Published: 30 June 2010.

Contributed by Jake Clarke of Management Rights Sales

HELLO! IS THERE ANYBODY LISTENING??

It never ceases to amaze me, the new industry so-called do-gooders, whom through various reasons try to re-invent the management rights industry. As Col Myers points out in the May edition of Resort News, Queensland has a 25 year start on the other states and has industry legislation that covers management rights in its entirety, the ‘Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997’.

Various emails, SMS messages and letters cross my desk on a weekly basis, the majority with harebrained ideas on how to fix the industry. All this correspondence of one sort or another are from newcomers to the industry or part time brokers, some even still working their own building and trying to gain credibility in an industry that requires 24/7 full time dedication to all the Vendors. New valuers continually ring and obviously, the rest of the commercial market has dried up, these newcomers fail to understand if it’s not broken then it doesn’t require fixing.

NSW management rights certainly has its minor problems since the change of legislation in 2003 regarding the length of a management agreement. However we have personally sold and settled 5 management rights in NSW this year, all with varying lengths of agreements. The 10 year agreements are certainly more difficult to finance, the commercial decision to purchase requires sound financial advice.

Not all buildings are suitable for the caretaker model and there are many that have caretaker agreements where the owners would like to remove the manager, but these are few and far between.

There is no argument that a national strata scheme should be implemented to cover management rights and the term of these agreements should be one state covers all and some will argue that the ability to top up agreements should be an automatic clause subject to no breach in duties.

If the decision is to purchase management rights in Queensland or NSW or other states or territories, we work with what legislation we have and get on with life. The merchants of doom, who I believe are politically incorrect to the disadvantage of the majority of the industry should leave the industry before all are tainted with the same insecurity they have.

A recent email that was circulated by an industry stakeholder that could and may be read as defamatory, mentioned the history of a particular building in NSW, the information stated is misleading and is in fact incorrect.

The opening header, ‘Hello! Is there anybody listening??’ is aimed fairly at the industry dissidents who should keep their personal gripes to themselves and stop muddying the waters.

With in excess of 300+ successful settled sales by the team I work with, totaling many hundreds of million dollars over many years, we struggle to come up with a handful of industry disappointments. The management rights industry is a commercial reality that works in one way or another in all states and will continue to improve on a year by year basis without the industry doubters.

If you are a current vendor or intending purchaser talk to your industry achiever, professional broker, lawyer, accountant, banker and valuer. Check out the credentials of your industry contact, assure yourself that they are not industry part timers, ask for a list of testimonials or referrals to back up their performance required. And yes we are all listening to your concerns, and handle them on a one-on-one basis in the strictest of confidence.

I suggest we get on with the designated task assigned to each industry professional, who will then diligently complete within their duty of care on a full time basis. The remainder of the part timers and doubters should exit the industry.

Jake Clarke

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