19 JUNE 2019 I write this piece as one of the lucky apartment owners. Lucky not because I managed to break into the apartment market, but because I survived it financially intact.The predicament facing Opal Tower and Mascot Towers apartment owners is only the visible tip of a very big iceberg. So my advice to my kids today, and anyone who'll listen, is this: do not buy a new apartment, especially [...]
18 JUNE 2019 With faults and cracks discovered over the weekend in Sydney’s Mascot Towers apartment complex – and similar cracks in Opal Tower six months ago – the spotlight is back on the quality of New South Wales apartment buildings. Research from the University of NSW in 2015 found that 85% of new apartment buildings had defects at completion – mostly with waterproofing and fire detection systems – and the [...]
31 MARCH 2019 In 2012 researchers at UNSW found that an estimated 85 percent of new strata buildings were found to have defects after completion – yet consumer protection has not been a priority. Someone buying a toaster or a fridge has more recourse under NSW consumer law than someone spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an apartment! OCN has articulated the key changes to legislation that need to occur [...]
21 MARCH 2019 Download PDF: OCN Submission - Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Building Defects Scheme) Regulation
7 MARCH 2019 Despite the wailing of design consultants about the implications of the Lacrosse judgement and the Opal Tower engineering report, the importance of a viable Design and Construct constructor in these cases has proved critical to a way forward. The experiences and the processes that apartment owners have endured is unreasonable in a modern construction industry. It is evident that better design management skills, risk management and trustworthy performance [...]
OCN MEDIA RELEASE: 6 March 2019“Our members welcome Labor’s commitment to create a Strata Commissioner”, Phil Gall, Chairman of the Owners Corporation Network of Australia, said today.“The time is right to create a ministry for housing that brings housing, strata and property services together in one portfolio”.“Strata housing and the communities it creates are the product of Government policy. If Government wants our massively growing population to live in high rise, [...]
28 FEBRUARY 2019 The NSW strata sector is now housing more than a million people, however, it does not receive the level of government focus and support it needs and deserves. OCN advocates for the rights and interests of strata owners, residents and owners’ associations, and has identified a number of measures the NSW state government should implement as a matter of urgency to ensure the sector’s voice is heard. > [...]
6 FEBRUARY 2019 Last year was huge for the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), the only significant body for apartment owners, run by apartment owners. Most notably, they were hugely instrumental in turning what would have been potentially the worst short-term holiday letting (STHL) laws in the country into what could well be the very best. But it’s a new year and that means new challenges, not least the Opal Tower crisis [...]
30 OCTOBER 2018 Download PDF: OCN Submission - Improving Certifier Independence
28 AUGUST 2018 Download PDF: > OCN Submissions - Easy & Transparent Trading
Owners Corporation Network
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