed by the OCN’s recent webinars and their professional approach to advocacy for strata communities. AFAIK there is no strata network group in Tasmania yet. We have nowhere near the development of strata communities here compared with the larger states, but this sector will expand over time as more medium density developments come online.
We are wondering if the OCN has capacity to represent the smaller states with their different legislations i.e. to provide useful advice on our local issues and to step up to advocate for our strata communities if required. Do their proforma by-laws offer variations adapted to the different states?
Does anyone have advice for us on whether a similar body is emerging in Tasmania, or whether we should simply join OCN and try them out?
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Hi LovetheView,
I have trained all over Australia and I can tell you that what we do is the same here and worldwide, we face the same challenges. The requirements of legislation vary in each state, with some being very prescriptive and others being very vague. Whatever you have got is the minimum standard, the minimum operating procedure and the minimum governance, so you can definitely learn from others.
I am in Victoria, and I constantly refer to Qld or NSW as a guide on how to proceed. For example, in Qld the body corporate can set the major spending limit by ordinary resolution at a general meeting. There is no minimum or maximum amount that can be set. If no amount is set, the limit is the lesser of either:
- $1,100 multiplied by the number of lots in the scheme. or
- $10,000.
For example, the limit for a body corporate with 5 lots would be $5,500 ($1,100 x 5 lots), as this amount is less than $10,000.
In a 15 lot scheme the limit would be $10,000, because it is less than $16,500 ($1,100 x 15 lots).
Note: it does not prevent the body corporate or the committee from spending more than the major spending limit—it just requires 2 quotes to be considered.
In Victoria a committee can spend up to twice the annual budget – which can be a scary amount with no requirement for quotes by the committee! So, we could use the interstate experience and implement a spending delegation. So, this provides some good procurement governance that is absent from Victorian legislation.
So, you will definitely get value from being a member of OCN. You will have an opportunity to network with others who have already gone through an issue that you might be facing, learn the good and bad parts of legislation, hear about useful resources.
OCNA (Owners Corporation Network Australia) has a strategic plan to expand to support owners Australia wide. It will take time to get to Tassie but it’s coming!
To give just one example of how the OCN might benefit Tasmania: The Tasmanian government has chosen to not endorse a new section of the National Construction Code that requires all new class 2 buildings (apartment blocks) to meet a minimum standard of ‘EV readiness’ such as set aside and labelled space in distribution boards and cable trays in the parking area etc. The OCN in NSW has some excellent resources on EV charging in strata.
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