Australian Property News

Discussion starts on licensing strata managers

Posted on Tuesday, December 06 2011 at 2:06 PM

A discussion paper has been released for consultation on the issue of licensing strata managers in Western Australia, according to WA Minister for Finance Simon O’Brien.

“Currently only New South Wales and the Northern Territory require strata managers to be licensed. In WA, two previous parliamentary enquiries and an independent review on the subject recommended greater regulation in this area,” said O’Brien.

The issues being discussed include regulation without licensing and maintaining the status quo, he said.

“If a licensing regime is to be introduced, there needs to be consideration of whether all strata managers will require a licence or whether there’s a threshold where smaller, low-risk strata complexes can be managed without a licence,” said O’Brien.

“Strata title has become an increasingly popular form of ownership in the WA property market and strata owners have a reasonable expectation that their property will be managed properly and in a transparent manner.  The government will consider the views of respondents to our discussion paper when deciding our policy on this issue.”