Welcome to the second part of Lawyer In The Hot Seat, in which strata lawyer (and Flat Chat sponsor) David Bannerman invited us on to his webinar.

This week, Jimmy asks and David answers your questions about the NSW strata information hub and whether it might deter people from taking office-bearer roles in strata committees.

On short-term letting, David suggests that an over-crowding by-law may be the most effective way of dealing with abuses, especially with its much higher fines.

We discuss strata committees wrongly using OC funds for political campaigns – even when they are strata-related (such as pro or anti-pets and EV charging).

We also look at questions about the right to view CCTV after a theft from a car, who compensates a tenant when their parking is closed off, a two-lot strata scheme with no records, inadequate lighting on a dark pathway and what you can do when your upstairs neighbour exposes their floorboards and becomes a noise nuisance.

That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

TRANSCRIPT IN FULL

Jimmy  00:00

Hello, this is the second part of the coverage of our webinar, 'Lawyer in the Hot Seat,' with strata lawyer, David Bannerman. This week, we pick up on the question of the Strata Hub; the information repository, that some people think might be asking us to give too much information, such as personal phone numbers and email addresses. There's a whole heap of other stuff, including some questions that were sent in, as we were doing the webinar. So, sit back and enjoy. Once again, the sound quality isn't up to our usual standards, because we recorded it on Zoom, but it's okay. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review and this is the Flat Chat Wrap.

Jimmy

The hub; the famous Strata Hub, David... The question is, how will owners corporations entice strata committee members to become office bearers, when their private email addresses and phone numbers will be available to every resident of the building (and owner, who might not be a resident). Do you see that as an issue, coming up?

David Bannerman  01:24

The Strata Hub is certainly a bone of contention at the moment, with the strata industry, particularly the strata managers. They're concerned, that they will lose some members who are willing to be office bearers, because the two office bearer's positions will be shared with all the owners. The secretary's position and the chairperson's position, and the way it's framed; even though the manager's delegated the functions, that won't suffice, by simply inserting the strata manager's details. It will need to be the individual committee person, who's appointed as a chairperson, and likewise, the secretary. That is a position there that will also be disclosed to various parties, being the emergency contact person, such as the police and emergency services. Now, the strata managing agent can be appointed to that position. I think that in small buildings, where people already know everybody, it won't have any impact on that position, but I think that in larger buildings, like 100-odd lots, where there could be a lot more emails than what a secretary or chairperson might wish to receive from random occupants or owners, that they may prefer not to take that position. So, it could have an impact on that larger scale.

Jimmy  02:49

Yes, and I think the problem is that, as many people have said, it's hard enough to get people to do the job sometimes, because the kind of people that you want to be in the position of chair or secretary, are smart, intelligent, successful people, who might be already busy, being smart, intelligent and successful in their working life. They certainly don't want to be sitting there at work and get an email saying 'what about that barking dog in flat 17?' You know, it's that kind of thing; or the abusive ones, that occasionally come up. I remember years ago, somebody said to me that one resident out of ever...