2024 ARAMA Corporate Supplement

Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association is the peak industry membership body for Management and Letting Rights (MLR) in Australia.

ARRM

ARAMA’s Relationship Revival Masterclass

Having strata relationship problems? Learn strategies to improve relationships and protect your strata investment.

There is much more to Management Rights than knowing the legislation. So much of strata is based on your relationships with others at your body corporate. In this new ARAMA Masterclass, join your presenter Chris Irons of Strata Solve, and former Queensland Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, as he guides you through the background and steps you need to take to revive your essential strata relationships and make them work for you.

Chris uses his unique expertise and experience, as well as his training in communications and mediation, to

bring you the techniques and tricks you need to have the best possible strata relationships. Our Masterclass format focuses on small groups and hands-on learning and development.

Attendees will leave better equipped in managing the challenging people and relationship-based issues at their strata scheme. You will also posses strategies to prevent, or where necessary, address, instances of bullying and harassment.

You will come away from the Masterclass knowing how you can protect and enhance your strata investment.

Modules covered include:

• Essential Profiling

• Relationship Glow: What Makes a Good Strata Relationship

• Relationship Red Flags: Signs of Relationship Problems

• Relationship Balance: Transactions and People

• Relationship Revival: Owners, Occupiers, Committees and Strata Managers

• Relationship Fixes: Reviving Your Strata Relationships

• The Best Strata Relationship of All

Arrival coffee and morning tea provided

Free on-site parking

Early

Built on security ARAMA serves and protects

things grow. And from the momentum of 70 or so people gathered at Surfers Paradise in 1992 to protect their fledgling accommodation

model, Australia’s world leading Management and Letting Rights (MLR) industry took flight.

Today the MLR industry generates $60 billion for the Australian economy as more Australians than ever see the benefi ts of resident managers in high-density, long-stay residential properties and shortstay tourism accommodation.

The Australian model of management rights was developed from humble beginnings but has been tried and tested internationally, and embraced as a world-leading, best-practice concept.

Trevor Rawnsley, the CEO of the Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association (ARAMA) says what started as an improved

service delivery model for holidaymakers on the Gold Coast has now blossomed to include long-term residential tenancy accommodation in schemes right across Australia and in many other parts of the world.

“When it comes to apartment living and holiday units, nobody does it better than a resident manager,” Mr Rawnsley said.

“Time and time again it has been proved that the ARAMA model of onsite management provides better service at a lower price than any other type of management service.

“And the best resident managers are those who promote a sense of community at the schemes they manage

estate developers, financiers, tourism operators, and holiday accommodation managers came together and formed a not-for-profi t association to stop unfair laws upending the Sunshine State’s MLR industry.

and go the extra mile to provide great service so that life at the property is happy and harmonious.”

ARAMA fights every day to promote and protect the MLR industry in 2024, but its birth came in 1992 at a Town Hall meeting at the iconic hotel Billy’s Beach House at Surfers Paradise. The Gold Coast had become Australia’s playground by the 1970s and the tourism boom had soon spread to the rest of Queensland.

But just as the MLR industry was taking off it was threatened with changes to Queensland law that would have shot it down. Concerned industry participants – lawyers, real

At that original meeting, membership fees were deposited into a sinking fund and the lawyers created an association called QRAMA (the Queensland Resident Accommodation Managers Association) whose purpose was to provide services to members and lobby government. QRAMA was incorporated as an association on May 20, 1992 and it grew into ARAMA in 2007 with a name change to reflect the membership from right around Australia.

From the seeds planted by those 70 or so people gathered at that first association meeting, and their privately funded actions to develop positive relations with government, the MLR industry is now in the enviable position of having a seat at the table of policy.

Industry Reporter

ARAMA continues to play a critical role in promoting the concept of owner-operated management and lett ing rights as the most eff ective method of serving the interests of unit owners, bodies corporate (or owners corporation), tourists and tenants, and optimising the industry’s growth and reform.

For more than three decades

ARAMA has been at the forefront of advocacy for the MLR industry, and has been able to examine, consult and influence the outcomes of legislation to ensure that reforms continue to be favourable and are in keeping with the responsible development of the industry. Governments listen to ARAMA and form legislation based on its views.

Mr Rawnsley said the average worth of each MLR business in Australia was close to $2 million, and ARAMA provided insurance for the industry, not just through discounted policies covering fire and accident, public liability and legal fees “but more importantly, through our advocacy and how we continue to represent this industry.

“We are the industry’s insurance policy,” he said, “the association that thwarted legislation that would have devastated the MLR landscape three decades ago.”

More recently it has led the fight over threats to cut 25-year terms.

Mr Rawnsley said if it wasn’t for developers embracing the MLR concept, the Sunshine State simply wouldn’t have the tourism industry it has.

“Instead, we would be like Victoria and NSW, with an emphasis on fi ve-star hotels, motels, caravan parks and party houses spread throughout the suburbs and regions.”

The early days

Queensland tourism looked very diff erent in the ‘Swinging-60s’.

New styles of music, fashion and transport changed the world forever but the accommodation industry in the Sunshine State was slow to heat up.

There were few top-class international hotels on the Gold Coast and holiday flats in Queensland usually involved a small building with a handful of units available for casual rental

on a ‘walk-up’ basis. Pre-internet advertising was usually a small notice in the classified section of the local paper or an A-frame sign on the footpath and guests usually checked prices by driving around the various properties and walking in to ask about rates and availability.

At that time, the owner of a property – either a block of holiday flats or a motel – was the office manager, maintenance person, and cleaner all in one.

There were usually no cooking facilities except for a kett le or a jug, and laundry facilities were shared. But several Gold Coast entrepreneurs, seeing the enormous potential of

surf, sunshine, and miles of beautiful beaches, ignited a mass tourism boom.

Bernie Elsey, a member of the Surfers Paradise Progress Association, hosted pyjama parties around the swimming pool at his Beachcomber Private Hotel on Cavill Avenue. He copied the concept from the socialite party scene in London.

Another operator, New Zealander, Stewart Anderson, who had the largest property in Orchid Avenue with 15 units, began att racting tour groups.

Dave Ruxton, a veteran of the industry, was operating management rights buildings in the ‘60s and he became chairman of the Accommodation Owners Association (AOA) on the Gold Coast. Dave was a true pioneer of MLR. He met with Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) to strike a deal partnering the accommodation of AOA members with cheap airfares. The airline was interested in the new concept of fully selfcontained accommodation, and 10 AOA members elected to participate in the TAA package deals.

Dave Ruxton

Demand was such that TAA soon asked Dave to find more properties. Then, rival airline Ansett, hearing about the program’s success, asked if it could offer deals, too, and soon both airlines had package prices for the AOA group.

Before long almost 100 holiday properties managed by AOA members were involved in the package deals, and while some represented the biggest buildings on the coast, some were small blocks of flats or a house divided into three flats, or a high set house with a couple of units underneath.

Owners realised that to remain part of what became very lucrative arrangements with the airlines, they had to update and improve their properties, benefitting the whole tourism industry.

Soon strata title apartments, with their own kitchens and laundries, began appearing all over the coast; developed on a lower-cost basis than other properties, with many of the developers selling all the apartments off the plan before they even started construction.

The cheap airfares and direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne into Coolangatta

airport, the subsequent large influx of Japanese tourists, the pioneering work of developer Bruce Small – with his Gold Coast meter maids – and a big nationwide push from operators to promote tourism, made the Gold Coast the national leader in the holiday industry.

The accommodation morphed into a MLR model with the rapid construction of tourist apartment buildings to meet the demand.

The concept then grew to the Sunshine Coast, which had a new airport, and then other areas including Cairns, Townsville and Hamilton Island.

The Queensland tourism industry benefited from having some international airports and there was enormous development taking place as well as attractions such as the Gold Coast casino and theme parks.

The developers of holiday apartments realised that they could also pick up another half a million dollars or so, by selling MLR to their buildings as cream on their development. It was a wonderful business model, that benefitted everyone involved in tourism.

The developers could sell the apartments at a very reasonable price, and they would be looked after by an onsite manager. The owners would stay in it for a couple of weeks of the year and then rent it out.

By the 1980s and 1990s, tourism blossomed with the AOA’s central reservations letting pool now representing nearly every major building on the coast with a membership of 120.

Irene and Ian Manson, who run Casa Bella residential complex on the Gold Coast, started in management rights four decades ago and their current property has 168 three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouses at Coombabah on the northern end of the Gold Coast.

Ian is a former Australian basketball star and Irene is a former kindergarten teacher. They bought their first management rights way back in 1985. It was at Burleigh – 64 holiday apartments.

“The business of management rights was already fairly well established by then, but they were still almost entirely holiday apartments at the time, rather than permanent complexes,” Irene said.

Irene & Ian Manson, Casa Bella

“But the business was very different. We had bookings with the QTTC back then - the Queensland Tourist and Travel Corporation - and we used to get our bookings coming through on Teletext. They’d come through at night and the messages would say Mr and Mrs ‘so and so’ want ‘so’ many rooms on these dates and you’d have to juggle things to make it work.”

Blowing away the storm clouds

While holiday units and the MLR industry that drove them were proving to be a real winner for Queensland tourism, by the

early 1990s the Queensland Government seemed set to follow the path of other states in restricting the development of holiday apartments.

Their idea was that strata title buildings were for permanent residents only and that holidaymakers should stay in hotels and motels. Apartment owners would not be able to rent them out on a holiday basis and there would be other restrictions.

But after the Town Hall meeting at Billy’s Beach House in 1992, QRAMA advocated against the proposed new legislation that would have wrecked the MLR industry in Queensland.

As a result of QRAMA’s advocacy, the government mandated that one of the purposes of the new legislation was to encourage tourism. Because of QRAMA’s stance, the state government encouraged local councils to be favourable with development application approvals so that businesses that looked like what we call MLR schemes now, were able to flourish.

The legislation allowed restricted letting agents to sustain their commercial position within the old Building Units and Group Titles legislation.

As legislation was reviewed and updated to meet the rapid

growth in density living, QRAMA helped shape legislation in the new Body Corporate and Community Management Act (BCCM) which initiated major industry reforms in 1994 and 1997 and saw the creation of a range of accommodation modules.

QRAMA became ARAMA in 2007 and the NSW Association was founded to ensure the national agenda was addressed.

Mr Rawnsley said everyone in the MLR field should be grateful to the pioneers of the tourism industry who created “a cohesive and reputable industry association that has paved the way for management rights to prosper.”

Mayor Bruce Small with entrants in the Interational Air Hostess Quest

Gold Coast Metermaids - Image: Alistair Paterson Dave Keeshan Petra, Flickr

Women continue to build the MLR industry

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Women are the great driving force of the Management and Letting Rights (MLR) industry.

Fifty-two percent of the Australian population are women and the majority of MLR businesses are run by them. In many ‘mum and dad’ MLR businesses you’ll often find that women look after the running of the business and hosting guests, while the men take care of gardening and building maintenance.

MLR operators are experts in their schemes and do the job much better and at a lower cost than offsite managers and contractors. There are multiple lots in a scheme and the resident manager knows everything there is to know about each and every one of those lots. They’re on the spot for preventative maintenance and they’re looking after the cleaning and general garden upkeep daily.

An onsite manager, often a woman, makes sure the inventory is checked, guests are shown to their apartments, advised where they can and can’t park; and what the scheme’s other by-laws are. If there is something that’s not right, the resident manager can deal with it – a leaky tap or whatever – instantly.

As the peak body for the management rights profession in Australia, ARAMA is always encouraging more women to take on executive roles,

although that can be tough because women MLR operators tend to be short on time.

However, four of the ARAMA board members are women, including two MLR owners.

Karen Nelson has an extensive tourism background, running such iconic attractions as the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach before taking over the Lanai Riverside Apartments, an 80-unit complex in Mackay.

As a passionate MLR operator, she remains committed to maintaining standards of excellence in the industry.

Karen McMichael-Cross, from the multi-award-winning Surfers Paradise property Dorchester On The Beach, is committed to assisting owners and managers within ARAMA and the tourism industry and is a specialist in strategic business

management, marketing, and business development within the management rights, tourism, and hospitality industries. She has more than 40 years of experience working both nationally and internationally across all these areas.

Renee Lightfoot is a Senior Legal Counsel at Accor, where she focuses on the Apartments and Realty division, and the management rights and real estate arm of the business, where she is a part of the leadership board. With a strong background in the MLR industry, Renee has 15 years of experience in management rights, predominantly as a legal advisor. Before joining Accor Pacific, Renee worked at Hickey Lawyers, where she advised on projects, developments, management rights transactions,

and body corporate law. Renee is also a member of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers.

Sue Fairweather is the Executive General Manager of ULTIQA Hotels & Resorts, overseeing properties in Queensland, NSW and Fiji. She is an experienced professional leader, mentor and specialist in the MLR industry, having owned, managed, and run holiday and permanent complexes in Queensland over the past 15 years.

Sue is experienced in all facets of management rights and sets the bar for excellence in the industry.

Jo Matthews, the President of ARAMA’s Whitsunday/ Mackay branch, has already been on the ARAMA board, and the association is doing everything it can to encourage more women to take leadership roles within the industry.

Jo Matthews, President of ARAMA’s Whitsunday/Mackay branch

Karen Nelson, Lanai Riverside Apartments

Karen & Michael Cross, Dorchester On The Beach

Sue Fairweather, Executive General Manager ULTIQA Hotels & Resort with Craig Moore General Manager, ULTIQA Air on Broadbeach

Renee Lightfoot, Senior Legal Counsel at Accor

The Gold Coast’s Kelley Rigby, a working mum with young children, has been identified as a future leader at ARAMA. Her company Letts Rebuild specialises in business development for resident managers, helping them build their rent roll through marketing via phone calls, video and text messages, and emails.

It’s a service that helps managers who don’t know how to promote themselves or don’t have the time to build that internal letting pool.

“There are so many women running management rights businesses these days,” Ms Rigby said.

“In many cases, the women are the faces of the properties and they are the decision-makers. When I send out contracts from Letts Rebuild it’s usually the women whose signature goes on the deal. Management rights is also seeing a lot of young blood coming into the industry, and they are bringing a lot of enthusiasm and excitement.

“It’s great that we are now mixing it up a little bit in leadership roles and we can do things a little differently.”

Ms Rigby says she is passionate about management rights

because the industry is very much like a family.

“You can have buildings neighbouring each other under management rights but they don’t see each other as competitors,” Ms Rigby said.

“Most people in the industry want to help each other and they’re drawn to the industry because of the hospitality aspect. Most managers want to help everyone else in the industry get ahead in their accommodation businesses.”

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info@propertybridge.com.au

Kelley Rigby, Founder & Director, Letts Rebuild

MRITP Management Rights Industry Training Program

A one day, fully interactive training program for beginners and experienced management rights business owners

This Management Rights Industry Training Program (MRITP) is ideal for:

• First time Management Rights operators who are thinking of entering the industry or just about to

• New operators in their 1st year of operation

• Experienced operators looking to refresh their industry knowledge and improve their industry IQ

• Professionals, suppliers or service providers who want to understand more about this fascinating and vibrant industry

This is not a sales seminar!

This industry program is unique to ARAMA and ideally suited to first time operators, those in their 1st year of operation or experienced operators who are looking to refresh their industry knowledge. It is the first of its kind designed specifically for the management rights industry, and is accredited by ARAMA, the peak industry body for the management rights industry. This program will definitely help to prepare purchasers for the assignment process and help to ensure a smooth sales transaction.

Modules covered include:

• Management Rights legislation explained

• Letting agreements/caretaking service agreements explained

• Understanding the role of the on-site letting agent

• Understanding the role of the on-site building manager

• Understanding the role of the Government regulators

• Understanding the role of the Committee

• Understanding the role of the Body Corporate Manager/Strata Managing Agent Free

World-leading business model is the foundation of MLR

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Almost 40,000 people stay in resident managed accommodation in Australia daily, and there is a thriving industry underpinning everything from the upkeep of properties to guest satisfaction.

In Queensland, over $150 million is collectively remitted each year from the MLR industry in the form of state government stamp duty taxes alone.

Nationally the industry employs more than 11,000 people, and for many, it has provided a wonderful career path and investment opportunity after careers in totally different fields.

Gold Coast financier Nick Smith has spent more than 30 years in banking in England, Ireland, and Australia, and says there is no other business like Management and Letting Rights (MLR) in the world.

The director of Red10 Finance, Mr Smith said that “from a banking point of view management rights is such a resilient industry. Not too many things can go wrong. The business model itself is fantastic and probably not repeated in any other industry globally. Without a doubt, it would also be the lowest risk business to any financier.”

John Bolger, the former assistant commissioner of Queensland’s Rural Fire Service, spent 38 years battling blazes but still had plenty of spark as he approached retirement. He saw that the MLR concept, which is at least 50 years old, carried few risks. He and his wife Jo did not have to buy stock for their new MLR business or go into huge debt, and there was a body corporate salary coming in

every month, a body corporate salary that had been the lifeblood for many managers especially during COVID - when for a time it was illegal to have a holiday in Australia.

In March 2023, John and Jo became the new resident managers at the Gympie Pines Fairway Villas, a complex of 54 luxury properties surrounded on three sides by a lush golf course. When it came time to retire as a firefighter John didn’t want to just slow down, but he didn’t want to be run off his feet with a full-on holiday property either.

“Gympie Pines has been ideal for Jo and me. It has a lovely community feel and it has the most gorgeous gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day when we first came here, and all the flowers were out as we drove

Nick Smith

into the property. We just fell in love with the place as soon as we saw it. And we still love it.

“We still work relatively hard but it’s enjoyable, rewarding work. I look after the grounds and maintenance, my work is mostly outdoors which I love, while Jo looks after the business side of things.

“We’re now at the point where we can employ our daughter Kaitley. We’re putting her through her real estate agent’s licence as we try to future-proof the business.

“Kaitley can work remotely if she likes, and Jo even snuck over to Europe for a month with her mum recently. Kaitley and I were able to run the business here and if needed Jo could keep an eye on what was happening from Switzerland.”

Management rights is a business that gives the right to the owner of a lot, contained within a community title complex, to fulfil the role of an onsite caretaker and to operate an onsite letting business (of units

within the complex) on behalf of non-resident owners.

Trevor Rawnsley, ARAMA CEO, said the MLR business model is what first attracted him to the industry with the double income streams it offered – a body corporate salary to manage the property, and the rental commission from letting out the lots on that property for the owners.

He says the business model in Queensland, with state

legislation framed in consultation with ARAMA “is the reason why all these years later some owners can achieve multiples of six to seven times their annual profit when they sell their business, a figure very few other endeavours can get near.

“With management rights, I didn’t have to carry a lot of stock, I didn’t have to carry a lot of staff, and basically you could make money while you were sleeping,” he said.

John & Jo Bolger

Gympie Pines Fairway Villas

It’s very unusual for any property to return less than 14 percent

– Trevor Rawnsley, ARAMA CEO

“I’d go to bed at night knowing the place was 100 percent full and I would sleep very soundly that night.

“It’s accommodation, an MLR operator is not dealing with anything perishable like food. Not managing anything likely to include unsociable behaviour like a pub or club, and many management rights businesses are of such a scale that they can be run

by one person or a husbandand-wife team so they’re very attractive as a family business.

“It’s a very good business model which returns 20 to 25 percent net, depending on your borrowing. And there are investment syndicates that promote 14 percent return on investment.

“It’s very unusual for any property to return less than 14 percent and if they do, it may only be down to something like a COVID interruption or natural disaster or over-geared banking.

“Very few businesses can return 14 percent.”

A basic human need

Mr Rawnsley said MLR businesses were driven by the basic human need for shelter.

“Right now, the demand for residential accommodation is through the roof,” he said.

The MLR model is most suited to community title schemes, where

the resident manager plays an important role in serving the interests of various stakeholders including unit owners, bodies corporate, tenants and guests. Not only are they providing caretaking services for the body corporate, but they also have a commercial responsibility managing investments on behalf of lot owners.

They are accountable to strict legislative requirements and report regularly to their clients.

Each unit owner, including the resident manager, has invested in the scheme and success for both depends on the marketing ability and the manager’s commitment to driving repeat business and word-ofmouth recommendations.

With “skin in the game”, the resident manager has an obvious interest in the building’s presentation and overall street appeal as it influences the ability to market the property and the value of the manager’s investment. Being a resident

manager is a 24-hour, sevenday per-week commitment.

A few years ago, ARAMA commissioned a report from Deloitte that showed a resident manager gives more bang for a property’s buck than alternate business models. The report also showed that a resident manager, acting as an onsite letting agent, delivers a better and higher return than an offsite letting agent might otherwise do.

Research undertaken by Griffith University into satisfaction levels with various management models found that unit owners favoured complexes with a resident manager.

More than 85 percent of survey respondents strongly agreed that onsite caretakers are proactive in ensuring high amenity levels of the complex, as their income is dependent on return customers. They also said resident managers can immediately attend to issues, even on weekends or late at night.

Trevor Rawnsley

Teamwork pays off

Resident managers know the value of teamwork.

Graham and Kirsty Hislop spent much of their lives in high-profile education roles but at the Markham Court Apartments at Broadbeach, they are teaching invaluable lessons about management rights.

They took over the management of the 68-unit property in August 2022 and quickly doubled the number of apartments in their letting pool from 11 to 22.

Graham, who played for the Australian Schoolboys rugby side in 1990 before a professional career with the Queensland Reds, Australian Sevens and the Tokyo Gas in Japan, says putting in the hard yards early to make strong relationships with the body corporate and unit owners is the key to tackling the job of a resident manager.

Until 2022 Graham was Head of Senior School at Geelong Grammar, one of Australia’s most prestigious schools whose past pupils include King

Charles, Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer, John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser, John Landy and Hudson Fysh, the bush pilot who founded Qantas in 1920. Kirsty worked in the administration office at the school.

“Going from Geelong Grammar to managing an apartment complex on the Gold Coast has been a big career change,” Graham said, “but it was also easy transferring our skill sets.

“Communication is so important in this business. Like teaching,

management rights is about building relationships and setting up systems and processes. Relationships are so important, whether it be with the lovely guests who come and stay with us, being able to build a wonderful community among the residents here or building a strong relationship with our body corporate. Collectively it is something we cherish every day because it’s just so wonderful to go to work in a harmonious environment and have positive conversations with all the people around us.”

Graham & Kirsty Hislop

Markham Court Apartments at Broadbeach

Wayne Broad is another retired sports star with the runs on the board in management rights. He was a champion cricketer who had a decade-long career with the Queensland team during a golden age for the sport. His son Ryan is another star Queensland player.

Wayne was part of a mighty Queensland team in the early 1980s that included Test players Greg Chappell, Kepler Wessels, Martin Kent, Allan Border, Greg Ritchie, Ray Phillips, Trevor Hohns, Jeff Thomson, Geoff Dymock, Carl Rackemann and Phil Carlson.

Now he and his wife Gayle manage the picture-postcard Pandanus Palms Holiday Resort at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island. They’ve developed great relationships with their owners, particularly the chair of the body corporate, which Wayne says is crucial to

success in the MLR industry. “I thought managing a resort in a picturesque location would be a great lifestyle business,” he said.

“Gayle still has her own business, running a boutique at Wynnum, but I started researching management rights about five years ago and I was convinced that running a resort would suit us.”

He undertook a couple of MLR courses with ARAMA and knew he was on a good wicket.

“Management rights looked like a good business with a great rate of return and the sort of work that appealed to me,” Wayne said. But Wayne warns anyone who thinks management rights is a holiday for the operators, to think again.

“You have to work hard at the business to make it a success and make sure you are on good terms with the owners and the body corporate from the outset,” Wayne said.

“Take your time improving the business and be prepared to work hard and give good service to the owners and guests. The rewards are there if you do.”

Wayne & Gayle Broad, Pandanus Palms Holiday Resort

ARAMA TOP Awards

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Photography:

Joseph Byford

Bruce and Jill Christie were named the Resident Managers of The Year (Mixed) at ARAMA’s prestigious TOP Awards last year.

It was a fi tt ing tribute to the work they have poured into the Surfers Hawaiian Holiday Apartments at Surfers Paradise, which they have managed since 2015.

They have been rewarded with four top-ups on their management contract during their tenure at Surfers Hawaiian, with nearly 100 percent support in the voting among owners. It’s a reflection of their success at the complex.

Bruce and Jill are shining examples of the way resident managers enhance a strata community, every day they prove that onsite management is the best way of running a community title scheme.

They were complete novices back in 2015 when they took on their management roles, but Bruce believed that with

his background in the building industry, and with Jill having a background in marketing, they had the right skill set to make their career move a success.

There are 64 units in the complex which is situated on half a hectare.

Jill said: “We’ve rebuilt the lett ing pool to double what it was when we arrived.

“In the first year that we moved in, the sinking fund was $300,000 and now with everything done after eight and half years, the sinking fund is $850,000. In that time we’ve seen the lift s refurbished, the building has been painted and any sign of concrete cancer has been removed.”

Jill said anyone entering the MLR industry must be prepared to put in eff ort. “Nothing good comes of sitt ing in the office all day,” she said. “You must be active and seen to be proactive.

“Also leave emotional issues out of your decisions. It’s vital to be professional and to get things done. Sometimes people are angry over issues but you need to realise that everyone can have a bad day. Sometimes people say things that they regret but it’s no use brooding. Keep focused on making the property as good as it can be.”

The couple said they believed the industry had a big future.

“There are big changes to tenancy laws that will allow people with pets into buildings, this will lead to an influx of people moving into high-rise apartments.

“As a nation, we can’t aff ord to keep spreading out into the hinterland, so the answer is to go up. We can’t continue with the old idea of a quarter-acre block for everyone in suburbia. It’s just not sustainable.

“I think more and more people will be living in apartments and what better way to manage them than management rights?”

Last year’s TOP Awards were held on July 25 at Brisbane’s fabulous Royal International Convention Centre. The most outstanding achievers in the MLR field were honoured.

The award for Building Manager of the Year went to Chris Puplett , a building manager with Oaks Hotels and Resorts in Brisbane.

The TOP Award judge said Chris’s work stood out, particularly for his 19 years of experience “and the wide range of buildings he has managed and is currently responsible for”.

Chris said there was no mystery to his success.

ARAMA Life Membership awarded to Ian Crooks

“To be honest it just comes down to treating people how you want to be treated,” he said.

“It’s about being decent and polite and working hard to help others. It’s very rewarding when people see the work you’re doing and appreciate it. Having good body corporates behind you is so important too.

“Because you are working with such a variety of people: owner/occupiers, investors, and tenants, you must be patient and honest and as fair as possible with everyone involved. And whatever the situation you want to help as much as you can. It’s a residential building so if everyone gets along it’s a much better outcome for everybody.”

His patience has been tested over the last 12 years.

“There have been challenging times,” he said.

“The floods of 2011 and 2013 were tough. In 2011, Oaks Brisbane Festival Suites and Oaks Brisbane on Margaret Suites were our big buildings then. At Oaks Brisbane Festival Suites, we lost our lifts that go to 41 floors, and we had to work hard to make sure the people on the high floors had everything they needed. We had to get the lifts running as quickly as we could. We had great contractors and I have to give Otis credit because after all the water was extracted we had the lifts running again in 11 days.

“One of the most important things to be a good manager is to have those relationships with contractors and suppliers who can help get things done quickly.”

The award for Resident Manager of The Year - ShortStay Accommodation went to Marion and Chris Simon from the Boulevard North Holiday Apartments, on the Gold Coast.

The judge of the award pointed out that Marion and Chris had notched impressive results in increasing their turnover, and that of the owners, since starting in management rights four years ago, despite coping with the effects of the COVID pandemic on accommodation during that time.

The MLR industry thrives when resident managers go above and beyond their contractual requirements and build a community within their scheme that is orderly, neighbourly, and focused on making that community the best it can be.

The remarkable Maree and Ian Smith manage an astonishing 230 townhouses across four complexes, and in the three years since they bought into their first MLR business they have shown the way for the

whole industry to deal with tenants, owners, and body corporate committees. Maree says she and Ian have done their best to make everyone at their properties feel a sense of inclusion.

They have a Facebook page covering residents at all four complexes they manage, and owners and residents are encouraged to put up “buy, swap and sell” messages as well as community alerts for incidents like their power going off or if anything, or anyone strange is around their townhouse. Ian and Maree encourage all the residents to look out for each other.

Their four complexes are within a few kilometres of each other just north of Brisbane. All the units are three-bedroom, twobathroom, single lock-up garage

townhouses, and last year they added two complexes to the two they had been managing.

They won ARAMA’s Resident Manager of the Year – Long Stay – category for the second year in a row.

Alex Cook, one of Australia’s most experienced and successful management rights specialists, won the Sales Broker of the Year award also for the second time.

Paul Shih, the CEO of PRET (Professional Real Estate Training Pty Ltd), whose business has provided nationally accredited courses for the real estate industry since 2006, took out the Service Provider of the Year award.

And finally the ARAMA Life Membership was awarded to Ian Crooks.

Bruce & Jill Christie - Resident Managers of the Year - Mixed

Chris Puplett – Building Manager of the Year

Marion & Chris Simon - Resident Manager of the Year - Short Stay

Ian & Maree Smith - Resident Manager of the Year - Long Stay

Alex Cook - Sales Broker of the Year

Paul Shih - Service Provider of the Year

ARAMA is the industry’s insurance policy

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

Leading property lawyer Frank Higginson says ARAMA is the “single voice of reason” that the management rights industry needs for protection.

“If ARAMA is not at the table, then the management rights industry has no protection from those who would seek to change it,” said Mr Higginson, Director, Hynes Legal.

“We all see what happens to fragmented industries –they can get run over by any number of things, not the last of which is regulatory change.

“With membership numbers comes bargaining position and influence. But the thing that gets me the most about people who own management rights not being ARAMA members is that they more than likely have their life savings tied up in these businesses and the membership fee for ARAMA is a very small price to pay as a form of insurance to make sure that their investment is protected.”

Mr Higginson said the “protection from undue or untoward legislative change” had been one of the biggest achievements of ARAMA and praised its advocacy during recent threats to cut terms from 25 years to 10 and even three.

“I’ve seen the business of management rights grow bigger and bigger over the last 20 years,” he said.

“Like anything, if you provide good service and provide value for money you’re going to be fine, but if you’re lazy and sloppy and take things for granted and don’t do what you’re required to do in the job there’s going to be consequences.

“I must have had hundreds or even thousands of clients over the years. You know the ones who will do well in the business because they just deliver. They are communicative, they engage, they know what’s going on, they are professional and they just look after people. That ultimately pays for itself in the end when they’re looking for a sale, or a top up, or other support from their committee.”

Michael Philpott, from MR Sales, who has spent more than 40 years in real estate and brokered some of the biggest-ever MLR deals, says ARAMA provides a forum to “protect, grow and educate the industry” and provide access to like-minded professionals and organisations that have considerable experience and want to add value to the industry.

“Additionally, as a collective group we have a voice with government that is heard. Without ARAMA that voice is insignificant in the context of politics. ARAMA is very much an insurance policy for our industry.

“It has been the voice that has kept the industry alive and continued to thrive, lifting the level of professionalism along the way.

“ARAMA also protects the industry from discussions over building classifications that have the ability to close a number of management rights. It is essential to the long-term protection and survival of the industry and is very much a cheap insurance policy for every member’s investment in the management rights sector.”

One of Australia’s most experienced and successful MLR specialists, Alex Cook, first came to Australia as a DJ and music promoter, but he has recorded even more hits in property.

Now a director of ResortBrokers, Brisbane-based Mr Cook has sold more than $250 million in MLR with some of the biggest sales in Australia and has been appointed to the ARAMA board.

“I’ve always been a big proponent of ARAMA, and if you are active in

Mike O’Farrell

David Ekberg with son Adam

Alex Cook

ARAMA’s Management Rights Industry Training Program attendees

Michael Philpott

Photo: Joseph Byford

Photo: Joseph Byford Frank Higginson

the management rights industry, I see it as your duty to be an ARAMA member,” Mr Cook said.

“Management rights is built on legislation, and legislation can be changed. It’s critical to have a professional body protecting and defending the industry against those who would benefit from its demise. A lot of people out there don’t like management rights – they don’t get it or they’re jealous of it and they try to make changes to it, and that can devalue the industry.

“ARAMA does a wonderful job representing the industry and getting our position across. Even experienced managers need to consider ARAMA as an insurance policy for all the money they have invested in the industry.”

Taking ARAMA’s advice is essential

David Ekberg teed off into the world of management rights three years ago and the former golf pro has come a fair way since then. He’s now onto his second property – the lovely Sanctuary Beach Resort in family-friendly Currumbin.

David, who helped golf become a big hit in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, is making one massive drive after another to put in another great round at his second management rights property.

He doesn’t get to play as much golf as he used to, but he and his wife Eva made their first management rights property Beaches on Wave at Mermaid Beach a real winner, and now David has another star at Sanctuary Beach. He says taking advice from ARAMA is essential for anyone in the business.

“People are spending $1 million and sometimes a lot more to get into management rights,

which is a huge amount of money,” David said.

“I did an ARAMA course and went to one of their training days. I asked the CEO of ARAMA, Trevor Rawnsley about getting help in the business and he recommended Mike O’Farrell. Mike is a board member of ARAMA and has a big complex called Riverside in Brisbane.

“Mike gave us advice right from the beginning, even making sure we got the right complex. I looked at a few properties that I thought would be good, but he said ‘no’ to them for various reasons.

“When we bought into Beaches on Wave, he helped us sort out a lot of things early on to help it run smoothly.”

David and Eva had a break of about five or six months in between selling Beaches on Wave and buying at Sanctuary Beach, and in that time, David helped at a few different resorts.

“You see that service is so important. There is a massive difference between the standard of some properties and the way they run them,” he said. “You can tell straight away which managers have gone to the ARAMA training courses and which ones haven’t.

“Believe me, the ARAMA courses are money well spent and make a huge difference.”

While many in the management rights industry might see ARAMA membership as the opportunity to network with peers or receive industry updates, the association also delivers a regular schedule of educational material, seminars, and training events.

The association also does a great deal of work behind the scenes as was evidenced in the clean-up after recent floods in Queensland and NSW.

ARAMA’s advocacy pays huge dividends

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

ARAMA has been fighting for the rights of resident managers since its inception more than 30 years ago.

John Mahoney, founding partner of Mahoneys Lawyers & Advisors said: “Quite simply, our industry owes much of its success and standing in the community to the efforts of ARAMA. I encourage all resident managers to become members of ARAMA so that they can benefit from the services it offers and so that ARAMA can continue the exceptional work it does behind the scenes to protect and improve our industry.

“It is difficult to imagine where the management rights industry would be today had it not been for the involvement of ARAMA and its precursor, QRAMA.

Looking back at some of the issues they have had to battle over the years, I cannot help but think about how fortunate the industry is to have had such great advocates.

“Regrettably, many resident managers are unaware of the ‘behind the scenes’ work that ARAMA has done over many years, and continues to do, for their industry. Although not appreciated by many, the most critical, and most successful role that ARAMA plays, and historically the reason why ARAMA exists, is to represent the management rights industry in dealings with the government in statutory review and enforcement and, where appropriate, in the courts.

“The other critical reason for its existence is to educate and inform participants in the industry.”

Back in 1998, QRAMA supported the management at Ocean Breeze in their damages case that is said to have cost the building’s body corporate $1 million.

In his Resort News columns, QRAMA’s then-president

Barry Turner reported that the association was having major input into the Body Corporate and Community Management Act, and the Code of Conduct for the Agents and Motor Dealers Bill.

For the first time legislation recognised the role and responsibilities of restricted letting agents and this was a huge milestone for the industry.

In 1999, the next QRAMA president Kim Cox told Resort News that the holiday letting business managed by QRAMA members generated $200 million annually and that self-catering holidays were now the backbone of the domestic tourism dollar. Those self-catering holidays remain the backbone of the industry which has grown exponentially in the years since.

And ARAMA has been the insurance policy for the industry, even in the recent debate over cutting 25-year terms, making sure legislation protects rather than harms such an important piece of Australia’s tourism revenue.

ARAMA also protects its members through innovative help.

In 2020, ARAMA introduced its A-MAP – ARAMA’s Member Assistance Program, which provides a crisis counselling hotline.

In 2021, A-LEGAL was launched, providing free legal cover of up to $500,000 if members become involved in litigation.

As a regulated industry, management rights exist in a diverse range of long-stay and short-stay residential complexes in strata and community title properties.

Australia now has about 240,000 schemes, 3300 of which are recognised as “managed” complexes. The MLR industry today reflects a business that not only has to attract visitors but also investors.

ARAMA CEO, Trevor Rawnsley, says the fact governments have legislatively recognised the MLR industry as an integral part of the high-density living management structure of the strata and community title industry continues to provide opportunities for ARAMA to underpin the professional development and culture of those working in the management rights industry.

“Onsite management rights models operating in strata and community title properties are understood to offer owners numerous advantages, including higher rental yields and lower caretaking and facility management costs,” Mr Rawnsley said.

“For over 30 years ARAMA and

its predecessor QRAMA have been at the forefront of advocacy for our industry. Our lobbying work in Queensland back in the 1980s and early 1990s is the reason management rights in Queensland is such a lucrative business model today.”

Management rights has been operating in one form or another for more than 50 years, developing a successful operating track record to match the growth of the community and strata title industry.

Mr Rawnsley says 80 percent of his focus as ARAMA CEO is advocacy on behalf of the industry. As a trusted peak industry body, ARAMA is listened to by the legislators and can open doors that a solitary business would never be able to. ARAMA members can have a say with direct input into the laws that affect their business. ARAMA is a collective of the combined efforts of its members and is like an insurance policy, making sure that the MLR industry stays strong and profitable.

Mr Rawnsley said membership of the association could mean the difference between a roaring financial success and failure in a MLR business.

“ARAMA is at the coalface of any disputes affecting its members,” he said.

John Mahoney, Mahoneys Lawyers & Advisors

“And we are always ready to advocate on their behalf.”

A few years ago, an ARAMA member in Cairns received a visit from a tax auditor who asked why they were not charging GST on their holiday rentals like hotels and motels did.

The tax auditor produced a tax bill of more than $380,000 for failing to pay GST backdated to the preceding three years. The tax man made an order that the resident manager should start charging GST immediately and if necessary, re-coup the unpaid tax from the individual lot owners AFTER the tax bill was paid.

That tax bill would have ruined that resident manager and closed the business if he had not been an ARAMA member. Instead, ARAMA put together a team of specialised taxation and legal experts and got to work with a successful appeal against the tax ruling.

Without ARAMA advocating on behalf of the entire industry every other building manager who faced a similar challenge would have had to fight the Tax Office on their own. It could have meant financial ruin for many operators and Armageddon for the MLR industry as a whole.

Then, about three years ago the NSW Government was about to introduce some major reforms to licensing laws. One proposed law (if passed) would have required anyone who bought a management rights

business to obtain three years of work experience as a real estate agent before they could operate an MLR business and operate a trust account.

ARAMA told the government that it was a policy change that would ruin the entire industry and end a great resurgence in NSW tourism by costing thousands of bed nights. ARAMA argued – successfully – for a re-think of that policy as it would have decreased the value of a typical MLR business in NSW from (for instance) $2.5 million to about $750,000.

If ARAMA hadn’t acted swiftly and achieved that outcome, it could have wrecked the MLR industry in NSW.

ARAMA’s advocacy work also saw the break-up of PAMDA which brought about the birth of the Property Occupations Act in Queensland.

Mr Rawnsley said that was something that simply would not have happened the way it did without the association’s involvement. Extensive lobbying for resident letting agents’ licensees included the removal of the requirement to live onsite, a more efficient and user-friendly assignment process, the removal of caps on commissions, and the capacity to have a license for multiple buildings wherever they might be located.

ARAMA also helped to ensure that the transfer fee was based on the period as resident

manager, capped at one or two percent for the first two years and zero percent, thereafter, saving tens of thousands of dollars on the sale transaction.

ARAMA is also a pre-approved association authorised to deliver certain components of the continuing professional development requirement for licensees in NSW.

Other key achievements in recent years included providing financial support for the Victorian Court of Appeal action against a manager over the use of a Class 2 building for short-term letting.

ARAMA is involved in advocacy to protect the MLR industry every single day. Whether it’s the threat of competition from outside agents or facility management companies, emerging digital disruptors such as Airbnb and Stayz, the exorbitant

commissions and bullying tactics of Online Travel Agents, or local zoning laws proposing bans on short-stay letting, new governments, ministers and bureaucrats will always be provoked by interest groups with self-serving agendas to curtail the business of management rights.

Mr Rawnsley said that ARAMA was grateful to be consulted by various government legislators and policy writers on proposed legislative changes before they were made public.

“This is a huge benefit for members because their voice can be heard and listened to,” Mr Rawnsley said. “However, influencing the top level is a numbers game - governments respond to numbers and the more members we have, the more representative power we have.”

Syndication and franchising in a new age

By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter

One of the big changes in the Management and Letting Rights (MLR) industry in recent years has been the number of syndicates and corporate entities buying into it.

Twenty years ago the industry was almost exclusively ‘mum and dad’ operators, and while figures produced by property economist Josh Mangelson, from ResortBrokers, suggest families still run 80 percent of MLR businesses, the numbers are definitely changing.

In recent years large corporate entities, such as Accor, with their Mantra band, and Minor Hotels with their Oaks brand, along with companies such as Quest and Mosaic have been the ones with the money to buy large net profit schemes.

Accor is the world’s largest hotelier but they also have the world’s largest holding in management rights buildings and while those buildings are mostly in Queensland, where the MLR industry flourishes, they also have buildings in Sydney and Melbourne.

There are also small and medium-sized groups in the MLR space such as ULTIQA Hotels & Resorts, Dreamtime Resorts, StayCo, and CLLIX Apartments and Hotels, which are also making their significant presence felt.

CLLIX Apartments and Hotels oversees 18 properties and 800 apartments; 12 of the properties are in Queensland – Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast – five are in Melbourne, and one is in Adelaide.

StayCo operates resort and holiday properties on the Gold Coast and Noosa and is one of the largest operators in the Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise markets.

There are also more and more sophisticated investors with skin in the game forming syndicates to use the economies of scale when buying management rights schemes, sometimes with hundreds of lots. These syndicates bring together investors and operators and help managers get a leg-up when they otherwise wouldn’t have the capacity to borrow the necessary funds.

Josh Mangleson, Property Economist, ResortBrokers

Craig Hooley, Chief Operating Officer, Minor Hotels

Oaks Brisbane on Charlotte Suites

Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort

Oaks Elan Darwin

Oaks Oasis Resort

Another business model that is starting to make real inroads into MLR is franchising.

Craig Hooley, the Chief Operating Officer, Minor Hotels, says his company has four properties with franchise agreements already signed, three with the Oaks Hotels, Resorts & Suites brand and one under the Avani Hotels & Resorts banner.

The company is negotiating franchising deals on 30 more serviced apartment properties under the Oaks banner.

“We unveiled our first franchised hotel in January last year – Oaks Toowoomba Hotel,” he said.

“We took the position to franchise because of an inherent demand for the support that a franchise framework can provide.

“What we found, particularly in regional locations in Australia, is that the properties are generally smaller businesses, with managers who are not experienced operators and in need of support.

“By joining an established growing global company, operators can access benefits including extensive distribution

networks, an international loyalty program of 20 million members, an experienced central reservations centre and corporate account programs.

“Our experienced team also provides phone support to operators seeking consultation, at any time.”

Mr Hooley said the Oaks franchise model supported smaller operations.

“Because the management rights business is becoming more competitive, operators must have better systems and brand awareness,” he said.

“It requires a significant investment of time and money to build those things, but through franchising, operators can take advantage of our established brand and distribution system, as well as access training in the standards of customer service required to be competitive.”

Mr Hooley said the Oaks franchising model also provided relief managers which were often sorely needed at family-run businesses where the operators were often crying out for a break.

Ruby Gold Coast by CLLIX

CLLIX Apartments is a pioneering company in the Management and Letting Rights (MLR) business, leading the way with innovative technology solutions. Shankar Kotha, the Chief Commercial Officer, describes the company’s model as a “tech-enabled hospitality solution” for its 18 properties and 8500 apartments, which it manages on behalf of the unit owners.

At the heart of CLLIX’s groundbreaking innovations is RMS Cloud (RMS), provided by a company with more than 40 years of experience in property management system technology. The trust accounting module is supported by industry partner ARAMA, solidifying RMS as one of the most reliable platforms globally. The capabilities of RMS were recognised by this tech-forward enterprise and employed throughout its properties, a testament to the strength of RMS.

CLLIX utilises RMS software across all its properties, encompassing the short-term letting division. Mr Kotha emphasised the seamless integration of RMS in organising Trust Cash Transactions reports for auditors, ensuring compliance with numerical order receipts.

“Our transactions and guest profile history are managed through the RMS system. With our focus on MLR, we rely on the RMS system to handle all our transactions in accordance with trust requirements.”

RMS provides an all-in-one solution for the business. “Pretty much everything happens within the RMS system,” Mr Kotha said.

“We have a centralised corporate office that liaises regularly with the RMS team to

make sure that everything is compliant and that we are doing everything by the book when it comes to statutory compliance.

“Our reservation team members make bookings in RMS Cloud and when the guests arrive at the property they are checked into the system. We handle payments through the system and when the guests are departing the property, we check them out through the system.”

Garth Kay, Head of Customer Success - Global at RMS, underscored RMS’ integral role at CLLIX Apartments and Hotels in boosting operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.

“RMS Cloud has become a great asset to CLLIX’s success, optimising pricing and availability to maximise revenue while ensuring an exceptional guest experience,” he said.

Mr Kay highlighted the power of RMS technology – on how it is revolutionising guest communication through features like 2-way SMS solutions.

“It enables streamlined communication between properties, staff, and guests, fostering convenience and stronger guest relationships. Personalised interactions, including booking confirmations and timely responses to inquiries, contributing to overall guest satisfaction and loyalty.

“RMS’ extensive partner directory, boasting over 550 integrations, has empowered CLLIX to curate a custom tech stack tailored to their specific needs.

“Through partner integrations facilitated by RMS Cloud, such as Duetto, CLLIX has gained access to sophisticated revenue optimisation capabilities. Leveraging datadriven insights from RMS’ robust technology, Duetto helps to enable dynamic pricing adjustments in response to market demand and competitor rates,” explained Mr Kay.

“This proactive approach allows CLLIX to capitalise on real-time revenue opportunities across their 18 properties, providing a significant edge in the competitive hospitality landscape.”

Mr Kotha added that CLLIX leverages the RMS Channel Manager feature for distribution to online travel agents, government agencies and corporate clients. Mr Kotha said his company was rebranded as CLLIX about 18 months ago when directors saw a real need for the company to provide a digitally savvy offering for the market.

CLLIX deployed self-check-in kiosks for automation of guest check-ins in partnership with H2TechLabs and RMS.

The partnership between CLLIX and RMS is integral to the brands continued success, with RMS’ global presence poised to elevate CLLIX’s aggressive expansion strategy to new heights. Leveraging RMS’ technology, already deployed in more than 70 countries, CLLIX is wellpositioned to achieve its growth ambitions on a global scale, with the help of RMS.

Mr Kotha said: “Our founder and CEO Michael Song started the company about nine years ago with Arena Apartments which is currently part of our portfolio.

“We are true to the MLR business and that’s where our growth has come from. We have 12 properties in Queensland – in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, five in Melbourne, and one in Adelaide.

“We have a very agile MLR operation under Michael Song, who is a dynamic CEO, and we are heavily investing in our technology.

“We want to go global and in fact we have plans to land our first overseas acquisition this year.”

Brisbane Skytower by CLLIX, image supplied.