Queensland’s strata managers are managing millions of dollars without even background checks in what has been called a “completely unregulated” industry by its former commissioner.

Strata managers are responsible for a building’s finances, levies and insurance, as well as ensuring the body corporate complies with legislation.

But unlike other jurisdictions, Queensland has no minimum education, trust accounting or licensing requirements.

“That means tomorrow you or I can go out there and say, ‘I’m a strata manager, now I’d like your job, I’d also like to be a signatory to your bank account’,” Chris Irons, who was the state’s corporations commissioner for five years, said.

Queensland has more than 52,000 legal entities.

A Four Corners investigation into the strata industry received thousands of submissions, many of which concerned conflicts of interest, bribery and hidden fees.

Queensland has a Corporations and Community Management Act and a Corporations Commissioner to enforce it.

During the last financial year, the office received nearly 1,500 requests for dispute and 23,000 requests for information.

But Mr Irons said it was understaffed and lacked the authority to carry out inspections.

“There are no government inspectors, there are no police on site in Queensland, and I think that’s a real problem,” he said.

“It’s not like other government agencies that send out an inspector and do a spot check, issue a fine, make sure compliance is met – none of that happens in Queensland.”

The code of conduct “has no teeth”

Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading denies strata managers are unregulated.

You do not need accreditation or licensing to become a strata manager, but you are covered by strata legislation, which includes conflict of interest requirements and “offenses provisions”, a declared a spokesperson.

It also has a mandatory code of conduct.

But there are no penalties or disciplinary consequences if you don’t follow these rules, Mr. Irons said.

“Did I make a mistake purchasing from this resort?” »

High-rise resident Chris Griffith says problems with his body corporate have “taken the shine” from his Gold Coast home.

In 2022, Mr Griffith’s building body corporate committee was found to have breached strata regulations after investing $1.4 million in a company set up by the chairman, which later bought four apartments in the complex.

It is illegal for legal entities to carry out commercial activities, nor can they own land in their own complex.

The state administrative court ruled that the legal entity had created the company with the intention of circumventing the law and ordered that it divest its shares.

This decision is now under appeal.

“Even if you win the judgment, that doesn’t mean you’ve won at all,” Mr Griffith said.

Gold Coast resident Michael Dopking spent years feuding with a strata manager at his station.

The resort changed strata managers three times in one year, after two companies chose to terminate their contracts.

Mr Dopking still believes the problem is not resolved.

Mr Griffith said governments need to take a “big step forward” in how they regulate strata.

“If we don’t have much stricter laws around how corporate entities operate, we’re going to have story after story of greed, embezzlement and siphoning of funds.”

Call for legislation “to support better behavior”

Strata Community Association of Queensland (SCAQ) director Laura Bos said the organization supported mandatory manager training.

“SCAQ has long been a strong advocate for best practices in the industry,” she said.

“We are formally advocating for updated legislation to support better behavior.”

Mr Irons said the Queensland government needed to introduce tougher regulations, like in New South Wales, where the fair trading watchdog is seeking the power to enter apartment buildings without a warrant if he has reasonable grounds to believe that an owners corporation is not repairing the common property.

“They (the government) are very happy to take money out of real estate deals,” he said.

“Devoting even a tiny percentage of this sum to reinvest in the strata sector, for education, for information, for regulation, for strata police officers on the ground, it’s obvious .”

Loading…

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said she was seeking information on strata regulation and would endeavor to act in “the best interests of Queenslanders”.

“The Attorney General is committed to working with the Community Titles Legislation Task Force to address the full range of issues impacting the community titles sector,” they said.

Loading…