A strata manager has been fined $2,000 by the Department of Fair Trading. The fine is for not having a training plan in the right format. Tough, when they had a written plan, but got pinged merely because it wasn’t in the format on the DFT website.
Further, according to one DFT officer, 140 warning letters have been issued to strata managers. These letters addressed issues with conflict disclosure motions and other inadequacies in the documents DFT requested for review. According to the DFT officer, the motions must include both the payee’s and the payer’s amounts for the commission. Again, tough when that’s not clear from the legislation or the website.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Michael Teys advises strata management businesses on improving profitability through professionalisation and streamlined operating systems.
He has more than 30 years’ experience as a strata lawyer and academic and has owned 11 strata management agencies throughout Australia. He has a Master of Philosophy (Built Environment) and Bachelor of Laws. He lectures and writes widely about strata management issues in Australia and internationally.
