New Years Strata Resolutions

There are many traditions for New Years Eve around the world.

Some of my favourites include –

• In South America, where "Ano Viejo" is celebrated by creating a fake person or dummy (completely dressed and stuffed with old newspapers and firecrackers) and at midnight each family lights the dummy on fire. 
• In Greece, where St. Basil fills the children's shoes with presents at midnight.
• In Denmark where it is a good sign to find your door littered with a pile of broken dishes at New Years and old dishes are saved all year to throw them at the homes where their friends live on New Year's Eve.
• And, in Nepal there is a four day parade during the New Year celebration.

But, the most famous western tradition is to make New Years resolutions promising to be better and/or to do better things.

So, what kind of New Years resolutions would a strata scheme make since they don’t need to lose weight or quit smoking?

Here’s a few ideas …

• To catch up on unfinished business like delayed owners works approvals.
• To resolve those long running disputes between the scheme and owners in a fair and balanced way.
• To make sure all outstanding or overdue certifications, lodgement and compliance forms are completed and lodged.
• To chase up the outstanding levies and get the strata schemes cashflow in order.
• To pay all those overdue accounts.
• To get all the tings in the common property that need repair fixed.
• To make a proper assessment of what long term works are needed and what it will take to fund them.
• To update owners on what’s really happening in the strata scheme.
• To get the AGM held on time (finally).
• To get a new and better (choose the service provider you’re unhappy with)

So, let’s make some New Year Strata resolutions and make them happen in 2011.

Francesco …

Put down that Wine Glass … we need to review South Australia Strata Laws

I’m a big fan of South Australia as it has so much going for it .. hot dry weather (I hate humidity), no bad traffic (which is good for cycling), great food and wine and nice people (self explanatory).

But we can’t just lounge about enjoying their fine riesling and shiraz without doing some work from time to time … and now that work is to make sure the changes to South Australian strata laws get done properly.

The changes have been announced by SA Attorney General, John Rau, who said that draft legislation which will be introduced to SA State Parliament next year and that public comment is being sought on the changes.

He also said that the changes would include –

• restrictions on who could be a strata manager
• giving owners the right to terminate manager contracts at any time
• compulsory professional indemnity insurance for strata managers
• rights to revoke proxies at any time
• limiting proxy life to 12 months
• better disclosures of conflicts of interest
• provisions for co-insurance of some or all of the buildings in a community scheme

So, let’s watch out for the draft legislation and make some (helpful) comments.

And, see you at an SA winery with a copy of the Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA) getting up to speed.

Francesco …

Kids Crash the Strata Party

Like it or not kids are part of strata and we need to make sure they are provided for (like every other strata stakeholder group).

We often only think about kids in strata schemes as problems to be managed by their parents to make sure that they don’t disturb others' peace and quiet and so that they are safe on the common property from typical dangers like hurting themselves on play equipment, drowning in pools or getting run over by cars.

But there are more sinister and unexpected dangers for small children that are much harder to manage.

One of them is small children falling out of windows through flyscreens.

During 2010 more than 16 NSW children were rushed to hospital after falling out of apartment windows.  In some cases the injuries these children suffered have been life threatening and/or caused permanent injuries.  And, the children range in age from 18 months to 10 years.

So, how does it happen?

Well often apartment windows are above or near cots, beds and other low furniture that children can climb on when not supervised.  And when the window is left open it suddenly becomes a risk area.  But, because flyscreens look more secure to children than they are and because young children do not perceive risks the way adults do, they lean against the flyscreens and/or rely on the screens for support or stability.  So, when the screens give way they fall through the window.

From almost any height this is a serious fall when you're a kid.

So a few people and organisations are raising awareness of the problem ... well done guys!

Cathy Sherry, UNSW Law Lecturer has given presentations on the topic to raise awareness of the legal risks to strata schemes, committees and managers when these risks are not managed and injuries occur.

Westmead Hospital is working to raise awareness of the problem for parents and others in charge of small children to help minimise the risk since they often have to treat the injured children.

And, NSW Health Department has launched a windows and balconies falls prevention advertising campaign too.

And, industry peak bodies like ISTM and NCTI are behind measures to improve things.

What can be done to reduce or eliminate the risk ?

1.  Keep windows locked shut where children can access them unsupervised. 

2.  Install window limiting devices that prevent windows from opening wider than a child’s head so a child cannot get or fall through it.

3.  Make sure childrens’ beds and cots are not located below windows.

4.  Keep low furniture and/or things that can be climbed on away from windows or in rooms with unsupervised small children.

I know it’s not going to be easy to do things inside lots to make strata schemes safer for small kids … but c’mon this problem has to be worth the extra effort.  After all these kids are truly innocent victims.

So, let’s spread the word about the dangers in apartments for small children and how they can be eliminated by installing locks and window limiters.

Francesco … 

Victorian Strata Laws get Tuned Up

In 2007 Victorians experienced the biggest changes in strata laws they had experienced in more than 30 years … and there were many changes.

But, like everything that’s completely new it sometimes needs some tinkering to get it working right.  And, that’s about to happen in Victoria as the Owners Corporations ct 2006 gets a tune up.

From 1 January 2011 a range of changes to Victorian strata laws come into force under the Consumer Affairs Legislation Amendment Act 2010 and the Consumer Affairs Legislation Amendment (Reform) Act 2010.

There are 2 starting dates for the changes: 1 January 2011 and 1 September 2011


In the first stage changes the new laws -

• simplify witnessing the use of the seal for owners corporation certificates, allowing the registered manager or the chairperson to witness its use 
• empowers VCAT to award a much broader range of costs to owners corporations and lot owners in disputes around arrears of fees
• clarifies that only lot owners can appoint a proxy to represent them on the owners corporation committee
• standardises the infringements framework in consumer acts, by providing a power to authorised officers (an inspector, a member of the police force or a person authorised in writing by the Director of CAV) to serve infringement notices

In second stage changes the new laws - 

• clarify that delegations to committees can be made by instrument or by resolution
• clarify that delegations must be made at general meetings and committee delegations end at the next AGM
• provides that owners corporations without valid delegations before 1 September 2011 can ratify earlier decisions

You can find out more at Consumer Affairs Victoria

And if that’s not enough CAV also plans to launch a complete review of the new laws in 2011 to examine their impacts on owners corporations and what more should be done in consultation with owners, strata schemes. Managers, industry groups and other stakeholders.

Francesco …

Boxing Day & the Strata Sales Begin

What the hell is Boxing Day for ?


My research suggests that no-one knows but a few theories include -

• It is named after Mr Boxing, a golden gloves winner in his teens who later turned politician and who tragically died in a horse and carriage accident
• It is based on a tradition of giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions usually in boxes
• It is based on traditional practice of placing metal boxes outside churches to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen
• It is based on a nineteenth-century Victorian custom for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts on the day after Christmas in return for good and reliable service throughout the year
• It is based on an old English tradition that in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food)
• It is based on the practice, from the 1800s, when churches opened their alms boxes (boxes where people place monetary donations) and distributed the contents to the poor

These days it's about shopping with sales starting early in the morning and crowds pushing at the shopfront to get in and grab a bargain.


So what strata bargains are shoppers looking for this year ?

• They could probably find some recycled by-laws for sale cheaply by a few law firms
• There's more than a few strata managers offering low management fees (or to beat the competition) to get appointed
• A builder or two might offer you a quick settlement on your defects if you're prepared to bargain hard and take a discount
• What about shopping around for the cheapest insurance valuation update you can find  
• Or, keep looking for the cheapest deal around on sinking or capital funding forecasts
• And, of course, you can almost certainly find an even cheaper cleaning contractor to "clean" your building

But, I suppose strata shopping is like all bargain hunting ... you could easily end up buying something that you don't really need, that doesn't quite fit you or just wont last as long as you needed it to (even though you saved a bit of money).


So, make sure when you're strata shopping (whether on Boxing Day or not) that you buy what you actually want, that it suits your needs and that you buy the best quality you can afford within your budget.


See you at the sales and hands off those shoes ... they're mine !




Francesco ...

The Twelve (Strata) Days of Christmas

Sing along with me ...

On the first day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... a new strata manager under a compulsory appointment

On the second day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 2 notices to comply with by-laws

On the third day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 3 office bearers

On the fourth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 4 quarterly levies

On the fifth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 5 legal actions

On the sixth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 6 owners complaining

On the seventh day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 7 sewer stacks overflowing

On the eighth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ...  8 tradesmen parked in visitor spaces

On the ninth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... ... 9 committee members  

On the tenth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 10 percent GST on levies 

On the eleveth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me … 11 un-financial owners

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my strata love gave to me ... 12 proxies for the AGM,

And all together now … On the twelve days of Christmas, my strata love gave to me - 12 proxies for the AGM, 11 un-financial owners, 10 percent GST on levies, 9 committee members, 8 tradesmen parked in visitor spaces, 7 sewer stacks overflowing, 6 owners complaining, 5 legal actions, 4 quarterly levies, 3 office bearers, 2 notices to comply with by-laws and a new strata manager under a compulsory appointment !!!

Enjoy the festive season.

Francesco …

Xmas Message from the Strata Blogger

Before you head off to your families and friends for present giving and receiving, turkey basting, stuffing and eating,  craker-jack pulling, and imbibing some Christmas spirits, I’d like to give you my Christmas message.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me during 2010 … it has been a great source of strength for me.   All my best wishes and hopes for success and happiness to everyone who has and is suffering loss and tragedy or enduring challenges.  I hope everyone gets to spend time with the people and animals they love (and who love them) over the Christmas season and reflect on what is important.  And, may all your wishes and hopes come true.

Now, here’s a more traditional version from our Queen back from 1957 (when television was just beginning and we were all a lot younger).

Merry Xmas.

Francesco ….

Is that Reindeer in the Building ?

As Christmas Day approaches I've been thinking about the conflicts between strata by-laws and our favourite Christmas traditions.

It’s a real concern to the merry people of the Yuletide when you consider the following potential problems.

• There’s no way that Santa has permission to park his sleigh on the common property.  It’s too big and will block at least one exit.
• Plus, reindeer are not permitted in the common property or lots with prior written approval.
• If Santa tries to come down the chimney (although he won’t usually find one) he will almost certainly be breach fire safety laws by leaving fire exits open.
• The Christmas lights we all want to strew over our houses are unapproved attachments to the common property and out of keeping with the appearance of the building.
• And, those singing carollers are not only breaching the noise and peaceful enjoyment by-laws but when they’re children are playing on  common property unsupervised.
• Finally all that used wrapping paper and empty gift boxes needs to go into the proper recycling receptacles.

So, hopefully your strata scheme isn’t run by Scrooge … otherwise there’ll be a lot of bylaw breaching going on this weekend.

Bah Humbug !!!

Francesco …

More NSW Strata Research revealed

Throughout 2010 I’ve been blogging about the ARC Grant research project being undertaken by City Futures at UNSW - Gorverning the Compact City.

Well, the latest release of their research results has now occurred and can be viewed at their project website here.

It includes some fascinating visual representations of the data they've collected overlaid on Google Maps and word balloons of executive committee feedback.

And, in related news I’ll be working with City Futures in 2011 on this and other exciting projects in one of my new roles.

So, keep any eye on the clever people at City Futures in 2011.

Francesco … 

How Many Lawyers Does it Take to Fix a Strata Problem ???

You know the age old joke format ...

Question:  How many (insert stereotyped group) does it take to (insert simple problem) ?

Answer:  {Pick a surprisingly high number) of the stereotyped group,  most of whom do nothing useful and one who does.

And, it’s tempting make up a few jokes like this about lawyers in strata title. 

It’s actually unfair since lawyers play an important role in strata title because of the complex legal issues that often arise and the specialised knowledge they need to give useful advice.

So seriously how many strata lawyers do you think there are in NSW … 10, 25, 50, 100 or more ?

And, how many strata lawyers does NSW need … more, that number or less ?

I don’t know the answer to either question but can tell you that there are at least 20 law firms that specialise in strata title work and that there’s one l lawyer or more working at most of them. 

So, maybe there’s 60 lawyers doing strata work in NSW and if they’re each working full time then together they are spending 72,000 billable hours on strata title matters each year.  From a money perspective, if they are each charging an average of $275 per hour that’s total charges of $19.8 million annually for legal services in NSW (or more).

If you consider that the CTTT reports indicate that there are only about 1500 disputes there per year and there are no more than 50 reported cases in superior courts – that’s 25 strata disputes each and less than one superior court case each.  That doesn’t seem enough work to keep a lawyer busy for a whole year so they must be doing other stuff.

On the other hand, if you think about the number of strata schemes or lots in NSW that’s one lawyer for every thousand strata schemes or one lawyer for every 10, o0o lots.  And, that doesn’t seem enough to cover their (real) legal needs each year.

And, finally, it means that each strata scheme is (on average) spending $310 per per year or $35 per lot per year on lawyers.  And, that sounds like a bargain.

So, who knows whether 60 lawyers in 20 law firms working for strata schemes and owners is enough, just right or too many.  What do you think ?

Either way here’s the list of firms that I know of in NSW who call themselves strata lawyers  (in alphabetical order).

Adams & Partners Lawyers

Alex Ilkin & Co 

Bannermans, Lawyers

Bob Browne – No website

Curwoods Lawyers

David Le Page

Dobes & Andrews – No Website

Doyle Edwards Anderson Lawyers

EH Tebbutt & Sons  

Grace, Lawyers

Jane Crittenden

JS Mueller & Co

LAC Lawyers

Makinson & d’Apice

McCooe Raves & Poole – no website

McCulloch & Buggy

Mills Oakley

Peter Murphy & Associates

Phillippa Russell, Solicitor

Stephen Goddard & Co

Suzie Broome & Company – No website

Teys Strata Lawyers

If you know of any law firms that I’ve missed please let me know so I can add them to this blog.

And, now to finish today’s blog I can’t resist an extract from a famous old play where two characters are discussing political strategies  …

All:        God save your majesty!

Cade:    I thank you, good people—there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score, and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord.

Dick:     The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

Cade:    Nay, that I mean to do.

Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4, scene 2, 71–78

Francesco ….

Two Hemispheres of Strata Unite

It’s often said that wherever you go in the world high density building living, ownership and management is uncannily similar. 

And, it very true.  Shared ownership of a high rise building can only be done in a few ways and the operational, personal, financial and physical things that need handling are no different in Dehli, London, New York or Sydney.

Well some recent news from the USA demonstrates how those similarities are allowing connections to develop between managers, owners, executives and other strata stakeholders.

The Community Associations Institute has

formed its 60^th Chapter in South Africa in partnership with South Africa’s Association of Residential Communities help develop standards for community management within the country.  The collaboration will create a delivery channel for CAI’s popular educational courses, as well as give members of the South Africa chapter the opportunity to earn CAI designations and NBC-CAM’s Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) credential.

The Association of Residential Communities  was established in Gauteng, South Africa, and proactively supports the members of homeowners associations and bodies corporate as well as their management teams in the achievement of their vision to protect, maintain and enhance the value of the property as well as the lives and lifestyles of their residents.

The expansion of CAI’s work to other parts of the world is a strategy that was adopted at its 2010 Annual Conference and Exposition in May, where CAI hosted more than 50 international members (amongst the 1,700-plus conference participants) and the CAI Board of Trustees formalised its commitment to further develop CAI’s global relationships by unanimously passing a resolution to “expand international reach and pursue the acceptance of best practices and professionalism.”

CAI has also teamed up with the Dubai Real Estate Institute (DREI) to present two courses in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

CAI is a 30,000-member, national association dedicated to fostering successful community associations. Working in partnership with almost 60 state and regional chapters, CAI provides information, education and resources to associations and the professionals who support them. Its mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship, ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit www.caionline.org or call (888) 224-4321.

A more detailed press release from CAI is here.

So, let’s go global with strata and strata activities.

Francesco …

Sunset over Brisbane

Brisbane is a nice place.

And, here's a stunning video of the sun setting over Brisbane to make the weekend even more enjoyable.



It's by Richocam and the YouTube link is here.

So enjoy it.


Francesco ...

Historic Home becomes High Rise

It’s the perennial Sydney metropolitan development debate and it goes something like this …

• We all agree that existing low density areas should be redeveloped into high density living to stop urban sprawl and better use existing social infrastructure
• So, houses in areas near railway stations, other transport nodes, schools, hospitals, etc should be demolished for apartments
• But when a developer finds a large house and tries there’s a good reason why it should not happen like – it’s historic, it’s the only one of it’s kind left in the area, there’s a beautiful tree there that everyone likes, I remember it from my childhood, where will the boy and girl scouts meet, etc, etc.

So, redevelopment has to go somewhere else.

It happens all the time as this recent Burwood example shows.

Tilba is a 1900’s Burwood mansion that is to be demolished to build a 3 storey apartment block with 24 units and 38 basement car parking spaces. Tibla is on a 1650-square-metre block, was restored by its previous owners and sold in November 2009 for a record $2.8 million.  But it’s also on Liverpool Road, which is a busy major arterial road.

And, that’s an area that is zoned for for medium density housing. 

Since Tilba was not on the council's heritage list, last minute intervention by the Planning Minister delayed things.  But when the Heritage Council ruled that the house house did not have state heritage significance and the development complied with all planning laws, it was approved by a majority vote at a council meeting.

Residents claim Tibla should have been protected for its historical value, but the most recent comprehensive heritage study undertaken by Burwood Council was in 1986 and Tilba was not included.  It’s been suggested Burwood Council, like many cash-strapped councils, had neglected their local heritage lists leaving thousands of dwellings unprotected.

But we can’t preserve every historic house and redevelop Sydney, we have to make sacrifices where the location and/or property does not warrant it and otherwise we need to create a new heritage with high quality development to replace high quality older buildings.  After all, its not just old buildings that have architectural and will have heritage value (think of the Opera House).

So, see you at the next historic house demolition party.

Francesco …