The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) is the peak body for owners and investors in residential strata developments.
OCN's strength lies in the fact that it's an organisation of owners helping owners - people who have experience of strata living; who have confronted many of its inherent problems; and who have evolved strategies for dealing with the problems that the rapid growth in apartment and townhouse living inevitably brings. Our expertise is based not only on knowledge and experience, but on empathy – we understand the emotional impact of strata issues, as well as the legal, social and financial implications of living under a different set of rules from those that apply to free-standing homes.
Through representation, lobbying, information-sharing and networking, we perform a vital service for our members that supports them in living in and/or investing in strata titled property.
We give our members a voice at both State and Federal levels, and an opportunity to put forward their views on problems, solutions and the kind of future that, as apartment owners, we’d all like to see.
Our resources and services may save members thousands of dollars and an immense amount of heartache in the long run!
As far as strata nightmares go, it was one of the very worst.
Apartment owners had just uncovered around $5 million worth of defects in their building in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, their Building Manager was employed by the developer and was refusing to cooperate, and their Strata Manager, they’d found out, had been generously paying other clients’ bills out of their funds.
“It was an absolutely horrendous situation,” says the Chair of the Owners Corporation. “We didn’t know what to do, or which way to turn.”
In the end, they sought help from a surprising source: other owners. They phoned the Chairs and Secretaries of Executive Committees of other big buildings around Sydney and called a meeting. There, everyone talked about their own issues – and then sat back, stunned, at the realisation they were all struggling to cope with very similar problems.
By networking with each other, discussing issues, advising each other on the resolution of disputes we had all faced, and seeking out experts to address us on certain subjects, we gradually learned an enormous amount about an industry that had previously had no input at all from one of the major, and arguably one of the most important, stakeholders: apartment buyers. Issues of equity and social justice for this group had never before been addressed, the rights and responsibilities in the consumer/trader relationship had never before been adequately explored from the consumer point of view.
As a result, a new organisation was born – the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), made up of EC members of buildings all around Sydney, meeting regularly to exchange information, educate themselves about strata issues, help each other out with various problems, and lobby Government for more protection in the legislation.
Seven years on, the OCN has become a vibrant and active force on the strata scene.
By sharing experiences and disseminating information through:
We have appeared at commissions of inquiry (most notably the 2002 Cambell Inquiry into building self-certification); met regulary with departmental officers and ministers for Fair Trading and Planning; and made substantive submissions to the Office of Fair Trading the Department of Planning on strata legislation changes
Our opinions are frequently sought on current legislation and the need for reform, from Government departments, from politicians of all political parties, from local councillors, from various industry bodies, and the media.
These have included:
We have appeared at conferences on panels with a variety of parties, from developers to building management companies, politicians to academics. Recent talks have included:
We are regularly called upon to comment on strata issues, and proactively talk to media about issues that warrant attention - as evidenced by our representations on the problems of long-term building management and strata management contracts, that later led to legislation to limit their scope in the future; and the issue of contracted proxies which are about to be outlawed in NSW. OCN has appeared in numerous media, including SBS, SBC TV, Channel 7, Channel 10, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Daily Telegrah, The Sun Herald, the Sydney Morning Herald.