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ABC News
4 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Cancer sufferer's quest for hardship payment plan highlights issues with ACT's strata management system
Amalia Vatavalis was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer when her mother died from a brain tumour in April. In the weeks leading up to her mother's death, the small Canberra business owner struggled to balance everything on her plate, including keeping on top of her bills. "I was trying to balance the chemo, my treatment out with her care, as well having to run a business and work just to pay the bills — it was a lot," she said. She tried to organise a payment plan to keep up with the fees but unlike over the border in New South Wales, the ACT strata system does not allow for hardship provisions for people struggling to pay their strata fees. Her experience highlights issues with the ACT's strata system, issues that are likely to impact more people in the future, with about one in five Canberrans now living in apartments or units. Earlier this month, a Legislative Assembly inquiry into the management of strata properties heard half of all forced bankruptcies in the ACT last financial year were a result of strata companies seeking money from unit owners. After surviving seizures caused by her brain tumour, Ms Vatavalis's mother, Connie, was in "great spirits". So, it came as a shock to Ms Vatavalis when her mum suddenly took a turn and died. "All I could do was cry. I've got one of her pillows, I just wanted to hug it." Feeling overwhelmed, Ms Vatavalis spoke to her home and car loan providers about hardship payment plans, and she said they were accommodating and understood her situation. "I rang my bank. I said, 'I just can't do it, my mum has just passed, I'm overwhelmed', and they were so understanding, they put my mortgage payments on break for a couple of months, which was so lovely," she said. But when it came to trying to set up a payment plan for her body corporate fees for her apartment, she couldn't reach an agreement with her strata manager. "I contacted the strata manager so many times by phone, left messages, they were never available to talk, never got back to me. I emailed them asking [them] to get back to me," she said. "They tell you to do something and it's their way or the highway, there's just no negotiation and that's what I found absolutely abhorrent. Ms Vatavalis eventually had to appear before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal over her unpaid strata fees and was ordered to pay them back. She said the ACT government needed to change legislation to ensure people struggling to pay their strata fees could access payment plans, similar to those for home loans, insurance and energy bills. The ACT Strata Community Association (SCA) said it was "not opposed" to a framework which would allow for hardship provisions, however it stressed the importance of paying strata levies. "This money goes towards things that are absolutely essential like insurance of the building," SCA CEO Chris Miller said. "There's a statutory obligation to insure the building that's not something they can opt out of, and critical systems supporting life and property, fire systems, CO2 extraction from basements. Mr Miller also defended a strata manager's role in the process when unit owners who have struggled to pay fees have had their requests for payment plans knocked back. "The strata manger is simply an agent for the owners corporation and these matters are determined and decided by the corporation," Mr Miller said. The SCA did however recognise a need for higher standards and mandatory qualifications for strata managers in the ACT, and called for changes to the current set-up. "Strata managers, and potentially assistant strata managers, engaging with customers, doing work on behalf of owners corporations, there should be a requirement for minimum qualifications and ongoing professional development in those roles," Mr Miller said. "Presently in the ACT the only requirement is for the principal of the strata business to have a minimum qualification and an ongoing licence and professional development, we think that should extend to a broader collection of operators in strata management."
Daily Telegraph
25-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Telegraph
Homebuyers hit with massive fee rise
OPINION Inspection of strata records is crucial to enable prospective owners to glean information about the scheme before they buy their apartment. However from July 1 these inspection fees are almost doubling in price. Amid huge affordability issues, no reason has been given for the outrageous increase, albeit the first in nine years. It is all the more of an odd decision by Anoulack Chanthivong, the Better Regulation and Fair Trading Minister, given structural, waterproofing and fire safety defects wreak havoc across as much as half of NSW's strata buildings. MORE: Why most Aussies are using their heaters wrong Transparency, accountability and increased engagement are vital to ensure home buyers don't naively buy into a strata nightmare. The fees for inspecting strata records online or in person will increase from $31 to $60 for the first hour, and from $16 to $30 for each half-hour after the first hour. The increase will apply to prospective buyers of apartments, townhouses and villas. Fees will stay the same for current owners. It is strata managers under the watch of the strata committee who are responsible for making and keeping all the records. They must keep all financial records and statements for at least seven years. Likewise they must keep a record of all communications sent and received by the strata committee and owners corporation for seven years along with meetings records. MORE: Aus pub's $500m collapse, staff owed $7m Since June last year, records strata schemes are required to keep must be stored electronically. The recently unveiled batch of new strata laws and fees also require electronic access to records to be through secured means. Current owners must authorise prospective buyers to see the strata roll, financial records and other records by contacting the strata committee or strata manager. These potential owners – or more likely hired strata searchers – face a costlier exercise to inspect a strata scheme's records ahead of purchase. Pre-purchase reports all mount up especially if the buyers miss out at auction, with no reform attempt since the former Kiama MP Matt Brown unsuccessfully sought to reduce the costs incurred about 15 years ago. Back then Brown noted the typical strata report cost was $300 to $350. These days buyers typically pay up to $299 for reports on strata schemes of less than 100 lots, and this jumps higher per report for even bigger strata schemes. MORE: Huge promise Hemsworths made about Byron Bay There is also a shared marketplace using a share cost model that is seeing reduced costs for pre-purchase reports for the buyers as low as $89. And some innovative estate agencies make a prepared online strata report readily available to buyers. It is a cost their seller incurs but it helps the prospective buyer in moving quicker to make an offer with the confidence they need. 'By giving buyers the information upfront, you remove the friction that slows deals down,' Before You Buy founder Rhys Rogers says. Requests to see strata records and make copies must be given within 10 days. The owners corporation must put the fee into their administrative fund and pay their strata manager their agreed fee for its supply. MORE: Kmart set to change everything in Temu war
News.com.au
25-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Homebuyers hit with massive fee rise
OPINION Inspection of strata records is crucial to enable prospective owners to glean information about the scheme before they buy their apartment. However from July 1 these inspection fees are almost doubling in price. Amid huge affordability issues, no reason has been given for the outrageous increase, albeit the first in nine years. It is all the more of an odd decision by Anoulack Chanthivong, the Better Regulation and Fair Trading Minister, given structural, waterproofing and fire safety defects wreak havoc across as much as half of NSW's strata buildings. Transparency, accountability and increased engagement are vital to ensure home buyers don't naively buy into a strata nightmare. The fees for inspecting strata records online or in person will increase from $31 to $60 for the first hour, and from $16 to $30 for each half-hour after the first hour. The increase will apply to prospective buyers of apartments, townhouses and villas. Fees will stay the same for current owners. It is strata managers under the watch of the strata committee who are responsible for making and keeping all the records. They must keep all financial records and statements for at least seven years. Likewise they must keep a record of all communications sent and received by the strata committee and owners corporation for seven years along with meetings records. Since June last year, records strata schemes are required to keep must be stored electronically. The recently unveiled batch of new strata laws and fees also require electronic access to records to be through secured means. Current owners must authorise prospective buyers to see the strata roll, financial records and other records by contacting the strata committee or strata manager. These potential owners – or more likely hired strata searchers – face a costlier exercise to inspect a strata scheme's records ahead of purchase. Pre-purchase reports all mount up especially if the buyers miss out at auction, with no reform attempt since the former Kiama MP Matt Brown unsuccessfully sought to reduce the costs incurred about 15 years ago. Back then Brown noted the typical strata report cost was $300 to $350. These days buyers typically pay up to $299 for reports on strata schemes of less than 100 lots, and this jumps higher per report for even bigger strata schemes. There is also a shared marketplace using a share cost model that is seeing reduced costs for pre-purchase reports for the buyers as low as $89. And some innovative estate agencies make a prepared online strata report readily available to buyers. It is a cost their seller incurs but it helps the prospective buyer in moving quicker to make an offer with the confidence they need. 'By giving buyers the information upfront, you remove the friction that slows deals down,' Before You Buy founder Rhys Rogers says. Requests to see strata records and make copies must be given within 10 days. The owners corporation must put the fee into their administrative fund and pay their strata manager their agreed fee for its supply.
News.com.au
04-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
$486 billion warning to NSW homeowners
There is a tranche of strata laws starting on July 1 in NSW, and then even more later in the year, which are aimed at improving the lives of residents. It comes at a time when data from UNSW Sydney and the Strata Community Association reveals their growing number to about 17 per cent of NSW residents. There were 91,346 strata plans across NSW as at 2024, up from 89,049 in 2022. The total number of individual lots grew to 1,077,277, up from 1,043,690 in 2022. The estimated total insured value of strata plans grew to $486bn, up from $456bn as the number of buildings and the construction cost to replace them increases. With 55 per cent of all strata plans built before 2000, it means no let up in the pressure on repairs and maintenance for those owners corporations, according to Hazel Easthope, from the City Futures Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. Prior research put the number of annual call-out jobs at 1.7m, costing $2.5bn. Unfortunately the strata management industry has some dreadful practices. It was highlighted when the ABC reported in May last year that Netstrata, one of the state's biggest, had been using its wholly owned insurance arm to charge apartment complexes excessively high insurance brokerage fees. NSW Fair Trading recently issued a 24-page report by McGrath Nicol Advisory into Netstrata that identified possible breaches of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, including instances of nondisclosure of commissions received; instances of failing to obtain at least two quotes for expenses exceeding $30,000; and nondisclosure of commissions received from a third-party service debt collection agency, Strategic Collection Services. The report advised there were other practices not in the best interests of the consumer, including charging a premium to strata plans who did not use Netstrata's wholly owned insurance broker, Strata Insurance Services (SIS) along with a remuneration structure which incentivised its strata managers to bill for add-on charges. It found a 'highly saturated use of related entity suppliers' with whom Netstrata had a commercial arrangement. 'Netstrata's own interests appear to have trumped the interests of the people it had a duty to act on behalf of,' the Fair Trading commission's Natasha Mann advised. Netstrata disputes this. Last month, Minister for Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong announced the appointment of Angus Abadee to oversee the strata industry as the NSW Strata and Property Services Commissioner. Abadee will lead 'initiatives to enhance industry integrity and lift consumer confidence' having held senior positions in the Building Commission NSW. The McGrathNicol review did not consider Netstrata's actions under the new laws. The July 1 changes are aimed in part 'to protect owners in strata from unfair contract terms and facilitate an uplift of strata management services to improve owners' confidence'. NSW Fair Trading advises a meeting needs to be held between the committee and strata manager to allocate and complete the new specific task.
Daily Telegraph
04-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Telegraph
$486 billion warning to NSW homeowners
There is a tranche of strata laws starting on July 1 in NSW, and then even more later in the year, which are aimed at improving the lives of residents. It comes at a time when data from UNSW Sydney and the Strata Community Association reveals their growing number to about 17 per cent of NSW residents. There were 91,346 strata plans across NSW as at 2024, up from 89,049 in 2022. The total number of individual lots grew to 1,077,277, up from 1,043,690 in 2022. The estimated total insured value of strata plans grew to $486bn, up from $456bn as the number of buildings and the construction cost to replace them increases. With 55 per cent of all strata plans built before 2000, it means no let up in the pressure on repairs and maintenance for those owners corporations, according to Hazel Easthope, from the City Futures Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. MORE: Wild reason Aussie has 300 homes Prior research put the number of annual call-out jobs at 1.7m, costing $2.5bn. Unfortunately the strata management industry has some dreadful practices. It was highlighted when the ABC reported in May last year that Netstrata, one of the state's biggest, had been using its wholly owned insurance arm to charge apartment complexes excessively high insurance brokerage fees. NSW Fair Trading recently issued a 24-page report by McGrath Nicol Advisory into Netstrata that identified possible breaches of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, including instances of nondisclosure of commissions received; instances of failing to obtain at least two quotes for expenses exceeding $30,000; and nondisclosure of commissions received from a third-party service debt collection agency, Strategic Collection Services. The report advised there were other practices not in the best interests of the consumer, including charging a premium to strata plans who did not use Netstrata's wholly owned insurance broker, Strata Insurance Services (SIS) along with a remuneration structure which incentivised its strata managers to bill for add-on charges. It found a 'highly saturated use of related entity suppliers' with whom Netstrata had a commercial arrangement. 'Netstrata's own interests appear to have trumped the interests of the people it had a duty to act on behalf of,' the Fair Trading commission's Natasha Mann advised. Netstrata disputes this. MORE: Neighbours become $200m richer overnight Last month, Minister for Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong announced the appointment of Angus Abadee to oversee the strata industry as the NSW Strata and Property Services Commissioner. Abadee will lead 'initiatives to enhance industry integrity and lift consumer confidence' having held senior positions in the Building Commission NSW. The McGrathNicol review did not consider Netstrata's actions under the new laws. The July 1 changes are aimed in part 'to protect owners in strata from unfair contract terms and facilitate an uplift of strata management services to improve owners' confidence'. NSW Fair Trading advises a meeting needs to be held between the committee and strata manager to allocate and complete the new specific task. MORE: Kmart set to change everything in Temu war
