When discussing how to finance strata work, owners often ask how the Body Corporate can find alignment. An inability to find alignment can lead to the delay of critical work.
Josh is a seasoned strata and property specialist with a keen understanding of the industry’s dynamics and the issues that Owner Corporations are currently facing in Victoria. Josh offers his insights on some of the main challenges currently affecting the Strata space.
The NSW Government has appointed Lannock Strata Finance to administer the interest free loan available for eligible NSW Owners Corporations.
The ACT Government have recently announced the appointment of Lannock Strata Finance as loan administrator for the low interest ACT Cladding Loan
It is great to see the NSW Government leading from the front to remove high-risk cladding from our buildings. Not only will #ProjectRemediate save people money but save people’s lives.
You may have seen in the news recently that Lannock has partnered with international funding group Moelis. Moelis’ Australian arm has committed tens of millions of dollars to fund strata loans through Lannock – something we are incredibly excited about!
We welcome the $139 million commitment from the NSW government in the State Budget to support the removal of high-risk combustible cladding in residential apartment buildings in NSW. The NSW Government will establish Project Remediate, a three-year program to help remove combustible cladding on hundreds of the most at-risk buildings.
Strata schemes facing a temporary financial crisis due to the coronavirus – or just anxious to get on with delayed projects – can now get an instant answer on whether or not they’d qualify for a strata loan, and for how much.Thanks to a new product called Pronto, schemes seeking instant finances to cover defaulted levies, unexpected imposts on their budgets or delayed maintenance and repairs can learn within minutes what their options really are.
If your strata corporation is short of funds then we recommend you use your capital works fund (aka maintenance fund, sinking fund, etc). It’s the obvious place to go – funds are readily available without diminishing the cash resources of owners. But it makes economic sense as well – a sinking fund is the most expensive option for the majority of owners, so if you use it, you’ll be reducing the economic drag on the corporation.
The strata sector is not immune to the virus. We will experience significant disruption over the coming months and owners are very fearful.We have written a guide to help strata owners and managers deal with the important cash flow decisions that will arise during the pandemic and its aftermath.
During this upcoming period of uncertainty, we anticipate many owners will experience difficulty in getting personal finance or increasing their mortgage. And everyone is worried that levy arrears will increase.That is why we have created an easy and simple “levy assist” working capital loan to cater for owner corporations experiencing increased arrears.
We have designed a simple insurance premium funding product to assist an owners corporation/strata corporation/body corporate/strata company or community association pay their annual insurance premium in times of financial hardship.
Here are some ideas on how we can prepare for general meetings.
How every owners corporation and strata manager in Australia can benefit from understanding the implications of each
There are five things that will cause owners to take action if there is combustible cladding on their building: concern for personal safety; compulsion by government; unwillingness to pay higher insurance premiums; declining property values; and inability to sell affected units.
Completing the construction of a property is not the end of that building’s journey but only the beginning. Buildings have a defined life span and with the necessity for maintenance and the plethora of opportunities for enhancements, a building should constantly be fine-tuned.Everybody understands the benefits of maintenance and refurbishment. This is part of the normal process for commercially managed buildings but in strata properties the requirement to “repair and maintain” is enshrined in legislation – there are very strong obligations on owners to repair and maintain common property.
The results are in from our recent survey we sent to strata managers on flammable cladding in Australia. A big thank you to those that took the time to share their thoughts.Almost half of New South Wales & Queensland strata managers who responded said that almost all their clients had met their cladding registration requirements. While great to see, there’s still work to be done as one third of respondents said that less than 50% of their properties had registered!
Lannock Strata Finance recently attended the Strata Community Association Queensland Conference held from 13th – 15th March in the Gold Coast. The Conference was focused on recognising and celebrating the industry’s passion for the strata sector.
With the Grenfell cladding inquiry currently underway, there are many lessons for the Australian building and construction sector that can be applied from the UK experience.The 2nd Annual Safe Cladding, Buildings and Facade Innovation Summit will take place in Sydney on 27-28 Feb.
Rectifying combustible cladding can be a costly exercise which owners might be tempted to delay in order to defer large financial outlays. However, often the cost of delaying the work will outweigh the cost of addressing the issue in a timely manner.
Lannock’s Strata Personality Test launched at the Strata Community Association NSW Convention on October 25th and 26th 2018.Strata managers in attendance were asked a number of light-hearted strata themed questions to ascertain which personality type they most aligned with.
Rectification of every strata building in Australia with combustible cladding can be financed immediately without a single owner having to increase their mortgage.Lannock Strata Finance is financing the cladding rectification of Melbourne’s Lacrosse building with an $11 million strata loan and has the funding capacity to lend to other buildings in a similar position.
Two critical decisions by the NSW Government have given apartment owners the certainty they need to deal with the cladding crisis that has been steadily eroding the value of their properties for the past year.
Do you enjoy a drink out with your industry peers while getting the opportunity to taste a vareJoin us for the inaugural Strata Community Association NSW Silver Sponsors Whisky & Champagne Tasting on September 20th which we’re proud to sponsor.
Unexpected increases in strata insurance premiums due to risks associated with flammable cladding has left many apartment owners struggling to meet price hikes and at risk of having their insurance cover cancelled for late payment.
Paul Morton, founder and CEO of Lannock Strata Finance, recently contributed to the autumn 2018 issue of Inside Strata magazine on ‘Getting smart about the economics of strata schemes‘.
The Building Defects & Cladding in Strata Forum was held on May 16th in Canberra at the Hyatt Hotel. With over 60 stakeholders in attendance including strata managers, owners and industry suppliers, the event was a great success.
Be informed. Be protected.You are invited to a free evening forum on May 16th in Canberra covering what you need to know about non-complying building products, defects, aluminium cladding, fire risk, your safety, your rights and who pays.
This forum covered what you need to know about non-complying building products, aluminium cladding, fire risk, your safety, your rights and who pays? Get answers from a panel of experts covering legal, insurance, strata, construction, finance and government.
The impact of the composite aluminium cladding issue is beginning to bite as Queensland apartment owners scramble to prove their buildings are safe or face potentially crippling hikes in insurance premiums.
The presence of composite aluminium cladding is having a financial impact on strata owners as they renegotiate insurance policies.Speaking at the Lannock Strata Fire Safety Forum, Strata Community Insurance Managing Director Paul Keating said some insurers were beginning to change their approach to providing cover for cladding.
The clock is ticking for strata owners if they are to have any hope of getting the people responsible for illegal composite aluminium cladding on their buildings to pay for the repairs.
Strata Community Australia is stepping up its fight for fairness as the issue of non-compliant aluminium cladding impacts strata owners across Australia.
The push to produce more interesting architecture and reduce costs led to the proliferation of composite aluminium cladding in mid – high rise buildings but it has come at a far higher cost in the long run.
Future owners of new apartments will be protected from buying into potentially unsafe buildings with Federal and State government agreement last week to place a moratorium on the use of composite aluminium cladding in high-rise construction.
Government failure to deal with problems associated with non-complying aluminium cladding has created a massive trust deficit with strata owners left to pick up the tab for a problem of others’ creation.
Am I at risk? If so, what does this mean for my safety and financial security? These are just some of the questions that Australians are asking in the wake of a number of serious building fires caused by the use of non-compliant cladding.
The forum covers what you need to know about non-complying building products and defects, fire risk, your safety, your rights and who pays.
The convenor of last week’s Strata Fire Safety Forum, Paul Morton, CEO of Lannock Strata Finance, said the long-delayed Senate report into non-confirming building products demonstrated why strata owners could not sit back and wait for leadership from government.
A leading strata finance group today urged the NSW Government to consider alternatives to the 2 per cent strata defect bond, following news that it had deferred its July 1 introduction for the second time.
There are three options for raising funds in strata, or a mix of all three: Regular levies - One-off or special levies - Borrowing
The Airbnb verses apartment owners’ debate is only going to get more intense. On one hand we have an aggressive, revenue-dominated multinational with a large advertising budget and a strong intent to lobby government.
For many strata holiday property owners it’s a matter of out of sight out of mind. The income from the unit keeps ticking over nicely, surging at peak holiday times such as Easter.But increasingly, ageing strata short term lettings are under threat as social media sites such as Trip Advisor expose underwhelming guest experiences while promoting shiny, attractive alternatives.
The elephant in the room as far as housing affordability is concerned is NOT negative gearing, interest only loans, stamp duty or foreign investors. It’s the effect of decades of regulation of capital and liquidity which means that banks favour mortgages over every other asset class.
The new NSW strata legislation requires owners to ‘actively consider’ how they want their future maintenance and capital works to be funded.The new legislation does not require owners to fund capital works budgets solely by regular levies to the capital works fund. Owners still have the right to choose to fund capital works by regular levies, one-off levies, a strata loan, or any mix of these.
New strata laws that come into force today will make it easier for apartment owners to update or redevelop ageing unit blocks.
