OCN made a short submission on the draft Practice Standard for Professional Engineers, noting that this Practice Standard should also apply to all building consultants.
The OCN welcomes the opportunity to comment upon the Building Bill 2023 – Licensing Proposals. The OCN is one of, if not the most, important stakeholder in this area, but does not have the resources or paid staff or lobbyists that industry stakeholders have.
15 JULY 2023 Brian Tucker is forking out thousands of dollars on quarterly strata fees and paying down his mortgage on an apartment that's been uninhabitable for more than four years. So far this year NSW Fair Trading has issued more than 30 work rectification orders across building sites, including The Laneways Rosebery, which remains empty and has serious structural defects, and Toplace's Vicinity complex in Canterbury over "potential serious defects". [...]
13 JULY 2023 Patrick Quintal was newly married and eager to begin a fresh chapter when he bought a Sydney apartment two years ago. Now the IT manager feels financially trapped, fearing a $180,000 repair bill after the developer of his apartment, Toplace, went into administration. Karen Stiles, head of peak residential strata body Owners Corporation Network, said the situation surrounding Toplace was "not a one-off occurrence". She said apartment owners [...]
12 JULY 2023 OCN talks to Ruby Cornish, ABC News, after apartment developer Toplace goes into voluntary administration, leaving apartment owners in financial ruin. Watch ABC News:> HERE
12 JULY 2023 Controversial Sydney developer Jean Nassif is being urged to submit to authorities as his company collapses, a month after a warrant was issued for his arrest. NSW Fair Trading this week said it was working with Strata Communities Australia and the Owners Corporation Network to help strata managers and owners in Toplace buildings. The agency advised buyers with deposits on off-the-plan Toplace sales to contact their conveyancer or legal [...]
11 JULY 2023 Every time IT manager Patrick Quintal leaves work to travel home, he feels sick with dread that his apartment building may no longer be standing. Each night when he goes to sleep, he dreams about waking up buried beneath rubble. The former chair of apartment peak body, the Owners Corporation Network, Stephen Goddard, says Vicinity has all the hallmarks of the Mascot Towers disaster. “At this stage it [...]
11 JUNE 2023 Builders and developers have been told to fix shonky work across 33 properties by NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, as the government announces an extension to the building dispute resolution scheme. Project Intervene allows owners’ corporations to dob in serious defects in common areas of buildings, provided the buildings are four or more stories high and built less than six years ago, and have the commissioner negotiate with [...]
6 MARCH 2023 The "opportunities" the new Minister has range from an out of control residential market to a stuttering strata complaints system, via an unprecedented housing crisis. One significant step forward the new government could take would be to support the Owners Corporation Network, which represents strata owners, with substantial guaranteed finance for the next four years, as it does with the Tenants' Union. Apartment owners are not the enemy [...]
13 FEBRUARY 2023 Owners Corporation Network Executive Officer Karen Stiles welcomed the announcement of the new panel, but said Mascot Tower owners had been let down by all levels of government for many years. “As the peak body representing apartment owners, the Owners Corporation Network welcomes Minister Dominello’s announcement that an expert panel led by David Chandler OAM will assess the best way forward with Mascot Towers,” Stiles said. “It’s not [...]
Owners Corporation Network
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