News

Bright & Duggan are proud to announce the appointment to the management of the Barangaroo Building Management Committee ("BMC"). The Barangaroo BMC represents the most advanced and complex management statement in Australia incorporating an incredible and diverse mix of uses in Australia's premier development.

The appointment to the role of manager reinforces Bright & Duggan credentials as the complex entity manager of choice in Australia.

Bright & Duggan's dedicated local staff once again attended the Cronulla Fair over the weekend of the 7-8 September 2014 to support the Sutherland Shire community and educate owners.

Our team were on hand to answer strata living questions, help with schemes looking to change strata managers, and provide much needed refreshment by handing out over 1,500 free bottles of water through the weekend.

City Futures is officially ranked Australia’s leading urban policy research centre.

Recently they released a report on Economically viable and socially sustainable approaches to urban redevelopment in a complex multi-stakeholder environment.

The report looks at the data around strata ownership and occupation in NSW, with a focus on the greater Sydney region and explores the opportunity for strata renewal in line with the proposed strata laws reforms to be introduced later this year.

See the report here

Bright & Duggan wins 2015 Strata Management Business of Year.

Strata Community Australia (NSW), the peak membership body for strata managers, service providers and owners in the strata sector, has awarded Bright & Duggan their top honour at the 2015 Strata Community awards.

Bright & Duggan were awarded the Strata Management Business of the Year- Large Business, an industry and peer recognition of the business that makes a significant contribution to the strata industry and their clients.

As the new Strata laws are introduced into Parliament in 2015, be sure to stay tuned for our updates on how these controversial amendments to the strata laws impact on you.

The long awaited strata law reforms are underway with draft Bills to be introduced to Parliament this year.

The NSW Government has released two draft bills - the Strata Schemes Development Bill 2015 and Strata Scheme Management Bill 2015 for public consultation. SCA (NSW) was one of the stakeholders invited to a briefing on 15 July to hear what the Government’s plans were and to get a first look at the Bills. NSW Fair Trading says that “the proposed changes aim to:

* make it easier for owners corporations to manage issues like pets, parking and by-laws

* create a new democratic process for collective sale and renewal of strata schemes

* support the responsible management of schemes with new accountabilities for strata managing agents

* establish a new process to help ensure building defects are addressed early in the life of the building

* enable modern forms of communication (including new options for your strata scheme to keep and issue electronic records, issue email updates and attend meetings ‘virtually’) to allow greater participation in schemes.

A Position Paper has been published by the NSW Office of Fair Trading outlining the Government’s proposed community scheme law reforms. The reforms mirror many of the proposed changes to strata scheme laws, seeking to ensure that the laws provide flexibility, transparency and accountability with strong consumer protections but without imposing unnecessary red tape.

Community Title Reform Paper here

Given the strong similarities in many areas of strata scheme and community scheme laws, the proposed reforms in the community scheme law reform position paper mirror many of the proposed reforms in the strata scheme law reform position paper.

While this will enhance consistency across both sets of laws, it is also acknowledged that some of the strata scheme law reforms, for example secret ballots and proxy vote limits, will be most relevant to the operation of neighbourhood associations. These types of reforms may not be necessary or practical for the operation of precinct and community associations.

Reforms specific to community scheme laws include:

allow land to be added to a community or precinct scheme, providing it has been disclosed in the development contract

allow a schedule of contributions to be included in a development contract which will itemise expenses and identify who is responsible for payment

allow additional association property to be created by a community or precinct plan of subdivision, providing it has been disclosed in the development contract

require meetings to be called to authorise certain matters identified in a development contract as “development concerns”

only require a neighbourhood development contract for staged development of a neighbourhood scheme

allow land to be added as association property or as a lot in the scheme by special resolution

allow associations to lease additional property

allow subsidiary neighbourhood schemes to be wound up and the property to be vested in the parent community scheme

enable a community plan of subdivision to subdivide or create association property by special resolution

allow a neighbourhood scheme or strata scheme within a community scheme to approve the subdivision of property by special resolution

enable associations to take the benefit of a statutory easement, and

allow subsidiary schemes to lodge a revised schedule of unit entitlements when development of the relevant scheme is complete.