SCA Report

Hackathon and the path to reform

SCA (Qld) has devoted much of our energy of recent times into reforming and modernising Queensland’s strata law. As an organisation we are committed to best practice, and with the current framework fundamentally out of date, it’s time for reform. And what better way to consider strata reform than with a hackathon!

What is a strata hackathon you may ask? We gathered some of Queensland’s best strata lawyers, most experienced strata managers, suppliers to the strata industry and some of what you might call our industry’s founders and spent a day throwing a range of intensive strata ideas into the air, then put some substance and reality around them when they landed. We will use the ideas and proposals generated from having the industry’s sharpest minds in one room to advocate for best practice reform. It was the broadest possible spectrum of the Queensland strata industry, and it was great to have everyone in one room, rowing the boat in the direction of best practice, fi t for purpose legislation. The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 is 25 years old this year. At the time of its creation, it was, along with its accompanying Regulation Modules seen as world class legislation designed very well to fi ll economic niches and facilitate growth in schemes and population in Queensland. Many, however, question whether it is still fi t for purpose given its age. You would be hard pressed to fi nd a 25-year-old Act that remains largely unaltered across the books of most jurisdictions in the Western world. The Body Corporate and Community Management Act touches the lives of 1.2million Queenslanders who live, work, and play in strata properties, yet has barely been touched in a quarter century. What did we come out with? Reform proposals to make dispute resolution easier and more effi cient, to ensure that bylaws are fl exible and enforceable were some of the key concerns in terms of making strata bett er for lot owners. In terms of the rights and responsibilities of managers, professionalism, and modernisation including regulatory requirements were important focuses. Changes to Regulation Modules to bett er fi t how schemes operate now was also discussed at length. SCA (Qld) will be fi nalising specifi c proposals in the coming weeks to put to government. One of the key themes that shone through was perhaps how strata law reforms don’t necessarily need to be about the nuances of regulation modules, exclusive use bylaws and fi nessing technical interpretations of the law. One core theme that developed was that whilst the 1997 Act is very good at sett ing up schemes, it perhaps falls short in managing the people who ultimately live in them. A good deal of the day was devoted to helping examine the fundamental question: how do we make it easier for people to live in a communal sett ing like strata? At the end of the day, a building doesn’t have feelings, emotions and moods, nor does a CMS. The law perhaps needs to recognise that strata isn’t about buildings, it is fundamentally about people. This was the consistent message of the hackathon.

People need to be able to live harmoniously more easily in what is ostensibly a communal sett ing. There needs to be easier ability to resolve the inevitable disputes that arise between people, and for people with shared values and lifestyle desires to coalesce to a scheme and enforce those values on those who come into their community.

When confl ict does arise, disputes are best resolved swift ly by the parties and if possible, without the intervention of formalities or lawyers. Bullies and those who harass others in strata need to know there are consequences for unacceptable behaviour. As I stated above, we had some signifi cant broad ideas to come out of the day. These will now go to our Legislation Committ ee for consideration. From there they will be considered in-depth by our Advocacy Directors Jason Carlson, Chris Irons, Shane Devenish and Duncan Lee before being fi nalised by the board more broadly. Once fi nalised, these ideas will be put to the Att orney-General and her Department through the mechanism of the Community Titles Legislation Working Group. Hopefully, the commitment by the entire industry to generating these positive ideas for reform will see them put into law. Overall, the theme of the day was that strata reform must be people-centric, focused on how people live amicably together. No one wants to go home to a warzone that resembles an episode of Judge Judy, and with appropriate strata law reform, we hope no one will have to.

Kristi Kinast,

President, SCA (QLD)

Strata isn’t about buildings, it is fundamentally about people