Category Archives: Strata

Governing the compact city – UNSW City Futures survey

A new two-year research project, being undertaken with the assistance of the NSW strata industry, the NSW State Government and the Federal Government, will chart the key issues facing the governance and management of strata buildings. The research will be undertaken by the City Futures Research Centre at the University of NSW.

The project is the first major study of the strata sector undertaken in Australia. Win 1 of 4 $250 Coles Myer Gift Cards (Authorised under NSW permit number LTPS/10/00291).

The research has three main aims:

To explore the role, capacity & effectiveness of owners’ corporations as agencies of property governance and management.
To explore the capacity & effectiveness of strata managers as mediators of outcomes for owners and residents in strata & their role within the overall structure of management & governance.
To assess how well residential strata works from strata owners’ points of view.

The project, which focuses on NSW, will deliver systematic information about the operation of the strata system. The findings will assist residents, owners and those involved in strata management and policy development to better understand the nature and scale of issues facing the strata sector and its capacity to self-manage these issues. It will provide an informed evidence base to support improved best practice and policy development across the sector. While it focuses on NSW, the results will inform policy and practice in the strata sector across Australia.

This survey is intended to gauge individual committee members’ opinions and experiences, rather than a collective Strata Committee view. We therefore encourage all individual Strata Committee members to participate. We would be pleased if multiple committee members in the one strata scheme complete the survey.

Go to the their website to see the report.

Strata schemes regulations reform

UDIA Managing Director Stephen Brell has been appointed to the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Strata & Community Title Committee. Stephen will be involved with reviewing the current Strata Schemes Management Regulations and will be preparing some recommendations to be submitted to the NSW Government for consideration. Stephen said “I am pleased to be part of this committee, as there are a lot of opportunities to enhance the current regulations resulting in greater options for strata schemes”.

Strata Manager’s kick off their support for RMH Charities

The strata managers at Netstrata kicked of their support for Ronald McDonald House Charities this morning with a McDonalds Breakfast.

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The McDonalds Breakfast

The strata managers and support team make a contribution from their monthly salary with the company matching their donation dollar for dollar. It was fantastic to see the take up from the staff with almost everybody being involved.

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Christine Ashfield-Howell & Jessica Middleton eating for a good cause!

Strata Manager Peter Sawell said “its a great charity as it is directed at helping the lives of kids who are doing it tough, allowing mum and dad to be close to their kids”.

Peter
Senior Strata Manager Peter Sawell and his Bacon & Egg McMuffin

Ronald McDonald House Charities are famous for providing accommodation close to the major hospitals so that the families who have children undergoing treatments can be nearby to provide love and support.

The Famous Hash Brown.

Strata Manager’s kick off their support for RMH Charities

Top 10 tips for avoiding strata strife

Strata Managers help Ronald

The strata managers and administration team are pleased to announce their support for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
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Business Development Manager Jeremy Stone said “We are pleased to be involved with a charity that give so much to sick kids and their families when they need it most”.

For more information about Ronald McDonald House see their website at www.rmhc.org.au

ABS house prices (December Qtr) 5.2% qoq, 13.6% yoy

Through the course of last year, officials continually raised concerns about the potential for house price inflation. As recently as August last year, RBA Governor Stevens stated “a very real challenge in the near term is …to ensure that the ready availability and low cost of housing finance is translated into more dwellings, not just higher prices…[and] if we fail to do that – if all we end up with is higher prices and not many more dwellings – then it will be very disappointing, indeed quite disturbing.”

While the various house price measures have produced different outcomes for the December quarter, the overall message is the same – house price inflation in 2009 exceeded 10%. Clearly, the increase in supply has been insufficient to compensate for the strength of demand.

Among the capital cities, during the December quarter, prices grew the fastest in Melbourne, rising 6.8% during the quarter; an annual rate of 19.7%. Sydney house prices grew 5% over the same time period, an increase of 12.8% on the previous year, while Brisbane prices improved 3.8% in the December quarter and 10.9% over the year. Perth prices rose 5.7%, up 11.5% on a year earlier. Only in Adelaide is annual price inflation less the 10%, up only 5.1% annually.

Insights

With property prices rising and interest rates doing likewise, housing affordability is continuing to erase the improvement it achieved through to the first half of 2009. This much is inevitable.

Looking forward, first home buyer demand is set to ease back further which, on the face of it, should lead to a reduction in price pressures. However, despite this and the increase in housing supply which has taken place, a significant and growing under-supply of dwellings exists among the states.

Placed in perspective, it would take three years of current housing production simply to eradicate the current shortfall in NSW, one year of production to remove the shortfall in Victoria and slightly under a year’s production to do the same in WA. In light of this, and with the population continuing to grow at a rapid pace and the labour market strengthening, the demand pressures for dwellings look set to remain acute.

This suggests single income first home buyers will increasingly be priced out of the housing market and, as a consequence, more offspring will remain living at home with parents for longer. This may result in the move towards smaller and smaller (more affordable) housing which has its limitations, as household size looks set to reverse the long-run trend and increase. The deterioration in housing affordability and significant under-supply of new housing also points to greater demand for rental accommodation.

Prepared by Property Insights

Strata hold-outs forced to sell under new plan

INDIVIDUAL apartment owners could be forced to sell their units to a developer if three-quarters of the other owners in their building want to do so, under a proposal from the Australian Property Council. The council, which represents developers and large property owners, says strata title laws give too much power to individual owners, who can block the redevelopment even if every other title holder in the building wants to bring in the bulldozers.

The council says many of the state’s 65,000 strata buildings are dilapidated and need redevelopment to cope with population growth. However, it says the process is being held back by a handful of owners. It has released a policy paper recommending that strata title laws be changed so that if 75 per cent of owners in a strata title building vote to demolish and rebuild, they can override any opposition.

The proposal has drawn support from strata managers and the Owners Corporation Network. The Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, said he would give it careful consideration. ”The minister will be meeting with the Property Council of Australia next week and will discuss the details of their proposal,” a spokesman for Mr Kelly said. The Government promised in its 2005 Metropolitan Strategy to investigate reforming strata laws to encourage housing redevelopment. But it has made no changes, fearing that it will be accused of removing owners’ rights. The Property Council accused the Government of dragging its feet on the issue. ”A quarter of everyone in NSW owns, lives or works in a strata title building,” the acting executive director of the council’s NSW arm, Glenn Byres, said. ”But no serious review has taken place, no policy agenda has been promoted and no legislated solution is in place.”

A strata lawyer, Stephen Goddard, said he had acted for the owners of a unit block in Cronulla who had been prevented from developing their dilapidated building because an elderly owner refused to sell. ”The building is 50 years old, well past its best and definitely not the best use of the property,” Mr Goddard said. ”But because just one of the 16 owners – an 80-year-old woman who is refusing to leave because she has convinced herself that she’ll die if she does – is refusing to sell, everyone is stuck there while the whole block gradually falls to the ground.”

The chief executive of the Institute of Strata Title Management, Richard Holloway, said changing the laws would inevitably leave some people feeling disenfranchised. ”People don’t want to leave – they will say ‘I want to live the rest of my life in the area that I know’,” he said. The Property Council has proposed a range of measures to safeguard the rights of owners, including independent valuations for owners not wanting to participate in the redevelopment and the establishment of a strata schemes commissioner to oversee the process.

PAUL BIBBY URBAN AFFAIRS

January 16, 2010 Sydney Morning Herald

The late Larry Quayle

Netstrata was sadly informed of the passing of Mr Larry Quayle; Larry was the Strata Division Manager at Austbrokers Insurance.

Larry suffered a Heart Attack on Tuesday 15/12, after which he was placed in an induced coma. Larry sadly was not able to recover from this & passed away on the morning of Saturday 19/12/2009.

Larry had arranged thousands of quotes for us over the years and with over 40 years experience what Larry didn’t know about strata insurance claims wasn’t worth knowing. Larry was a great person and a true professional and will be missed by all.

Our thoughts are with Larry’s family and the staff of Austbrokers Sydney at this sad time.

Netstrata celebrate the end of a busy year

The Netstrata team had their final staff meeting for 2009 today… We reviewed our performance for the year, and previewed the innovations to be implemented in 2010, to further streamline our approach to successful strata management …. To celebrate our achievements and hard work we enjoyed a fantastic lunch which included Fresh Seafood …

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