Just after lunch on March 16, a pleasant Saturday afternoon, Stephen Brell took to the stage at a hotel in Lorne, on Victoria's Great Ocean Road.
Key among them: that Netstrata had been accepting "referral fees" from a suite of contractors, including debt collectors — all hired with owners corporation's funds — without disclosing the quantum of those kickbacks to its clients. This, despite explicit promises in its annual reports to owners that it would do so.To get some idea of how extensive these side-deals are, and how opaque the arrangements, consider but one example.
In just the past three years, Netstrata has reported the receipt of almost $1 million as a result of this side deal with Prime Strata. The ABC's reports plunged the industry into damage control. In addition to sidelining Brell, the SCA National Council, which includes a representative from every state and territory body, released a public statement assuring consumers it had "listened to the concerns that have been raised … from within the sector and externally".
Some of the experiences being described are simply dreadful. Extraordinary self-dealing by strata management companies, using subsidiary and associate outfits in defiance of the wishes of their owners corporations. Refusals of strata managers to abide by a termination of their contract and their ongoing extraction of management fees. The failure to return the assets and records of buildings, and the disappearance of trust funds. Police having to be called to AGM meetings.
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