NSW Fair Trading banned Sydney strata manager Whitney Wang from practising for 10 years and stripped his company of its licence.
He has also been ousted as strata manager twice in the past two years after owners at separate apartment buildings initiated legal action in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal .On Tuesday NSW Fair Trading reprimanded, cancelled and disqualified Mr Wang for 10 years and banned him from being involved in the direction, management or conduct of his company Professional Strata Management Group .
The heightened tensions followed revelations the 10-storey building had significant cracking in the basement. But owner-occupiers who lived at the complex told the ABC they were worried the defects were not being addressed. Owners claimed more than $140,000 in unbudgeted funds was spent in a single year, despite a limitation on spending being imposed on the scheme.
Mr McLean said he and the other owners were asked in June to pay an extra $15,000 each in special levies, in part to address a maintenance backlog and have a defect report prepared. He said Mr Wang replied "words to the effect; yes, but I like to keep my clients' levies low to improve their property sales values and maximise the returns for investors".