GOSTRATA Media

A Serious Penalty, or A Slap on the Wrist? The Professional Strata Management Group & Whitney Wang story has kept NSW #strata citizens interested since early 24 after some dramatic footage of a ‘fiery’ strata meeting aired on @ABC News & @NSW Fair Trading cancelled their strata management licences & disqualified both for 10 yrs. NCAT has decided the inevitable appeal with a lot less serious outcome than many strata citizens ... gostrata.substack.com/p/a-serious-pe…

A Body Corporate Handbook for QLD Strata Citizens QLD #strata citizens can read 1,000 pages & 1,200 regulations in the Body Corporate & Community Management Act 1997, or the much shorter and more interesting Guide produced by Jordan Kim. The 'Body Corporate Practice, a guide for committees and owners’ explains key things about buying, owning, running, & selling in QLD #stratatitle. It’s excellent ... gostrata.substack.com/p/a-body-corpo…

Strata Citizen Training [A Preview] @NSW Fair Trading has a new online course about #stratatitle operational issues, the Strata and Remedial Building Work course from the NSW Building Commissioner which is for #strata owners, committee members, & strata or building managers about remedial building work. It’s online, takes an hour, costs $70 and is good for strata noobs & experts. And, I suspect that the course is apreview of compulsory strata committee training for NSW. gostrata.substack.com/p/strata-citiz…

What Strata Buyers Think Since #stratatitle buyers become strata owners, why they buy apartments & think seems pretty important. Now, the @UNSW City Futures Research Centre has researched, surveyed, interviewed, & reported on 280 NSW #strata buyers’ last 10 yrs experiences in the report NSW Apartment Purchaser Perceptions. It’s more great research from UNSW City Futures Research Centre, @Dr Charlie Gillon and @Professor Hazel Easthope funded by the NSW Government Architect for strata citizens. Read more at GOSTRATA Media via this link … gostrata.substack.com/p/what-strata-…

THE MENTAL GYMNASTICS OF NCAT [and other Strata Tribunals] or, a guest writer's strata musings ... In this guest-writer article by @Matthew Lo and Sophie Barbour, they explain how the informality and shortcuts adopted by specialist Tribunals [like the #stratatitle Tribunals; NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, etc, etc] in attempts to increase accessibility to justice, paradoxically operate to do the opposite. It’s an interesting insight, supported by a recent case where a #strata building was denied its rights by @NCAT, suggesting that high stakes and/or complex strata disputes need a more legalistic approach. Read more at GOSTRATA Media via this link … gostrata.substack.com/p/the-mental-g…

Who’s Who at SCA Queensland: 2025 Update Since @Strata Community Association QLD represents the largest group of #stratatitle managers in Queensland, it’s probably worth knowing who’s running it as they’re very likely to play a key role in the outcomes experienced by #strata citizens. So, here’s where you can find the 2025 team and find out more SCA QLD. Read more at GoStrata Media via this link ... gostrata.substack.com/p/whos-who-at-…

An Imported Solution for Strata Insurance Commissions As a former prison & colony and current British Commonwealth member, we’ve imported lots from the UK over 250 yrs So, why not import the solution to the #stratatitle insurance commission crisis? The UK Govt has been addressing the issue for [leasehold and commonhold] for a few years and has formulated its solution that comes into force later in 2025 ... gostrata.substack.com/p/an-imported-…

Who’s Who at Owners Corporation Network of ACT: 2025 Update Did you know there’s also an Owners Corporation Network for ACT that says that it is: ‘an association of unit owners and body corporates that has been established to further the interests of persons living in medium and high density housing in the ACT, and to address their concerns as and when necessary.’ And, here’s their 2025 team ... gostrata.substack.com/p/whos-who-at-…

Every Day is EOFY for Strata Buildings or, strata money, money, money [and reports] … Whilst almost everyone focuses on 30 June for their money, reporting & tax affairs, #stratatitle buildings & citizens aren’t. That’s because a strata buildings’ financial year is linked to their creation date & thier finances are all about #strata owners’ money, assets & liabilities. So, every day is EOFY for strata buildings ... gostrata.substack.com/p/every-day-is…

SCA Weighs In on Housing Policy Finally & thankfully, SCA Australasia speaks about Aust housing policy with 3 media releases this week & President, Joshua Baldwin FSCM, saying: “Governments that fail to plan for the management of these communities will end up paying the price in building quality issues, resident dissatisfaction and legal disputes.” Since #stratatitle is the future of property in Australia, well done ... gostrata.substack.com/p/sca-weighs-i…

Strata Owners are Focusing on Management Contracts NSW Fair Trading, Strata Knowledge & some leading sector academics are running focus groups in Sydney from 21-28 July for #strata owners [and others] to review current #stratatitle management agreements Feedback will inform policy & legislative decisions & more So, it’s a very rare opportunity for strata citizens to have a say without the usual filters ... gostrata.substack.com/p/strata-owner…

Are we Too Soft on Strata Commissions? Singapore has tough laws & strict policing. Just drop litter, jaywalk or chew gum to see what happens. They're also tough on #stratatitle buildings, managers & businesses, by passing esoteric fiduciary duties and going straight to criminal charges. According to @CNA International, 12 Singaporean condo managers & construction business staff were charged over paying & receiving bribes ... gostrata.substack.com/p/are-we-too-s…

Strata Visionaries: Habitat 67 Sometimes #stratatitle is visionary and not mundane, routine or boring Like Habitat 67 built in Montreal built for World’s Fair Expo in 67, that remains one of the most striking & visionary housing developments of the 20th century It redefined what high-density #strata housing could look like. gostrata.substack.com/p/strata-visio…

Strata Managers are wrong about Strata Buildings’ Best Interests WIFM is a near acronym for What’s In It For Me that neatly describes the attempt to justify #stratatitle managers & other strata fiduciaries’ conflicts of interest when they receive insurance commissions, free training & other benefits for arranging customer strata building business. But, it's complex & IMO everyone's getting it completely wrong ... gostrata.substack.com/p/strata-manag…

Who’s Who at the Unit Owners Association of Queensland: 2025 Update The UOAQ | Unit Owners Association of Queensland Inc. is the largest group for Queensland #stratatitle owners and has been around for more than 40 years, representing #strata owners’ interests to all levels of government, providing information, and supporting strata owners. So, it’s worth knowing who’s running UOAQ and here’s the team for 2025. gostrata.substack.com/p/whos-who-at-…

Someone Liked a GoStrata Article It seems that some #strata citizens liked a recent GoStrata Media article. Strata Council's article, 'A Response to GoStrata – A Million Dollar [Strata] Riff', supports our comments & questions about the size, appropriateness & value of the millions that Strata Community Association sponsors are spending We appreciate the support from other #stratatitle stakeholders & like seeing active debate gostrata.substack.com/p/someone-like…

Converting Company Title Buildings to Strata: 2025 Update or, transforming older apartment building title structures … Before #stratatitle existed, most Australian apartments were under company title structures. Many of those still survive today and have a band of loyal adherents. But, many other company title buildings have and want to convert to #strata. So, here’s an updated guide to the key issues and processes. gostrata.substack.com/p/converting-c…

Is NSW Strata Still Defective? Strata building construction defects are nothing new, as they’ve been around since I was a #strata baby. But are they getting more or less prevalent and/or better or worse? In NSW, they’ve been surveying #stratatitle managers about defects in their since 2018 to track that So far, it hasn’t been great news. Now, NSW Fair Trading is running the 2025 survey ... gostrata.substack.com/p/is-nsw-strat…

Keeping Construction Contracts up to Date One of the key nuts & bolts issues for #stratatitle building operations is the contracts they sign for building repair, maintenance & replacement work And, often the use the standard contract produced by Standards Australia Currently, that is AS 4000 -1997 Edition. But, relax, as it’s not actually a 28 yrs old And, it’s also just been updated again ... gostrata.substack.com/p/keeping-cons…

Got Something Clever to Say About Strata Title ? here's your chance to tell an international audience ... The International Research Forum on Multi-Owned Properties in Sydney in Jan 26 is inviting abstracts for speakers and papers on any research topic related to #stratatitle properties from academics & practitioners. If you think you’ve got something clever to say about strata title you’ve got until 28 August 2025 ... gostrata.substack.com/p/got-somethin…