Australia’s $500 billion strata sector has garnered support from the federal government to bring a new level of professionalism to management.
Strata Community Australia (SCA) has confirmed the federal government will support upgrades to industry training and education in the sector.
The upgrades are aimed at ridding the industry of “damaging cowboys”, or body corporate managers with no formal qualifications.
In some states strata and body corporate managers can operate without formal training.
The SCA said the Department of Education and Training has approved a project to ensure strata managers nationally adhered to strict tertiary qualification processes.
SCA chief executive Kim Henshaw said the approved upgrades were a milestone for the industry.
“Strata title and body corporate managers are in effective control of millions of dollars in funds and assets,” Ms Henshaw said.
With the industry now estimated to be worth more than $500 billion nationally, inaction would have put millions of dollars of Australian’s strata contributions at risk.
SCA chair Michael Hurley said another industry milestone will be the nationwide recognition of qualifications.
He said this would help break down the barriers that restrict skilled managers from operating outside one area of governance.
“Over the years, we have been advocating for the introduction of standards to protect our stakeholders from a small number of rogue body corporate managers who have inadvertently caused problems for the whole strata sector.”
The development of strata qualifications is scheduled for the end of this year and start of 2016.
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