Another Strata Building Defects Survey in NSW

Or, just in case you need more data to prove strata building defects …

In NSW, they’re surveying some strata buildings about defects again to find out more about the problems faced by newer high-rise strata apartment buildings and owners. Given the 2021 survey was limited it still revealed serious building defects in almost half of strata buildings and things appear to have gotten worse, it’s likely we’ll see even worse results this time.  So, just in case the NSW Government needs more data to do something ….

[3.50 minutes estimated reading time, 678 words]

Introduction

In 2021 NSW Fair Trading conducted a survey about building defects in strata buildings.  And, now they’re repeating it.

The 2021 building defects survey results

The 2021 NSW Fair Trading Survey was about defects in strata buildings that had been completed in the last six years and were over four storeys [so those without insurance protection].

The 2021 NSW Fair Trading survey was issued to 1,400 strata managers to complete on behalf of their buildings. But we don’t know how many answered the survey, although 2 strata managers were also interviewed.

The 2021 NSW Fair Trading Survey answers revealed that 39% of the responding strata buildings had experienced serious defects in the common property, which were split up between:

• waterproofing defects affecting 23% of the strata buildings,

• fire safety systems defects affecting 14% of the strata buildings,

• structural defects affecting 9% of the strata buildings,

• building enclosure defects affecting 9% of the strata buildings,

• key services defects affecting 5% of the strata buildings, and

• non-compliant cladding defects affecting 6% of the strata buildings.

51% of the reported strata building defects were identified through expert advice commissioned by the buildings, which means the other half of the strata building defects were so obvious they were identified by strata owners [but apparently not the builders or developers] without needing experts.

47% of strata buildings with serious defects were able to achieve solutions to them which is a good outcome.  But, this seems surprising to me given my experiences with strata building defects. And, I suspect may be the result of self-selecting reporting [ie: the strata buildings that have not resolved their building defects did not participate in the Survey, thereby skewing the results] as the next finding suggests.

And, only 15% of strata buildings with serious defects were reported to NSW Fair Trading.  So, there are plenty of strata buildings with building defects that are off the radar.

NSW Fair Trading says these results led to the development of Project Intervene which makes the survey very worthwhile.

You can read the 2021 Survey Report here.

The 2023 survey

So, now NSW Fair Trading wants to survey the 1400 NSW strata buildings registered between 2016 and 2022 dealing with serious defects. 

It’s usefully targeting them via the Strata Hub where all NSW strata buildings should be registered and is a great use of that resource.

Plus, NSW Fair Trading has partnered with the Strata Community Association (NSW) to promote the 2023 Survey since their members probably manage many of these strata building and have extended the deadline to 6 August 2023

So, time is running out fast to get it completed.

If you’re one of the qualifying strata buildings, don’t wait and complete the survey now.

Conclusions

Whilst it’s not necessary to get more proof for anyone to know there are serious building defects in most strata buildings that are not being adequately dealt with by developers and builders, I’m all for getting proper data to better prove that and identify more refined details about the issues.

Plus, as I’ve said earlier, I am sure the survey results obtained so far understate the extent of the strata building defect problem.

So, if you own or manage an eligible NSW strata building, please participate in the survey before it closes.

And, perhaps after identifying your strata building defect issues, you can tell NSW Fair Trading that the absence of last resort insurance cover for building defects in high rise strata buildings has become their biggest risk to strata owners.

August 04, 2022

Francesco ...