Vantage Bulletin Autumn 2026

The ACT Legislative Assembly Inquiry

Where things stand

The ACT Legislative Assembly's Standing Committee on Legal Affairs is conducting an inquiry into how strata properties are managed across the territory. It's examining the role of strata managers, executive committee responsibilities, decision-making in strata developments, and the potential introduction of a Strata Commissioner for the ACT.

For executive committees, a Strata Commissioner would provide an independent authority with the power to handle disputes, set standards, and hold the industry to account - giving committees and owners real recourse when things aren't being managed the way they should be.

Vantage Strata has supported the inquiry from the outset and will participate through our engagement with the Strata Community Association (SCA).

We'll keep you updated as the inquiry progresses. Follow the inquiry on the ACT Legislative Assembly website →

What recent decisions mean for your committee

Split budgets, split votes: a recent ACAT decision

By guest author Shelley Mulherin, Partner - Thomson Geer Law

In UT 5/2025: Edwin Tjhin & Ors v The Owners - Unit Plan No 15667, townhouse owners in a mixed townhouse-and-apartment scheme asked the ACAT to give effect to a 'split budget' motion that had narrowly failed at the AGM. The motion proposed shifting certain costs - cleaning, fire protection, apartment-specific defect legal fees — to apartment owners only, rather than allocating them by unit entitlement.

The Tribunal declined to override the vote. Apartment owners had a legitimate interest in protecting their financial position, particularly given the motion was high-level and didn't fully address how items like insurance would be treated.

Three things to take from the decision

• i.The threshold for the Tribunal overturning a general meeting vote is high. Self-interest in a financial outcome is not, on its own, unreasonable.
• ii.A 'user pays' approach isn't ruled out - but the detail and mechanics need to be settled before the vote, not after.
• iii.A failed motion can be revisited. A clearer, better-documented version may succeed where a high-level one didn't.

"Owners are not required to act with altruism. The test for unreasonableness is objective - and the bar is high." — Shelley Mulherin

If your committee is ever unsure of its legal position on a decision, speak to your strata manager before taking action.

Life-saving equipment is coming to Canberra's apartment communities

Vantage Strata has partnered with St John Ambulance ACT to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across strata-titled residential buildings in Canberra - the first partnership of its kind between a strata management company and St John in the region.

The logic is straightforward. Survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest decline rapidly with every passing minute. Having an AED accessible in a building means that in an emergency, help doesn't have to wait for an ambulance.

Through this partnership, Executive Committees can install AEDs as recognised building assets, with ongoing monitoring and maintenance handled by St John Ambulance ACT - so every device is rescue-ready, every day.

If your committee would like to explore installing an AED in your building, register your interest with your strata manager.

Insurance commissions — where things are at

We're now around 70% through the transition to our commission-free insurance model across the portfolio, and the data is holding up well.

Across the majority of renewals under the new agreement, premiums have reduced - buildings with clean claims histories and no outstanding defects seeing the strongest results. Where premiums haven't visibly fallen, the removal of commission has still created downward pressure relative to what the premium would otherwise have been.

As the NSW regulatory environment tightens disclosure requirements around strata insurance commissions, and the ACT inquiry keeps the conversation live here, we'll continue to share portfolio-wide data as the transition completes.

Productivity Commission findings

What strata owners and committees should know

A practical checklist for committees and owners

Canberra winters are cold, and buildings feel it. Some maintenance done now avoids significantly larger problems - and larger costs — later in the season.

Vantage shortlisted across five industry awards

We don't enter awards for the recognition. We enter because the process of being assessed against industry benchmarks keeps us honest about where we're performing well and where we can do better. Being shortlisted across five categories this year reflects the work the team has put in - and we think it's worth sharing with you, because ultimately it's your buildings that work is in service of.

Investing in our team - CU Health

Two years into our partnership with Canberra-based health tech company CU Health, we're seeing what we hoped for: a team that's more stable, more sustainable, and better placed to show up consistently for the buildings they manage.

Every member of the Vantage team has access to a tailored suite of healthcare services - GPs, psychologists, career coaches, dieticians, and more. It's an investment we're continuing to make because the outcomes are clear. Lower turnover, stronger engagement, and the kind of consistency in your building's management that's hard to put a number on but easy to notice when it isn't there.

Strata management has a burnout and retention problem that the industry doesn't talk about enough. We'd rather talk about it, do something about it, and keep investing in the people who do the work.

Make the switch to electronic notices

Strata management generates a lot of paper - notices, agendas, minutes, financial statements. And while we've made significant progress shifting to electronic delivery, a portion of owners are still receiving physical mail every quarter.

Electronic notices are searchable, always accessible, and there when you need them - whether you're preparing for an AGM at 10pm or checking a decision from six months ago.

Across a portfolio of over 215 buildings, every notice we don't print is less paper consumed and less waste generated. It adds up.

Making the switch takes less than five minutes.