“Tin-eared” was one of the milder criticisms aimed at NSW Premier Chris Minns by serious denizens of the stratasphere when he rocked up to the headquarters of Netstrata last week for a photo op.

What’s the problem with a happy snap of the Premier and a strata management team which was then posted on Linkedin?

One reasonable observation is that it is not a great look when Netstrata is still under investigation by Fair Trading. Now, those investigations may yet come to nothing, but the timing isn’t great – when they’re concluded might have been an idea.

Instead it occurred just before the Fair Trading Minister asked the Productivity Commissioner to look into the potential for preventing insurers from giving strata managers commissions of 20 per cent or more for bringing business to them.

It’s worth noting that this major announcement very unusually came out on the weekend and, probably as a result, has yet to be picked up by the mainstream media (and probably never will be).

Caught

For those of you who haven’t been obsessively watching this space for the last year and a bit, Netstrata was by far the biggest strata management company that was caught with its pants down in the famous ABC Four Corners Strata Trap episode last year.

More significantly, in an accompanying report on ABC’s 7.30, its CEO Stephen Brell was on TV because he was, at that time, President of Strata Community Association (NSW), the strata managers’ professional body. 

He probably thought he was there to talk about all the positive things strata managers were doing for the community. He was skewered – some might say ambushed – by allegations of that his company was concealing insurance commissions by rebranding them as fees for service. 

That led to industry-wide questions about vertical integration, which is where a parent company also owns the service providers that it would normally hire to do things like maintenance, legal work, debt collection and, yes, organise insurances. 

There is not much wrong with that, provided the clients – that’s you and me – are getting better value for money than we otherwise would. The problem arises when choices are limited and, as Fair Trading has suggested to the Productivity Commission, looking after the parent company takes precedence over taking care of the clients.

Dragged into the spotlight

Netstrata is not the only strata management firm to have subsidiary service providers and they were probably not the worst offenders if, indeed, there were offences. In fact, they have claimed that many of their clients paid lower premiums because they used their own brokers.

However, it was Netstrata that was dragged into the spotlight and was then the subject of a detailed inquiry by independent body McGrathNicol.

In February this year, Fair Trading released the results of that inquiry  and you can also read our summary here.

In brief, McGrathNicol alleged several potential breaches of strata law and/or dubious practices. Netstrata responded that it contested most of the allegations and looked forward to “working through them in more detail with NSW Fair Trading.” However, it had already implemented many of the independent reviewer’s recommendations.

Now, whether or not the specific allegations against Netstrata were well-founded, the state government believed there was an industry-wide problem and immediately instituted a series of strata law reforms aimed at improving transparency and accountability for the whole sector, including cracking down on conflicts of interest and sweetheart deals with service providers and developers.

And that was entirely justified; Netstrata was not the only firm pushing the boundaries, and certainly wasn’t the worst offender. 

For instance, two small independent strata management firms – one of which was also highlighted in the ABC report – have since been struck off for much more serious offences than those of which Netstrata and other large firms were accused. 

Complaints investigated

But let’s get back to that picture on Linkedin. Why would anyone think that was inappropriate?

OK, according to Fair Trading, a number of complaints against Netstrata, some received as recently as June this year, are still being investigated by the Fair Trading Taskforce.

“The NSW Fair Trading investigation into Netstrata is ongoing,” a spokesperson for NSW Fair Trading told Flat Chat this week. 

“This investigation is considering complaints made by strata schemes managed by Netstrata, proactive lines of inquiry and the findings of the McGrath Nicol Report.

“The Netstrata investigation is being led by Fair Trading’s newly established Strata and Property Services Taskforce.  NSW Fair Trading has received 42 separate complaints relating to Netstrata in the period March 2024 to 30 June 2025,” the spokesperson added.

So what are we to read into Premier Minns visit to Netstrata’s offices? And within days of Fair Trading asking the Productivity Commissioner to investigate industry-wide concerns about insurance commissions and kickbacks.

Endorsement

Netstrata is in no doubt that it was a good thing. “The visit was a great opportunity to showcase the important work our team is doing across the strata sector — from supporting new developments to managing and strengthening existing communities” says the company on its Linkedin feed.

“Premier Minns took time to meet with our staff, hear directly from the people on the ground, and offer his support for the critical role strata management plays in the future of housing in New South Wales.

“At Netstrata, we’re committed to leading the industry with integrity, innovation and a strong focus on community. Having that effort acknowledged by the Premier is a meaningful endorsement of the work our team delivers every day.”

I don’t blame Netstrata for trumpeting the Premier’s visit.  I would do the same in the unlikely event that he turned up here to pat me on the back.

But what does the visit say to all the other strata management firms and individual employees who haven’t done anything untoward, but have faced awkward questions stemming from the revelations?

And what about the strata owners who have been promised a bright new dawn where the state government now cares so much about us (if only because it needs us to live in apartments)? It feels like disregard verging on contempt.

We have asked the Premier’s office to comment but received no reply at this juncture.

Am I reading too much into this?  Is it just me? It could be that this was just an unfortunate case of bad timing. But I think we are entitled to ask WTF (Why the Foto)?