OCN General Meeting

Time: 
15 May 2010 - 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location: 

Station House, Jackson’s Landing,
Bowman Street,
Pyrmont
(located directly opposite Jones St)

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The subject of discussion for this meeting will be:

STRATA TERMINATION - is 100% consent of owners the best way forward, or should a lower threshold be the way of the future.

Property developers are lobbying the NSW State Government to to change the proportion of owners required to approve terminating a strata scheme from 100% to something in the order of 75%.

A few examples of why a strata scheme may be considered for termination are:

  • The building is at the end of its economic life. It is old, it is out of fashion, its plumbing etc needs replacement, it is costing more to maintain than to re-develop.
  • The building becomes structurally unsound. Action of some kind is imperative.
  • Council places an order on the building, and again, appropriate action is imperative.
  • Some owners see a need to re-develop before the end of its economic life. The lifestyle considerations of individual owners will be more varied and subjective.
  • An external developer initiates purchase of the building for re-development. The decision remains with the owners, and again, their reactions will be more varied.
  • A single party may gradually acquire more apartments in the building in the hope that it will be able to purchase all. This is a simple case of commercial risk and does not need special consideration.
  • A major accident, act of god, or terrorism incident may require major re-instatement or re-development.
  • Compulsory acquisition.

There are also moves to give the State Government the right to compulsorily acquire properties for re-development.

These are serious issues which can impact thousands of strata owners and residents in the future. They attempt to remove a basic right we take for granted certainty of title.

The entire meeting will be devoted to discussion of these matters.

A guest speaker from the Urban Development Institute of Australia will present the case for the proposed legislative changes.

Helen Smith (OCN Committee member) will present the case against.

Members will have the opportunity to voice their opinions.

If you would like to be better informed prior to the meeting about the proposed changes , there are many links to recent media reports on the homepage