Victoria's Owners Corporation Reforms Miss the Real Problem
Victoria’s Owners Corporation reforms miss a key point…
The Victorian Government has announced the first tranche of reforms to the Owners Corporations Act 2006.
According to the Government, the reforms will make life easier for apartment and townhouse owners through hardship arrangements, procedural changes and expanded powers for Owners Corporations.
But there appears a fundamental issue here…
Are the government actually listening to owners and their needs?
How are they solving the property damage issues in strata?
What problem is the Government actually trying to solve?
For many apartment owners, the biggest risks are not meetings, voting procedures or administrative processes.
The real problems I see repeatedly are property damage, rectifying problems efficiently and funding. Insurance is also a big issue.
Daily I hear about issues with:
- Water ingress.
- Structural defects.
- Building movement.
- Failed waterproofing.
- Combustible cladding.
- Special levies.
- Escalating insurance costs.
- Disputes over responsibility for property damage.
These are the issues that financially devastate owners.
Yet the proposed reforms appear largely focused on governance and less accountability.
Victoria continues to encourage high density living. It is often repeated that one in five Victorians now live in strata managed developments.
If that is the future of housing…then the focus needs to listen to owners big problems.
From a property damage lawyer’s perspective, the biggest failure I see is the absence of stronger mechanisms to investigate, enforce and resolve disputes involving defective buildings and damage to property.
Owners lose sleep because water is entering their apartment. Insurance fails or increases drastically and disputes are unnecessarily difficult to resolve.
They lose sleep because a structural engineer has identified movement or combustible cladding or waterproofing issues.
The real test of any Owners Corporation reform is whether it helps ordinary owners when things go wrong.
When a building leaks. When common property causes damage. When defects emerge years after construction. When insurance fails or premiums rise drastically.
The reforms appear to have missed a significant opportunity.
If Victoria wants more people to buy apartments, townhouses and strat properties, it needs better solutions for property damage.
It needs a system that gives owners practical, affordable and enforceable rights when their property is damaged.
This article is a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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