We are excited to announce that Alexander Lang has joined our leadership team as CEO. Alex will be instrumental in working with our clients, our Partners and the entire Grace team to continue the growth of our firm into a truly national firm of leading specialists in our chosen fields.

Having started his career as a lawyer in private practice, followed by more than 20 years in senior executive roles in major construction and infrastructure corporations, Alex joins us after 5 years leading some of the largest Strata Management companies as CEO. Alex’s strong strategic and people leadership capabilities will strengthen Grace Lawyer’s position as industry leader.

The review of Queensland’s strata laws began in 2013. After seven years, the Government has introduced new regulation modules that will take effect on 1 March 2021. The changes to the regulations are not significant, and are largely closing some “loopholes” and causing the legislation to catch up to modern strata management practices. The strata industry will continue to lobby for more significant changes over the course of 2021.

Yes. A body corporate, acting reasonably, can refuse to consent to a transfer having regard to relevant factors, such as the competence, qualifications, experience, character, training and financial standing of the buyer. A committee should not think it must act as a “rubber stamp” to any sale.

The most effective way of enforcing by-laws is in a neighbourly manner – speak to the person contravening the by-laws and raise awareness to why those rules are in place. If that does not work, then notice of the contravention should be given followed by a dispute resolution application seeking orders to enforce compliance with the by-laws.

It depends on the scheme’s by-laws. Most well-drafted by-laws will require approval of some sort. The rest of the community has a legitimate interest in ensuring that renovations do not compromise the aesthetic and amenity of the rest of the scheme, and that the renovation work will be carried out in a way that minimises its impact on neighbours.

This is in a state of flux across the various states and territories. NSW is looking at allowing the owners corporation to regulate how they are to work and what rights the owners corporations will have. In QLD it hopefully will be covered by the legislative review but Grace has been successful in having the validity of a by-law upheld by an appeal tribunal preventing short term lettings in a strata community. Victoria is also looking at legislative change, so in reality it is wait and watch this space

Cladding is one of the most hottest topics in strata at present. Most states and territories have engaged with owners through the National cladding taskforce which has required (in each state/territory) buildings to lodge notification if they have the cladding on their building and then once notified what they will be doing into the future. The critical issues are:

- The owners find out what cladding they have and what is needed to be done
- Notify building insurers of the cladding in the building
- Seek advice on whether they have any options against anyone involved in the construction of the building (as this will vary from each state/territory)