$100bn strata sector being left behind by other states
Strata Community Australia (Qld) President Simon Barnard said today that Queensland hadn’t kicked a goal in strata reform for the last 2 years, despite the industry working hard.
“The review commenced under the LNP government which was a welcome step but the completion is still outstanding and there is a desire from the strata sector to move on the reforms.
“To quote the rugby league analogy, if this was the state of origin, New South Wales is winning the series when it comes to strata reform,” Mr Barnard said today.
“NSW last week introduced sweeping draft legislation that provides the biggest shake up in the strata sector down there in years.”
The key focus of the draft legislation is to allow the NSW strata sector and individual strata owners associations to have more of a say on issues like smoking, parking and the keeping of pets on strata property which are all issues that the Queensland strata sector has been discussing with the State Government under the ongoing Queensland property law review.
“The biggest single reform being considered in NSW is that bodies corporate in that state can now make significant decisions with 75% majority voting approval, instead of a current unanimous requirement,” Mr Barnard said.
“We want the 75% voting approval introduced in Queensland, so that strata property owners can make decisions based on majority voting rather than the highly restrictive unanimous system.”
Mr Barnard cites an important example where buildings affected by concrete cancer and in need of demolition are unable to sell, based on a single owner blocking re-development proposals.
“We hear of instances where a single owner has blocked the re-development of run down, aged and degraded apartment and unit blocks, which in some cases should be rightfully bulldozed. The rest of the owners who want change can be frustrated by one single owner.”
“Problems like concrete cancer are an emerging threat that poses a multi-million dollar repair bill to owners and bodies corporate, when sometimes the best solution is knocking it down and starting over.”
“No one wants to be told they’re home is set to be bulldozed, but living in a community should mean making decisions as a group, and we want the State Government to catch Queensland up on other states with this common sense reform.”
“We want to see more progress on the Queensland Property Law Review.”
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