Southbank3006 pushes for stronger strata laws in Owners Corporation Act review

We call for fairer governance, short-stay accommodation reform, and voting rules that encourage participation.

“We need the rules to work for residents”

Our neighbourhood lives and breathes strata. The Owners’ Corporation Act 2006 (OCA) needs to protect residents’ interests, not tie their hands with outdated rules. One priority is bringing facility and building managers under the same regulation as owners’ corporation (OC) managers.

Currently, facility managers – who oversee critical building operations and spend large sums of resident funds – are not covered by the Act’s governance requirements. Southbank3006 also wants mandatory training for committee members, conflict of interest declarations, and better record-keeping. To prevent the loss of corporate memory only 33 per cent of an OC committee should retire each year not the 100 per cent at present thus providing some stability in decision making. The nomination processes need a radical overhaul so owners know who they are voting for and what are their skills.

Importantly we need fairer OC manager and facility management contracts for OCs by bringing them under Australian consumer law. This would remove unfair contract terms that penalise OC committees when they seek to change managers, making it easier to appoint new ones without being hit by excessive fees or restrictive clauses.

Short-stay accommodation – flipping the rules

Short-stay rentals are one of Southbank’s biggest headaches. Residents report noise, security risks, overcrowding, and excessive wear on facilities caused by constant guest turnover.

While the government has introduced powers for OCs to regulate short stays, the 2018 reforms are toothless given their complexity and legalistic nature, and the 2025 reforms are impossible to translate into action for most OCs. This is because they require a special resolution – meaning a minimum of 50 per cent of all owners must attend a meeting or a ballot and all vote in favour. In practice, that’s a near-impossible hurdle when many apartments are owned by people overseas or disengaged from building affairs.

Southbank 3006’s solution is simple: the government should insert a Model Rule in the OC regulations, which implements the 2025 reforms it passed rather than each building having to waste money on lawyers and meetings. If a building wants short stays, they should have to pass a special resolution to opt out of the rule.

This flips the current model, making short-stay the exception rather than the default – and placing the onus on those who want it, not those who oppose it.

Why this matters

Uncontrolled short stays don’t just disrupt residents – they also affect housing affordability drive up rents, and impact neighbourhood stability and community safety with a highly transient groups coming and going every week thus undermining community cohesion. The current laws give an illusion of control to OCs without the practical ability to use it.

Voting rules that work

Beyond short stays, Southbank3006 is calling for Victoria to follow NSW, SA, and WA in reforming quorum and voting rules, so they encourage participation rather than discourage it. Right now, low owner turnout can kill reform efforts – even when most who vote are in favour. Changing these rules would help communities respond to emerging issues without years of frustration. Perversely just one owner voting NO can shoot down an interim special resolution despite the majority supporting it.

The system for passing special resolutions in Victoria is broken and need an urgent fix. Without this we cannot address important issues like funding sustainability improvements, preserving building assets, even borrowing money to make undertake unplanned major maintenance.

Balancing compassion and fairness

The review is also grappling with financial hardship provisions. While there is an expectation that OCs support struggling owners, the cost can unfairly fall on those who meet their obligations. Southbank3006 says it is essential to protect the financial stability of OCs.

Most buildings deal with hardship of owner occupiers compassionately at present so there is no need for change. The evidence is that those who consistently don’t pay OC fees see them as optional and frequently live overseas.

A chance for real reform

With strong resident interest across Southbank and similar stories emerging from other high-density areas in the City of Melbourne, the review is a chance to modernise Victoria’s strata laws for the realities of urban living.

Residents want transparency, accountability, and the power to protect their homes. The government must deliver rules that work – because in Southbank, this isn’t just legislation, it’s our everyday life.

Join us at southbank3006.com and keep informed. •