SCA (NSW) has a new special interest group, the Young Strata Network, which aims to provide support and events for young people in the strata industry in NSW. Started at the beginning of this year, the Young Strata Network has now had two very successful events which each featured guest speakers on subjects that are high profile in the strata industry.
Andrew Terrell from Wellman Strata, has been a driving force in seeing this group form and become active and has the full support of the SCA (NSW) Board. He says there are exciting speakers and events coming up. This includes great opportunities to assist young strata managers with their career progression, which will be announced soon.
The most recent event, held at NSW Parliament, featured Matt Kean, MP, who we all know as the Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation. He spoke to members and then undertook a lengthy Q&A session which was welcomed by the audience.
SCA (NSW) President Chris Duggan also sat in on the Q&A session and provided comments from the SCA (NSW)’s perspective.
Both the Minister and SCA (NSW) answered several questions including deregulating licensing, the new limited contract terms, creating harmonious communities and strata owner education.
On the question of the government’s focus on deregulating licensing and how this would affect professional standards within the strata industry, the Minister said the market and more flexibility in choice of strata manager would potentially weed out the bad eggs.
The changes to the laws around contract terms, is according to the SCA (NSW) President, a good opportunity for strata managers to re-engage with their strata owner committees. He said that SCA (NSW) members are in a better position because of the education they access and were better able to equip themselves to meet this challenge. This includes reviewing the Code of Conduct.
As champion of the consumer, the Minister said that the government made no apologies for taking the side of the consumer and giving them better choices. He acknowledged that this would mean strata managers would have to work harder, establish trust and help raise the bar.
Both acknowledged the challenges that strata managers and the government face with more people moving into apartments and therefore community living having no experience or understanding of what this means. SCA (NSW) says that it applauds NSW Fair Trading for its recent road shows designed to assist strata owners with the new laws.
The Minister said that one of the challenges of community living came from the sharing economy and how the rights of owners corporations could be balanced with the rights of the individual and the interests that came from the tourism sector. He acknowledged there needs to be protections for the rights of strata owners but also that the sharing platform economy needs to thrive.
Interestingly when asked about the community title law reforms, the Minister did reveal that these were still under consideration but changes are not expected in the immediate future. SCA (NSW)’s President did however encourage the Minister to move this up the agenda.
If you’re a strata manager under 35 please join us for the next event – Speed Networking – scheduled for 21 September 2017. Put it in your diaries and look out for more information to come soon.