COVID-19 Strata Law Changes – Financial Relief Measures Explained
Smart Strata’s Community Education Webinar on the topic of COVID-19 Strata Law Changes was held yesterday with great success! The interview-style session was hosted by Archers the Strata Professionals CEO, Nicky Lonergan who was joined by leading strata experts James Nickless (Strata Lawyer) and Grant Mifsud (Strata Manager) who are both executive board members of the strata industry peak body Strata Community Association (QLD).
The session commenced with a background into how Body Corporate legislative fits into the overall hierarchy of government to put the recent changes into a practical perspective for the viewers it affects. This background sets the scene for best practice tips for Committees to make decisions about these legislative changes and to work efficiently and harmoniously within their strata communities.
They then delve into the implications of the new COVID-19 Emergency Response Legislation and discuss the specific areas of financial relief measures as a result of the legislative amendments using practical examples to explain what they mean for strata owners.
The session is finished off with answers to viewer questions categorised into COVID health and safety, financial concerns, disputes and administration.
If you missed yesterdays webinar you can watch the recording here.
If you have more questions after watching the session, please leave them in the comments section below and we will arrange for our strata experts to respond!
Thanks to the supporters of our event, without them it wouldn’t have been possible.
Archers the Strata Professionals, Marsh Advantage Insurance, ARC Utilities Management, Strata Compliance Solutions, Poolwerx, ThyssenKrupp, Programmed Property Services, StrataLoans and Chambers Russell Lawyers
Be sure to follow our Facebook page to view our event supporter video posts over the next week announcing the winners of the fantastic prizes they have kindly donated for the registered webinar attendees!
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Question for James Nickless: In practice, how and why items would be removed from a Sinking Fund forecast in such a manner that a refund would apply and just how, in practice, this refund would be calculated given that if an item merited being on a sinking fund forecast (or budget) it can be far more readily postponed to a later time and NOT removed which would trigger a refund. My personal belief is that the legislation here is poorly conceived and not practical.
Hi Sandra,
I tend to agree with you that it is questionable how useful this part of the temporary legislation will be to a body corporate.
It would be best to consult a sinking fund forecasting expert to get some modelling on how different budgeting scenarios will affect the body corporate in the short, medium and longer term.
It would also be essential that the body corporate does not remove anything from the sinking fund forecast or budget which represents a risk to the health and safety to residents, or which could create a legal liability on behalf of the body corporate or lot owners.
Unfortunately, this is not as simple as it seems and in some cases the costs of obtaining the necessary advice to ensure the body corporate is acting reasonably and the costs involved in the administrative process of refunding any money from the sinking fund, may well erode or outweigh the benefit of the sinking fund budget adjustment.
However, it really depends on the particular circumstances of each building.