Dysfunction in strata is serious stuff. It’s when the bills don’t get paid, maintenance isn’t done, decisions aren’t being made, there’s no insurance, or there is no committee. Take a look at our webinar on the topic for more details.

Strata Solve can be appointed as an administrator to get those things done and get things functioning properly again. An administrator takes on  the powers of the body corporate, usually for a defined period of time, so that it can then be handed back to the owners to take care of after that. An administrator will do things such as call and convene a general meeting, strike budgets, and ensure necessary works get carried out.

The owner of a lot can appoint someone by proxy, Power of Attorney, representative or corporate nominee to attend meetings for them and vote. This is a common way of participating in meetings, with attendance being in person or virtually. Depending on circumstances, attendance can be in the place of, or with, the client. For owners who are time-poor but who want to be engaged in what is going on at their building, attendance by Strata Solve can be an invaluable resource. Take a look at our webinar on attendance and get in touch.

When someone joins a body corporate committee for the first time, there is no mandated induction or training they have to go through. That can be tough when trying to carry out some complex responsibilities. Strata Solve works with committees to provide Committee Training ‘101’ service. We can also providing training for specific matters. This service is also ideal for strata management firms, which can retain Strata Solve to provide a personalised ‘help desk’ service for challenging issues.

The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management (BCCM) is a Queensland Government agency with jurisdiction for resolving most strata disputes in Queensland. There are several ways a dispute can get resolved, including by referring the dispute to what is known as a ‘specialist’ provider. This includes specialist adjudication, mediation and conciliation. Strata Solve can be engaged to be this provider.

Our structured conferences, which can be virtual or in-person, break down a seemingly insurmountable, unsolvable problem into its component parts – before moving on to solutions. You give us the necessary background material and we do the necessary preparation. Then, we convene a 1-hour conference. The first half is about establishing the background, context, key players and priorities, while the second half is about workshopping and reality-testing the possible solutions. Afterwards, we give you our written summary and recommendations.

Conferences are a great way to introduce a circuit breaker to proceedings and give you some breathing room. We guarantee that after the conference, you will have more options than when you started and that, whatever your next steps, you will feel more confident and empowered about what you can do to improve your strata situation.

Types of Conferences include:

• Problem Solving Conferences: Sitting down with clients to clarify problems, before developing viable, reality tested solutions to move things forward. These conferences are ideal for owners who know a little bit about strata, and who know they need to know more.
• Strategy Conferences: Conferences where we provide strategic advice and communications on contentious and sensitive issues, as a method for putting together a strategy (often involving lobbying and strategic communications) to further your interests.
• Value-Adding Conferences: Working with providers, such as contractors or legal practitioners, to add our unrivalled expertise and experience to develop joint solutions to things such as defects and disputes about maintenance responsibilities.

We think strata and politics are virtually identical. They are each about getting the numbers to achieve the outcome you want, by using simplified narratives to persuade both the opposed, and the undecided. Lobbying in strata is not prohibited, although it is essential it be done the right way.

Lobbying is about getting support for or against a motion. It is also about campaigning to be on the body corporate committee where there is a contested election. Or lobbying will take the form of an information session or town hall forum to get your narrative across to as many owners as possible, at the same time. Strata Solve works with you to structure your lobbying to get the best possible chance of success.  

When the numbers are tight and stakes are high, Strata Solve can help you get your outcome across the line.

Mediation is a standard feature of dispute resolution processes around the world. Rather than imposing an outcome on parties resulting in winners and losers, mediation brings the parties together in a structured process, getting them to methodically work through the issue and ‘own’ the outcomes. Strata disputes are ideally suited for mediation. That is because in strata disputes, the parties will have to continue to work and engage with each other, even after the dispute is ‘resolved’. To make that living together more manageable, mediation aims to address the underlying issues and prevent future disputes from occurring.

Mediation is particularly suited to disputes between committees and caretakers, especially as the alternative is a lengthy and costly process through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Strata Solve has successfully mediated several of these kinds of disputes.

Strata Solve Director Chris Irons is a trained mediator. He uses a standardized framework to guide parties through the past, present and future of their dispute. He also uses his unique strata perspective and experience to help parties generate solutions that will work in a strata setting.  

Our mediation bottom line is this: in strata, you don’t have to be friends with the other parties in your scheme. You instead need a respectful, working relationship which ensures things get done they way they are meant to. Mediation gets the parties in dispute focused on this outcome without the financial outlay and emotional stress of formal proceedings.