Experience has shown that early involvement of strata managers in the design of a multi-unit complex can significantly improve saleability. Reducing the possibility of contested issues with an owners corporation post sale makes sense for owners and developer alike. Consultation with a strata management company at the design stage can enhance residential life, and maintain [...]
John Georgas, GM Business Development & Marketing at national strata management company BCS, has been elected onto the UDIA NSW Council. At the UDIA NSW AGM held at the state conference in Sydney on 13 October 2010, John became the first representative from the strata industry to be elected as a UDIA Councillor in any [...]
Many strata managers are charging the owners corporation ‘fines’ or ‘arrears notice fees’ and seeking to recover these charges against the lot owner, pursuant to Section 80 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (SSMA.) This author has been involved in recent Supreme and Federal Court Appeals and has just run three Local Court matters before [...]
On the 16th September 2010 Queensland Parliament formally passed The Building and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2010, which introduced Stage 2 of the Queensland Government’s pool safety laws. These laws are expected to be enforced from early summer 2010, and mainly affect existing swimming pools. They include: Replacing the 11 different pool safety standards previously in place with [...]
The Owners Corporation Act 2006 has been in force now for a couple of years, after commencing on 31st December 2007. Since the introduction of the Act the Government has accumulated a number of various suggested amendments to the legislation. Following a limited amount of public consultation the Government have seen fit to introduce a [...]
Property owners invest large amounts of their savings into property purchases. This creates an emotional connection to a property, which can lead to owners becoming outspoken when issues arise. Disputes in strata and community title complexes can arise for many reasons – noise, safety, levies, maintenance issuesaesthetics and plain old pride. They generally arise between [...]
22 September 2010 BCS (Body Corporate Services) has taken out the Macquarie Bank sponsored OCV (Owners Corporation Victoria) Award for Best Website at the OCV 2010 Awards in Victoria. The award was presented to BCS CEO Greg Haywood at a gala dinner held at during the CHU OCV 2010 annual conference on 13th September 2010. [...]
(Queensland) New covenant and body corporate by–law rules (Queensland only) Since 1 January 2010, new and some existing covenants and body corporate by–laws have been prevented from banning energy efficient features or fixtures and requiring certain design elements in houses, townhouses, units or enclosed garages. The law on these issues was further amended on 23 [...]
New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria – 1 July 2010 Strata management market leader BCS is pleased to announce the launch of their Automated Debtor Management Process, which commenced on the 1st July 2010. The process provides BCS clients with automated debt recovery on late levies, by way of successive reminder notices. Each committee now [...]
New South Wales and Victoria – 1 July 2010 Strata management market leader BCS is pleased to announce the commencement of the in-house BCS After Hours Emergency service on 1st July 2010. Augmenting BCS’ client services and allowing improved tracking of works with potential cost savings to owners corporations, the BCS After Hours Emergency service [...]