Contributed By: Hynes Legal on

Everyone (probably) knows that there are a maximum of seven voting committee positions for a committee formed under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act).  These are the chairperson, the secretary, the treasurer and then four ‘ordinary’ committee positions. The question that sometimes arises is what each of these people are responsible for. It is quite interesting (and perhaps that’s just the lawyer in us) in terms of what most committees fall back to as a default position as against what the BCCM Act actually prescribes. Those default positions are not necessarily the legislative requirements. The first distinction to draw is between executive committeeRead More →

Contributed By: Hynes Legal on

We get an enormous range of questions on how bodies corporate go about their daily business. One of the most broadly asked questions is how a body corporate makes a decision. A body corporate is a creature of statute. The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act) sets out the rules about how it must operate. A single person (chairperson or otherwise) can never make a decision on a body corporate matter (leaving aside delegated authority which is far too complex to discuss here and really only applies to BUGTA regulated schemes). This will be a bit of a back to basics newsletter for strata managers (who probably knowRead More →

Contributed By: Resort Brokers on

By Shane Wynhoven Australia’s east coast has traditionally been a hotspot for tourism.  But when the Australian dollar hits record highs, it weakens both our domestic and international tourism markets.  Thankfully, the Aussie dollar is coming down. In global terms, Australia is considered to be a premium travel package.  It is a long way to travel for most, at considerable expense.  And when tourists arrive, they are met with even higher travel costs. So, when the Aussie dollar peaks, heading ‘down under’ becomes a less attractive holiday option for the international traveller.  With our South East Asian neighbours offering far better value for money, weRead More →

As a Finance Broker we sometimes are asked why do we get paid a commission from the bank and why would I go to a broker when I can source finance myself. I want to dismiss some of the myths around engaging a Finance Broker and explain what the positives are in engaging a reputable Finance Broking company. I suppose it’s a bit like Management Rights where the onsite Manager is paid an income to do a job. If you fulfil this role in a professional manner and educate your owners along the way, why would an owner go to someone else to manage theirRead More →

Contributed By: Hynes Legal on

Alan Greenspan (the then Federal Reserve Chairman in the USA) coined the famous phrase ‘irrational exuberance’ in relation to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990’s, but it could apply to any boom since (and before – even back to the tulip boom of the $1600’s.) For mine, if you were to Australianise that phrase it would be along the lines of something being ‘too silly for words’. It is not for a lawyer to talk about risk when it comes to valuations / asset pricing as Greenspan could, but it is certainly within our ambit to talk about legal risk.We think a very interestingRead More →

You may recall last month I mentioned finance myths in the context of 10 year agreements and standard module buildings. In a continuation of the theme here’s the current Top 10 Urban Myths of Management Rights Finance including a recap of last month: 10 year agreements – The banks don’t like them, the banks won’t fund them. That’s nonsense. Certainly some banks pick and choose their lending and tend to avoid certain types of transactions. Having said that we are having no problem funding Standard Module management rights on competitive terms. Granted some smaller buildings can’t carry 70% gearing but that’s not to say they can’tRead More →

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