QLD State Recap – Spring 2020

I am excited that finally the Australian College of Professionals (ACOP) is now taking enrolments for the Certificate IV in Strata Management for Queensland. 

We have been liaising with ACOP for the better part of 2020 to get the modules amended for Queensland strata managers as our members have been keen to upskill. The course modules have been developed to match Queensland’s regulatory framework and terminology.

We have always advocated for the importance of certification among strata managers to guarantee professionalism in the industry and we have just recently upgraded our CPD framework with more changes to the pathway coming.

BCCM and COVID Regulations

Seven years in the making, SCA (Qld) is pleased that the amended Body Corporate and Community Management Regulations have finally been released and are commending in March 2021. It has been a long seven years, not just for SCA (Qld), but for everyone living and working in strata, having to work around some quite archaic processes. Since this reform agenda was first announced in 2014, we have actively engaged and pushed for these reforms to be turned into legislation, finally released in October.

Overall, these regulations are a step in the right direction for strata reform, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. SCA (Qld) has pushed hard for the last seven years to get these changes through by providing submissions, attending briefings, and lobbying for progress on finalising the regulations when the cogs of government appeared to be stalled.

The BCCM modules that have been released closely reflect our work with government, in particular our feedback on particular issues in the draft regulation relating to lot owners’ ability to submit motions for committee meetings to ensure that sensible limitations were put in place to balance the interests of all owners.

SCA (Qld) has liaised with the QUT Property Law Review Panel in the first four years of the review, provided more than two dozen submissions to the various stages of White Papers, Consultation Drafts and Draft Regulations including targeted confidential stakeholder feedback. We also ensured that some of the other more substantial matters requiring reform were addressed, although many of these are on hold for the next stage when the BCCM Act will be reviewed. In anticipation of the amended regulations, a working group had assisted SCA (Qld) to prepare a member guide to understand the major changes and we held a seminar attended by 220 members, answering any initial questions. Myself and two of our Board Members, Jason Carlson and Duncan Lee, presented and gave a full breakdown of the key aspects of the new BCCM Regulations, including changes to committee meetings, requirements for general meetings and defect assessments.

SCA (Qld) has been meeting with Members of Parliament in the lead up to the State Election in October. We have met with Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, Shadow Attorney-General David Janetzki MP, Julie-Ann Campbell MP, Jackie Trad, Tim Nicholls MP and Robbie Katter MP to ensure all our concerns around North Queensland Insurance, defects and lot owner rights are made a priority for the next government. Many politicians have supported our calls, but the work will continue to advocate audibly and make strata a priority.

SCA (Qld) Education

Over the past year SCA (Qld) has worked to build on the past success of our education program. Our goal was to not only provide more education opportunities, but to provide content that our members wanted to see. One of our top highlights in education is our Certificate IV in Strata Management is now live with ACOP! SCA (Qld) is committed to providing our members with the opportunity to continually develop their skills and knowledge. The Certificate IV Strata Community Management has been developed to align with part of the Strata Community Association requirements for accreditation as a Level 2 Certified Strata Community Manager (CSCM). We provided several education opportunities during the start of COVID-19 to keep our members up to date on the latest legislation. We also held two pop-up webinars on the new BCCM Regulations and the COVID-19 Emergency Response for Community Title Schemes. In the past few months we also held our standard A100, Strata Starter and Committee Training courses with an increase in attendance numbers.

Our Education Calendar has increased significantly over the last year with webinar attendance up 91% since last year. With 34 webinars across the year with an average attendance of 68 per webinar, we had a total of 68 functions with more than 3,700 registrations.

Our Education Calendar has increased significantly over the last year with webinar attendance up 91% since last year. With 34 webinars across the year with an average attendance of 68 per webinar, we had a total of 68 functions with more than 3,700 registrations.

Adapting to a Post-COVID Industry 

Strata Managers Looking to the Future

There is a shortage of good strata managers, so if you are one – continue to be good at what you do and become resilient towards the pressures that exist in strata. You will not be able to change other people’s behaviour dramatically, but you can learn to not take it home. The lack of licensing or registration in Queensland should not be a deterrent in undertaking training and development. Life is full of constant learning and companies thrive if their teams are engaged, eager to learn and on a path of constant improvement. As business owners, we should all invest the time to investigate what our companies need to continue their success. Do you need technology? Do you need to work on your culture? Or do you need to define your pillars of success, that are non-financial? Posttraumatic growth is inevitable but can only be achieved with critical and honest reflection. There is nothing wrong in questioning your business, talking about what is broken without blaming.