Here are a few links I use fairly often for various reasons … click (on the words in bold type) and find yourself somewhere new.
Owners Corporation Network (OCN) is the peak apartment owners’ body for Australia. Growing in size and influence.
Domain – the section of the Sydney Morning Herald that publishes my column is also the place to go online if you want to buy, sell or rent property in Australia.
Fair Trading strata section – the part of the bit of the NSW Government that looks after apartments, units and townhouses. This is where you’ll find information such as their Strata Living handbook as well as handy things like the correct forms for Breach Notices.
The Fair Trading website is handy for the general overview but for specifics, you have to look elsewhere. For instance, proxy votes have to be on specific forms and I couldn’t find theirs. Instead I went to the website of Strata Associates - one of the better strata management firms – and found theirs. At least that will give you an idea of what a proxy form should look like (not a scribbled note on the back of a cigarette packet, for instance). They also have a very hand list of emergency numbers - plumbers, electricians and locksmiths and the like – on their home page.
By now, if you don’t have a pdf reader to read all the stuff posted on these links, you will want one. The original and probably the best is from Adobe and it’s free.
Good friends and a great place to start if you’re looking for a specialist strata lawyers try Stephen Goddard or Colin Grace .
If you’re thinking of buying property and need professional help, Good Deeds is a good place to start.
O’Connors is another specialist strata management firm. I can’t vouch for them personally but I’ve never heard any horror stories about them (and I hear a lot of horror stories). They also run the handy Strataman website which seems to have annexed the little ad space above my column, making people think I am Strataman and vice versa. Not so – I look shocking in Lycra. Anyway, this website isn’t quite “everything you need to know” but it’s more than enough to get you started and even has a kit for strata plans that want to self-manage.
Last and definitely not least, Sue Williams - my co-writer, partner, editor, muse and both staunchest supporter and fiercest critic.
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