State Comparison Guide

Many people are involved in strata title around Australia. NCTI operates to bring them together on a national basis so that their collective experiences and efforts can help each other make things easier and achieve better outcomes.

All stakeholders including managers, suppliers, advisors, owners and executives participate in NCTI activities through their membership and obtain the benefits of access to their peers around the country.

But, each state is different. Different titling systems, different laws governing strata title scheme operation and varying management practices. The differences can be frustrating to people involved in strata in more than one place but they also provide opportunities to compare laws and practices from one place to another and to find ways to improve laws or practices.
And, increasingly strata businesses operate in more than one state and many owners also own strata title properties in multiple states.

So, a national view is essential to an increasing number of people about how strata laws work, where they are the same (or similar) and where they differ. As a result, NCTI has decided to publish a Guide to help everyone.

It’s called How different are we? State by state comparison of strata & community title management (link: 1.35Mb PDF) and below is its story.

Many States In One Country

Australia is one country with 6 states and 2 territories. In every state and territory there is strata title property, an active and established management industry and there are laws governing the creation and management of strata title schemes.

But in all states strata title is based on titling and title registration systems rather than strata scheme operation; management laws are secondary.

And, each state or territory has a different titling system; operating independently from each other; using different processes; titling in different ways; and administered by different government departments.

So, strata title laws around Australia have no underlying or conceptual consistency even though there is some practical consistency across the country.

Too Many Laws?

If you start counting the laws about strata title around Australia you will find more than 50 separate Acts, more than 40 separate Regulations and over 100 prescribed forms.
There’s also been law reform somewhere in Australia almost every year in the last 20 years. For example, in NSW there have been 5 major and 5 minor law changes in 45 years. There are too many laws in too many places to keep up with.

Different Stakeholders

There are also many scheme stakeholders such as the strata schemes themselves, owners, executives, mortgagees, managers, service providers, government, etc.

There are also more and more multiple ownership and service situations around Australia where people own strata properties in more than one state, businesses provide services in more than one state or regulation occurs over multistate operators.

But most of those involved in strata assume uniform operation of strata schemes around Australia. Why wouldn’t they? And, all are confused by the differences when they discover them.

Why a Guide?

So, a guide to strata title around Australia is useful to everyone because – the details are inherently complex, not everyone has the time to study them properly sometimes a quick answer or clue is enough, a guide gives you a place to start from, and a guide is easier to keep up to date.

And, many people (whether NCTI members or not) benefit from the NCTI’s Guide including – anyone working in more than one state, anyone with clients who are multi-state, anyone interested in new legislation, and anyone interested in better and/or uniform strata laws.

The history to the NCTI Guide

The NCTI Guide started as an idea in 2005 and was presented as a Cross State Matrix at the 2006 NCTI Congress in Geelong by Matt Amber and Francesco Andreone. It received excellent feedback and ongoing support as a concept.

In 2007 NCTI adopted the creation of a national comparative guide as a major project for NCTI and work began on how to advance the project.

In 2008 Andreones, Lawyers offered to support the project by underwriting the research and preparation for NCTI.

And, in July 2008 the first NCTI Guide has been published and was showcased at the NCTI 2008 Convention in Darwin. It’s an important step forward for NCTI.

What happens next for the Guide?

The NCTI Guide is a 5 year project with annual versions published each July. Each NCTI Guide will include NCTI information, 12 or more operational areas, resources, law reforms information and feedback forms.

The annual updates will reflect law and practice changes as well as adding new operational areas and more details to the existing parts of the guide.

Why Andreones, Lawyers ?

Andreones, Lawyers was the obvious partner for NCTI on the NCTI Guide. As the strata law experts, Andreones, Lawyers operate a national law firm that services strata stakeholders around Australia and therefore already works in and knows the strata laws for many states and territories.

Andreones, Lawyers also has a wider view of its role. They’re not just lawyers providing legal services to schemes and other strata stakeholders; they’re also leaders in the development of knowledge, awareness and the profile of the strata sector.

And, working with NCTI on the Guide builds on many previous years of collaboration between the two organisations.

Click the link below to view the document: How different are we? State by state comparison of strata & community title management(1.35Mb PDF)

If you have comments or would like to discuss the Guide please contact Francesco Andreone of Andreones, Lawyers: franceso.andreone@andreones.com

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