Catherine Lezer, President

 

2022-23 saw SCA (WA) get back into full swing of face-to-face education and events. Our small team pulled off a busy calendar of events with excellent feedback.

 

The team ends the year with a slightly different composition than it started. Rowena Neal moved to a different role in the National Team with Kerrin Simmonds joining as WA Regional Manager. Sharon Martin joined as WA Education Development Officer, while Theresa is working on establishing an SCA national RTO. Samantha and Wendy left SCA (WA) necessitating a restructure of roles and responsibilities.

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Our South Perth office is working well and the team is happy working flexibly: between home, office and external event locations.

 

SCA National continues its back office support while WA gives input to various national committees and is represented at national board level.

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Strata continues growing with Landgate statistics showing around 52,000 schemes (78,000 including survey strata) and around 257,000 lots (348,000 including survey strata).

 

2022 Strata Insights Report places the insured value estimate at $99Billion. SCA (WA) members manage 134,434 lots which is remarkable when you consider there are 43000 small schemes (5 lots or less) representing 109,000 lots.

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The most recent Landgate Strata Manager Annual Return reported monies held on trust at $420 million, but this covered only 8,634 schemes and 132,716 lots. Nevertheless, having the state government understand the monies held on trust helps with our advocacy efforts.

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In the past year SCA (WA)

 

• Made 10 formal submissions to government, 

• Contributed to the Landgate Working Group 8 times, 

• Met with Ministers Ellery and Carey, 

• Met with the Director Building Compliance at DMIRS, 

• Met with the Commissioner of Consumer Protection at DMIRS, 

• Presented to the Capital City Planning Committee, and City of Perth Planning team, 

• Attended 6 Property Industry Advisory Committee meetings, 

• Attended multiple Energy Policy meetings, 

• Briefed 20 Local Government Council/Shires, and

• Was represented on Perth Design Review Panel, Perth Development Approval Panel, Heritage Council and Development WA Land Redevelopment Committee.

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Internally our committees were renamed, and continue working hard for the benefit of all members. The board met regularly throughout the year.

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Thrive at Work program kicked off. SCA (WA) released a much needed Communications Guide and issued 26 informative newsletters.

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WA SMPS accredited strata businesses now number eight.

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As the SCA (WA) President, Catherine Lezer, has spent many hours advocating and engaging on behalf of the association, throughout the 2022-23 Financial Year, she has spent...

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• 102 - hours attending events and education

• 24 - hours attending Board Meetings

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and participated in...

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• 7 - SCA Owner Vodcast episodes

• 22 - Government and formal meetings attended

• 44 - sponsor, member and team meetings

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Our successful Ignite program has seen two new trainers complete the Cert IV in Training and Education with another five trainers very close to complete. This is a brilliant outcome for the strata sector and a great achievement for those involved.

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Our members on the accreditation pathway:

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Level 1 - 13 Members

Accredited Strata Community Associates (ASCA)

Accredited Strata Community Manager (ASCM)

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Level 2 - 86 Members

Certified Strata Community Manager (CSCM)

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Level 3 - 16 Members

Fellow Strata Community Manager (FSCM)

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Level 4 - 4 Members

Honorary Fellow Strata Community Manager (HFSCM)

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These stats just reinforce how dedicated and professional SCA (WA) members are.

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Speaking of professionalism, SCA (WA) has no tolerance for illegal/non compliant actions of its members. This year saw several members leave SCA (WA) after our complaints process. SCA (WA) takes complaints seriously. It is a hallmark of a well functioning association when reputation comes before membership fees.

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It's worth commenting on two related bodies, strata legal services and SAT.

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Strata legal services were in high demand during the year, and like all industries struggled under high workload. It is fair to say there are not enough strata specialists in the legal profession and SCA (WA) is doing what it can in this regard. The legal workload will only increase as the deadline for end of financial year bylaws draws closer.

 

SAT unsurprisingly has been delivering more strata decisions, mediations and settlements than in previous years. We now have some WA centric decisions to rely on, although still not a huge body of decisions yet.

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Sponsors delivered the “sleeves rolled up” kind of help SCA (WA) needed this year; their input and support gave the sector a safety net from which to mature.

 

Speaking of maturing, several strata managers retired, a few strata businesses merged, some were bought/sold and some changed names. A very welcome sign of a growing and maturing industry.

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Every industry is lacking human resources: strata is no different.

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SCA (WA) attended its annual careers expo and continues to encourage new entrants to the workforce. The only concerning challenge we face as a sector is to sell the value of our services and not be tempted to compete on price. With a birds eye view of the strata sector, out of the minutiae of day to day operations, the future is rosy.

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Thank you to members, sponsors, and the SCA team, with special acknowledgement to board directors, committee members and life members for their hard work and dedication.

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Regards,

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Catherine Lezer

SCA (WA) President