Bettr Strata

02/06/2026

A strata manager made the front page this weekend over an alleged kickback. Worth knowing: the legal version of that same conflict is more common than the illegal one, and a NSW review has just recommended ending it. We've written up what's changing, and the four questions every owner should ask their manager.

Read it on the blog (link below).

A strata manager's alleged kickback made headlines. But the legal version of that conflict is more common. What NSW owners should know, and the questions to ask.

22/05/2026

A question I keep being asked by prospects: "Your competitor's quote also says no commissions. Why are you better?"

[Deep breathe.]

The pattern I keep seeing in the market is this.

Some agents don't take commissions in the way their quotes describe. They don't need to. Where a strata group has an ownership interest in an insurance broker, the broker collects a "broker's fee" from the owners corporation when the policy is placed. That fee flows to a related body corporate of the strata managing agent, same ownership group, different legal entity,
different invoice.

In my view, that's structurally misleading even where each line of disclosure is technically compliant.

Section 60 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 requires disclosure of commissions and training services. Subsections (2A)–(2D) require written notice before a contract with a connected person. Section 57(3A) requires a general meeting resolution for off-agreement commissions. Conflicts of interest are prohibited under Schedule 1, section 11 of the Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022.

To be clear: commissions are lawful today where disclosed and approved. Some businesses rely on them. My view is the industry should be moving away from commissions altogether, but until then, the disclosure standards around them need to be better.

The gap is this. The standard "Notice to Engage" often reads with headings like "Benefits to Property Owners" and language like "your managing agent receives no direct payments." A reference to a "broker's fee" with the amount left for later. Connections buried in bullet points designed to be skimmed.

Every line technically compliant. Together, in my view, structured to make sure the committee doesn't ask the next question.

The next question is: where does the broker's fee actually go?

That this is a real regulatory concern, not just my view, is visible in the enforcement record. On 15 May 2025, Southern Cross Strata Management Pty Ltd gave an enforceable undertaking to NSW Fair Trading for contraventions of section 60 and paid $40,000 into the NSW Consumer Law Fund. The undertaking is on the public register.

For Bettr Strata, the position is simple and written into our agency agreement.

No commissions. No related entities taking fees. No ownership stakes in brokers, in suppliers, or in any other service provider to the schemes we manage. The insurance market is quoted independently. The owners corporation decides. If there is no fee disclosed, there is no fee.

That should be the floor for the industry. Right now, it is the exception.

The structural answer is plain-language disclosure that an owner without a law degree can read: how much, paid to whom, with what relationship to the agent.

Until the industry insists on that as the standard, committees will keep being told there are no commissions when the money is just
taking a longer route to the same destination.

JM
Founder & Managing Director

21/05/2026

Winter is coming. Here's what committees should be doing now, not in July.

▶️ Gutters and downpipes - clear them before the first heavy rain. Autumn leaves are sitting in them right now, and the first proper storm pushes water into roof cavities and ceilings. It's the cheapest problem to prevent and the most expensive to fix.

▶️ Stormwater pits and grates - blocked grates are the number one cause of basement and garage flooding in NSW strata. A 30-minute clean-out beats a $40,000 insurance claim.

▶️ Roof inspections - flashings and valleys move over summer. A pre-winter check catches the small stuff before it becomes a ceiling collapse.

▶️ Hot water systems - older shared HWS units fail first when the cold hits. If yours is over 10 years old, get it looked at now, not at 6am on a Tuesday in July when no-one has hot water.

▶️ Insurance - check storm damage cover is current and that excesses haven't crept up at renewal without anyone noticing.

None of this is glamorous. All of it is the difference between a quiet winter and a string of emergency calls.

If your strata manager hasn't raised any of this with you yet, ask why.

10/05/2026

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums, stepmums, and mother figures in the homes we manage and the lives around us. Thank you for the work, the love, and the way you hold it all together - visible and invisible.

05/05/2026

Two questions every strata committee should ask before signing a contract for residential building work.

1️⃣Is the contract value over $20,000 including GST?

Above that threshold, the contractor must hold Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) cover under section 92 of the Home Building Act 1989. Below it, they don't, and your Owners Corporation loses the statutory protection HBCF provides if the builder fails to complete, becomes insolvent, or doesn't rectify defects. That cover protects the OC for up to 6 years on major defects, 2 years on others.

2️⃣Has the work been quoted as one contract, or split into smaller ones?

Where residential building work is split across multiple contracts with the same customer and the combined value exceeds $20,000 including GST, HBCF cover is still required. That's the published position of the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), the NSW agency that oversees the scheme.

The vast majority of contractors get this right. They quote one job as one contract, hold the right cover, and the protection follows the work. The questions matter for the small number of cases where a quote has been engineered to land just under threshold, usually (not always) with the best of intentions, sometimes not. Either way, the OC carries the risk.

If you're not sure, ask. A good contractor will explain it without hesitation.

04/05/2026

May is a shift in our content. More on the industry, more on practice, less on the founder. For committees, owners, and anyone trying to understand how this actually works.

30/04/2026

April done.

Our largest onboarding month since launch. New schemes across NSW. A simplified, all-inclusive fee model bedded in. A deliberate process followed properly every time.

We don't grow by chasing volume. We grow by doing the work properly and letting the results speak. Every scheme we manage found us, not the other way around.

May and June are shaping up to be significant months. More to come.

If your committee is heading into a renewal and wants to understand what a different approach looks like, we're happy to have that conversation.

24/04/2026

Lest we forget.

This is my Pop (the young bloke in the background of the image). Noel Page. Born Rozelle, 1924. Enlisted at St Ives. Served in World War II.

He passed years ago but I think about him often, especially today.

He gave me cups of tea earlier than he probably should have (probably explains my tea addiction). Handed me the sport pages before I could fully read them. Sat with me over a crossword. Walked me into the TAB, filled in his ticket by hand, and greeted the teller at the counter with "Hey Chief" every single time. He bet for the process, a distraction, the enjoyment. Not the outcome. It wasn't betting for sheep stations, just enough each-way so he could cheer on a horse. I enjoyed it as this excursion to the TAB was normally accompanied by 50c bag of hot chips wrapped in the newspaper from Tom & Pam's (chip shop) on the way home.

And whenever any of us boys (6 of us - 4 brothers, 2 cousins) said we couldn't do something, he'd stop us flat.

"Don't say can't. There is no such thing as can't!"

A good man. A quiet example. I carry him with me.

Lest we forget.

JM
Founder & Managing Director
bettrstrata.com.au

22/04/2026

When we take on a new scheme, we've always reviewed the books, records, compliance position, and outstanding matters thoroughly. That's the job.

From 2026, we formalised that into something the committee can see - an executive summary prepared before the first meeting. Financial position, compliance obligations, priority issues, and a clear action plan with ownership and timeframes.

Two recent onboardings illustrated exactly why this matters. One scheme had inherited overdue engineering remediation deadlines the committee didn't have a complete picture of. Another had unresolved fire safety compliance that had quietly fallen off the agenda.

One document. Everything on the table from day one.

If your committee is heading into a renewal and wants to understand what a transparent handover looks like, we're happy to talk.

16/04/2026

Strata management the way it should be. One fee, no hidden charges, and a manager who knows your building personally.

That's Bettr Strata.