Lot Owners Forum at NSW Strata Conference

This year the NSW Strata Conference (being held by Strata Community Australia (NSW) - formerly the Institute of Strata Title Management) includes a Lot Owners Forum.

It’s being held on Saturday, 8 October 2011 from 9.30am at the Southee Pavilion at Sydney Showground, Olympic Park, Homebush Bay.

This year the Forum grows from a half to a full day event including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea and entry to the trade exhibition.  The presentations cover Executive Committee Politics, Meetings, CTTT Cases, Defects and Renovations.

You can register here.

So, if you’re a lot owner or committee member, why not join everyone else in a few Saturday’s time?

Francesco …

A Property Lawyer’s View of Strata Title

Strata title is a form of real property so you’d think that it fits conventional notions of property law.  But it doesn’t. And, as strata title law continues to develop and get developed by the people using it, it diverges more and more from conventional property law.

But is this right?  Should it be more like property law?  Or should it be unique?

At the Griffith University 2011 Conference on strata and community title Cathy Sherry presented a paper on a few aspects of this vexed property law question. 

Called ‘A bigger strata footprint: are we aware of the implications?’ the paper argues that strata title divergences from orthodox property law have the potential to cause serious economic and social harm and identifies two of the ways in which strata and community title differ from orthodox property law.

First, strata and community title fragment titles, creating a quasi-feudal form of ownership where too many people have powers of veto over land and where acquisition of title automatically imposes a range of positive and negative obligations on owners.

Second, strata by-laws go beyond the ordinary principle of land regulation to prevent harm to others, controlling private, self- regarding acts.

It’s a well argued and compelling discussion of the issue that I recommend to anyone with a serious interest in the broader socio-political implications of strata title property.

Cathy Sherry is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at UNSW.

Francesco …

NSW Strata Convention 2011

Strata Community Australia (NSW) is holding it’s annual strata conference next month.

This year it’s called ‘Strive for Strata Excellence’ and will be held from Thursday, 6 October to Saturday, 8 October 2011 at Sydney Olympic Park.  SCA NSW says it’s the education and social highlight for the industry each year with speakers from business and industry on optimising your business performance, maximising growth opportunities, increasing client satisfaction and embracing the community.

You can find out more and register here.  And, there’s also sponsorship opportunities.

See you at Olympic Park in October.

Francesco …

Griffith Uni Gets 250 Aussie Strata Thinkers Together

Strata stakeholders get together pretty often (at meetings, seminars, forums, etc) but when they come from all over Australia, covering every stakeholder group to talk and think about the future (and not what happened in the past) it’s worth paying attention.

Well, last week, 250 strata people are doing just that at the Griffith University Strata & Community Title in Australia 2011 Conference in Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Attendees covered owners, committees, managers, developers, government, lawyers, accountants, financiers, insurers, contractors and more.  There were even some international attendees.

And they heard from 70 presenters and discussed policy, practice, development, conflict, legal and economic issues affecting the strata title sector in Australia.  You can find out more about the Conference here.

I’ll post about some of the more intriguing presentations over the next month in case you missed it.

Francesco ….

No More Nuisance Committees in the ACT

I was reading some of the material published by Teys Lawyers recently and learned that in the Australian Capital Territory there's specific rules about how committee members can behave.


Apparently, ACT committees must not cause a 'nuisance' on the strata land or do things that unreasonably affects someone else's use or enjoyment of a unit or common property.  


The rule seems pretty reasonable and sensible.  But it makes me wonder what committee members in the ACT have been doing that means they need such controls.  I'm imagining some pretty disturbing things and wild behavious!


I guess ACT strata owners can now relax a bit more than before.


You can read more about it here.  And, thanks Teys Lawyers for the information.




Francesco ...

Strata Levies Need to be Paid

Since almost all strata corporations rely entirely on strata levies paid by owners, making sure everyone knows what levies are, what they’re for and when they need to be paid is vitally important.

And, there’s a lot of information around about strata levies.

But, it’s very detailed, complicated and hard to understand.  So, the message is not getting through.  What’s needed are more simple explanations like those listed below.

• Virtually every strata corporation raises money each year according to 2 budgets.  An administration or operating budget that covers all day-to-day and recurring expenses and a reserve or capital budget for major works, long term projects and capital replacements.
• Administration or operating money is generally spent completely within each 12 month period so nothing is left at the end.
• Reserve or capital is accumulated each year and spent every few years when major works are needed.  Sometimes it’s used to cover short term cashflow shortages in the administration or operating budgets.
• Strata levies are usually payable monthly or quarterly.
• If strata corporations don’t get all the levies when they’re due then it must delay works and other things, pay suppliers late or use reserve or capital money in the meantime.  And if the arrears continue for more than a year, then the strata corporation will need to cover the shortfall in the next years budgets.
• Every strata owner must pay strata levies (there are no exceptions) and their share is set by a fixed formula in the strata corporation documents.
• If strata owners don’t pay levies on time they typically lose their right to vote at meetings, to nominate for things and to exercise other rights with the strata corporation.
• When levies are more than 1 month overdue strata owners can be sued for the levies, interest on the levies from when they were due and (in most places) all the recovery costs paid by the strata corporation.
• Plus, when there’s overdue levies more work, tension and conflicts arise in the strata corporation than is usual or necessary. 

So, for all these reasons, strata levies need to be paid.

Francesco …

Smoke Gets in Your Strata Eyes

Smoking is getting in my strata eyes (and making me cry).

That’s because there’s been a fresh rush of news and debate about smoking in strata buildings (especially in NSW) and some of the comments are a bit hard to believe.

The most recent is an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2 April 2011 called

Debate fumes as Sydney Apartments Stub out Smoking.

Despite the sensational nature of recent reports, controls on smoking have been around for a long time and things are pretty clear (and not hazy).

In NSW (at least) things work like this -

• Strata laws have always prohibited owners from doing things in the common property or a lot that unreasonably interfere with anyone else’s use of the common property or a lot.  That could conceivably include offensive smoking odours or irritating smoke.
• Strata laws have also always prohibited owners from doing things in their lot that are a ‘nuisance’ to other owner or residents.  Since a legal 'nuisance' includes smoke and smells that always included smoking by-products.
• Since the NSW District Court decision in Salerno’s Case in 2004 (see Casewatch - Salerno v SP 42724) Courts have consistently upheld the validity of extra no-smoking by-laws and enforced them to stop smoking in common areas and inside lots.  So, there’s been no doubt about the validity of such by-laws.
• More recently the Consumer Trader & Tenancy Tribunal has been issuing orders to stop disturbing smoking (whether there’s a by-law or not).

None of this is very surprising since it mirrors other laws restricting smoking in public and other places and society’s views of smoking.  So, it's also hard to imagine that a merit based challenge to any new by-laws strata corporation's introduce prohibiting smoking in strata corporations will get very far. 

So, whilst New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy might say about strata corporations that "The next thing is they'll be banning the drinking of coffee", he should realise that they probably legally can (and might).

But (of course) if that happens, even I’ll protest against it.

So, see you on the median strip with your cigarettes.

Francesco …

Melbourne Wins on Liveability (Again)

In the never ending competition between Melbourne and Sydney, Melbourne wins another round.

The annual survey of world cities Liveability by the Economist Intelligence Unit have just been released and Melbourne claims second place whilst Sydney was in seventh place.

Vancouver topped the list of the world's most liveable cities for the fifth straight year.  The top 10 rankings are as follows.

1. Vancouver, Canada

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Vienna, Austria

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Calgary, Canada

6. Helsinki, Finland

7. Sydney, Australia

8. (equal) Perth, Australia

8. (equal) Adelaide, Australia

10. Auckland, New Zealand

And, interestingly some of the world best know cities are well down the rankings as follows.

16th - Paris

18th - Tokyo

31st - Hong Kong

44th - Los Angeles

53rd - London

56th -  New York

72nd - Beijing

The Economist report says that "Mid-sized cities in developed countries with relatively low population densities tend to score well by having all the cultural and infrastructural benefits on offer with fewer problems related to crime or congestion".  That’s an interesting observation in the context of increasing densities in almost all cities and a warning that those increases need to be managed carefully to preserve liveability.

Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, was the worst rated city just below the Bangladesh, capital of Dhaka.

The Economist Intelligence Unit survey ranks cities based on 30 factors such as healthcare, culture and environment, and education and personal safety.

So, congratulations Melbourne.  


At least Sydney beat Adelaide and Perth (but only just).

Francesco …

NCTI has some News

I’ve blogged about the National Community Titles Institute before and now NCTI’s latest Newsletter - the National Strata Voice is out now.

It’s got a range of usual features, information about the recent floods in Queensland, plus a special report on NCTI’s work to integrate of all Australian strata groups into a single national organisation.  It’s an exciting development that’s worth following as it unfolds.

If you’re not an NCTI member you can get a copy at its website here but why not join NCTI by being a member of one of it’s member organisations too.

Those groups are (by state) –

In Queensland – CTIQ (Community Titles Institute of Queensland)

In New South Wales – ISTM (Institute of Strata Titles Management)

In Victoria – OCV (Owners Corporations Victoria)

In the Australian Capital Territory – SMIACT (Strata Management Institute of ACT)

In South Australia – CTISA (Community Titles Institute of South Australia)

In Western Australia – STIWA (Strata Titles Institute of Western Australia)

This edition of the National Strata Voice includes a report from NCTI President, Matt Amber, about the increasing importance role of the national body in light of recent natural events and the Executive Officer, Mark Lever’s covers recent natural disasters and how they specifically affect strata and community titled properties.


Francesco …

Australian Strata Managers R Rated

Not sure which strata manager is better (or worse) than another? 

Don’t know who to ask? 

Not sure where to look for advice and recommendations?

Confused?

It’s a real problem because there’s not many sources of information of any kind (reliable or otherwise).

But, I’ve found a site that at least makes an unbiased attempt at it.

Product Review is a website that allows consumers to rate and comment on suppliers, and it has a section on strata managers.

So, have a look!

There’s 72 entries from all over Australia rated from five to zero stars. 

Some have only a few ratings and others as many as 19 or 20 comments.  Some more and some less flattering.

Regardless of what you think, this kind of consumer rating site is not going away and will be (like Trip Advisor, etc) be the way many people try to decide who to use in the future.

So, if you’re a manager – have a look at what people are saying about you (or your competitors).  And, if you’re a lot owner – have a look, give a rating and make a comment.

Francesco …

All the Australian Strata Lawyers in One Place

Later this week all the leading Australian strata lawyers will be in Sydney.

Why?  Because the Australia College of Community Association Lawyers is holding its 6^th Annual Conference at the Marriott Hotel in Sydney.

The Australia College of Community Association Lawyers is a non-profit group established in 2006 to bring together lawyers specialising in strata & community title law in Australia. Today is has over 80 members from around the country and participates in the national debate on important strata issues.

This year’s Annual Conference runs on 10 and 11 March and features presentations covering -

• Management Rights – what works and doesn’t
• Solutions for Justice – in strata disputes
• Impacts of the Unfair Contracts Act – in high density real estate
• Community Title Laws – overviewed for NSW
• Case Updates - for NSW, Queensland, Victora and Western Australia
• Lot Entitlements – compared around Australia
• Developers Fiduciary Obligations – where the law is heading

ACCAL is another great organisation that’s improving things in strata.  

And, their conference is one of the more academic gatherings in Australian strata.  

So why not attend?  

You can contact the ACCAL General Manager, Nina Psaltis, to find out more and to book on 617 3848 2328 or at ninap@bigpond.net.au.

See you amongst the lawyers later this week.

Francesco  …

Strata Challenges: Getting Meeting Quorums

In this edition from my series of blog posts on Strata Challenges … let’s consider the problem getting meeting quorums of owners.

Even though in many parts of Australia quorums need only 25% of the financial owners and that can include proxies, larger strata schemes often struggle to get quorums.  So, getting quorums at owners meetings is a strata challenge.

Without a quorum the meeting cannot validly proceed and a quorum must remain throughout the meeting for valid decisions.  The meeting has to be rescheduled when there isn’t a quorum (usually with further written notice) and lower quorum limits then apply.  In some cases decisions at no quorum meetings are interim only, needing further notice and time to become effective and can be challenged by non-attending owners.

Quorum problems not only delay decisions, they mean that owners don’t properly participate in decision-making and strata corporation operating costs increase.

But quorum problems have existed since the first strata meeting and exist throughout the world.

So, what do you do?

I think that there are many logistic and strategic solutions to fix (or at least improve) quorums including the following (in summary).

• Hold the meeting at the location that is most convenient to the owners attending. That’s not always the strata building since in many building half (or more) of the owners don’t live there. Sometimes, it’s the strata manager’s or caretaker’s office, or it could be another venue that’s close to transport and parking.
• Educate owners continuously about why they should attend and participate in meetings. Explaining the benefits of attending and that it makes sense to spend an hour two at the meeting, given the value of their investment.
• Like the meeting location, the timing of meetings can help (or hurt) achieve quorums.  Since there are generally no restrictions on timing; they could be on weekdays, weekends or holidays, at 8.00 am, during business hours or in the evening.
• Why not incentivize owners to attend meetings by offering prizes and rewards for attending (like door prizes, raffles, some extra’s from the strata corporation, etc) to be won by attendees and put on light refreshments (coffee, tea, water, cool drinks, mints, biscuits, etc).
• Make sure everyone has enough notice of the meeting get there or organise a proxy. Just because the law only requires 7 days notice, it better to try to issue meeting notices as far ahead of the meeting as possible – 4, 6 or 8 weeks is not too early.
• If you can’t incentivise owners to attend meetings maybe you can scare them into doing so by telling owners the home truths bout strata meetings and making sure there’s a controversial, difficult or challenging issue on the meeting agenda to spark interest, opposition and debate (perhaps the proverbial special levy)?
• Encourage and help owners organize proxies to help achieve quorums by making it easier and offering more options.
• Since not every strata owner uses English as his or her first language, provide documents in appropriate languages generally or on demand and arrange translators for the meeting.
• Try some unexpected things like live video links, conferencing and chat rooms from the meeting, electronic polling to get owners views on issues before voting, have a strata meeting jackpot, organize a
• strata comedian to meetings to entertain owners with funny (but real and educational) anecdotes and jokes, rate buildings by owner participation levels, and have a frequent meeting attendees programme with prizes.

These solutions are just extracts from my short article Strata Challenge article "Getting Meeting Quorums" that you can find on my website.  There I’ve suggested more than 40 things you could do.  Some simple, some fun, some conservative and others more challenging. 

I know they’re not all easy but that’s not the point.  Easy is for everyone else.

Getting it right and making things better takes effort – otherwise it wouldn’t be a Strata Challenge.

And, remember I’ll be taking on more Strata Challenges in future blog posts which may help you too.

So, give me another Strata Challenge to resolve.

Francesco …

All about CTIQ

The Community Titles Institute of Queensland is a non-profit group for body corporate and community title management in Queensland.

Membership includes body corporate managers, support staff, committee members and suppliers of products and services to the industry.


The CTIQ in conjunction with industry stakeholders and various educational institutions is endeavouring to lift the profile of the industry by law reform, education and training.  And, CTIQ offers professional development seminars and networking opportunities for all members state wide, as well as monthly Bulletins and quarterly journals to keep the members updated on current issues.

And, CTIQ has a Facebook Page here you can be friends with too.

CTIQ is one more great organisation that’s working to improve things in strata.

So, if you’re involved in Queensland strata join CTIQ.  I did.

See you in Queensland soon, where it’s beautiful one day and perfect the next.

Francesco …

Another Australian Strata Conference

Later this year in Queensland's Gold Coast, leading strata thinkers will get together again for 3 days to explore some of the more challenging issues facing their sector.


That's because Griffith University is hosting their 4th Strata and Community Title in Australia for the 21st Century 2011 Conference at the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa between 7-9 September 2011.


Like their Conferences in 2005, 2007 and 2009, this year there will be many presentations, debates and forums covering topics like -

• A SWOT analysis of strata titling 50 years after its inception in Australia
• Strata title complex design: 3 case studies examining what should have been done differently
• Building a better partnership between the executive committee and the strata manager
• Strategies for local authorities better performing their strata title gate-keeping role
• How well is legislation keeping up with evolving owner needs?
• Are purchasers sufficiently protected in the strata title unit sale process?
• An examination of government run strata title mediation and dispute resolution
• When does a Long Term Service, Utility or Management Contract work well?
• Law reform round-up
• Law, Power and Practice in Multi-Owned housing: The International Experience
• Banks and strata titling: activities, impacts and evolving opportunities
• Strata title complex disaster management
• Strata title in the next 50 years: problem solutions and towards an action plan

You can find out more, get the program and register at the Conference website.

If you're interested in strata make sure you're at this conference.  I will be.

See you in Queensland in September.

Francesco ...

Urban Planning Goes National

In December 2010, the Australian government released Our Cities - building a productive, sustainable and liveable future, a discussion paper which sets out the framework for a national approach to urban development and the challenges that must be addressed for Australian cities to become more productive, sustainable and liveable.

It’s planned that a new National Urban Policy will be released in 2011 and the Our Cities framework is open for public comment until 1 March 2011.

The National Urban Policy will be focused on the following things.

Achieving the Australian government’s aspirations for realising the productive capacity of cities by supporting long-term and strategic planning in conjunction with the State, Territories and Local Government, the private sector and communities, and investing in quality, efficient infrastructure including transport, communications and smart infrastructure in terms of which critical infrastructure corridors, sites and buffers will be provided.

Improve sustainability by encouraging planning and development of more energy efficient, low carbon urban forms of transport and a sustainable transport system; encouraging investment and innovation in renewable energy; leading regulator reforms for more efficient use of resources including energy and water; establishing sustainability standards for buildings and infrastructure;  providing national data and best practice examples for resource consumption reduction and for managing risks such as climate change and security of water, energy and food; supporting updated and nationally consistent design standards and performance criteria to reflect the need to adapt to climate change; and investing in sustainable technology and smart infrastructure.

Improving livability by requiring future integrated long-term (15-30 year) strategic plans for capital cities, supported by medium (5-15 year) prioritised infrastructure and land-use plans. Additionally, the Australian government will link government investments to planning systems for the design of liveable cities, pursue regulatory reform to deliver secure, appropriate and affordable housing, and foster urban planning and design of the built form to encourage active lifestyles and social interaction while reducing dependence on motor vehicles in urban areas.

Reform urban planning operation and governance by working with COAG to create less ‘cumbersome’ administrative processes to minimise time and costs for proponent and administrative bodies, while still having regard to the need for community consultation. And, possible amalgamation of local councils areas to create larger entities that can plan, finance and coordinate larger population areas, and achieve greater economies of scale in service delivery and asset management.

This is happening in the following context –

• the Australian government’s State of Australian Cities 2010 report which points to challenges from population ageing; population growth; and climate change and the environment
• the 2010 Intergenerational Report which states that Australia’s population will grow from 22 million today to 36 million by 2020
• the National Housing Supply Council’s State of Supply 2010 report, which estimates that this will create a need for 3.2 million additional homes by 2029 and there is likely to be a shortfall of 640,000 dwellings if the market fails to respond
• the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE 2007), which estimates that the avoidable cost of road congestion is in excess of $10 million per annum which will continue to rise to $20 billion per year under a ‘business as usual scenario’.
• with regard to climate change and the environment, Our Cities notes that growing urban populations place pressure on land, water and energy while increasing waste. It also acknowledged that Australia’s cities, including their housing and infrastructure are at risk from climate change including through higher temperatures, changed rainfall patterns, increased storm events and rising sea levels. Climate change impacts on infrastructure alone could reduce GNP by 1.2% by 2050 and by 2.4% by 2100.

Australian National Urban Policy complements the government’s Sustainable Population Strategy, which will also be released in 2011, and builds on the 2009 COAG agreement on cities reforms. The COAG agreement requires that by 2012, Australian States and Territories have in place capital city planning systems that are consistent with agreed criteria. The National Urban Policy will apply to 18 Australian cities with populations of over 100,000 people.

So, it’s clear from this latest initiative and the COAG agreement that the Australian government will be playing a greater role in directing the future profile of cities with respect to the built environment, housing, infrastructure, transport, sustainability, and the resilience of cities to climate change. Major streamlining of State and Local Government planning and assessment processes is also likely.

Medium and high density is a critical part of this debate so make sure you’re experience, views and preferences are heard and make a submission.

Francesco …