Strata Converges Everything (like a Black Hole)

Last week I had the privilege of addressing members of the Community Titles Institute of South Australia at their Breakfast Seminar in Adelaide.  And, I was allowed to be a bit more philosophical and expansive than usual.

So, I decided to explore the issue of divergence and convergence in strata and address some old thinking that I believe is holding the development of strata ownership, management and living back.

My simple proposition is that strata is designed, expects and works best when there is more convergence and, as a result, traditional views of owner rights and independence and regulatory support for and adjudicator enforcement of individual and minority rights is unsustainable.

You can see my presentation at my website here.

And some highlights of my presentation and key points include –

• The physical structures in strata are essentially shared things that cannot and do not exist in any independent sense
• Strata owners are not unique (as they are all essentially the same at a macro level) and are continuously replaced
• Strata focuses risk and attention centrally into the strata corporation
• Money paid to strata corporation loses all possessory status for the owners who pay it
• Strata laws are very very similar despite from place to place and type of building to type of building
• Managers and management practices tend to be the same and become samer

And, in the future there will be pressures from the need for transparency of information, action and feedback, the need for more structured strategies, the practical need for stakeholders to co-operate, pressure to reduce energy use and the increasing politicization of strata that all add to the convergent nature (and effects) of strata.

So, all of this leads me to think that –

• Strata’s not a place for loners anymore
• Strata wants and works best when things are shared and people are co-operative
• So strata is counter intuitive to our notions of individualism & independence
• But most stakeholders think the opposite … that individual rights should still prevail and try to uphold those rights
• All of which is unsustainable

If I am right, what’s going to (and what needs to) change?  


Hopefully the stakeholders will change so that strata becomes increasing desirable rather than the opposite occurring and strata becomes the second rate real estate option that people are forced to tolerate.

Francesco …