There’s something missing from NSW Fair Trading’s “Name and Shame” web page – the concept of ‘explain’.

Released to coincide with the announcement that a Coff’s Harbour strata manager had been struck off for siphoning $2million from more than 60 strata schemes’ funds, NSW Fair Trading says the publication of the names of individual strata managers and real estate agents who have been subject to disciplinary action will help strata owners decide on which strata managers to avoid when they are seeking new appointments.

This is true, up to a point – but it won’t help all the others who are stuck with badly performing strata managers to know if it’s worth even pursuing a complaint.

The story that made headlines all over Australia last week concerned the cancellation of the licence of Coffs Harbour strata manager, Jessica Carah, who was permanently disqualified her from the industry after finding she had fraudulently moved $2 million from dozens of strata schemes accounts into her own personal account.

As a result, NSW Fair Trading found the former licensee had acted unlawfully, improperly, unfairly or incompetently in the course of carrying on business as a holder of a Class 1 strata managing agent licence.

“Enforcement action like this is a crucial part of the Government’s work to lift standards, boost consumer confidence and restore trust in the strata sector,” said said Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong.

This license cancellation can be viewed on NSW’s new ‘Name and Shame’ List, a tool Fair Trading says it launched last week allowing homeowners, purchasers and renters to check the track record of property agents and strata managers before they sign on the dotted line.

The list contains individuals and the occasional companies that have been fined, suspended or banned outright (although some are still operating as they await appeals in the Supreme Court).

What it doesn’t provide is the details of their offences. Now, somewhere there must be a record of the complaints made against them and the evidence that led Fair Trading or the Tribunal (NCAT) to take action.  Surely that would be valuable to owners and agents alike, so they know exactly where the line was crossed.

Instead, all you can read is a reference to the section of the law that allows Fair Trading to take action for breaches..

Licence cancelled

For instance, last year a strata manager in Curl Curl was subject to disciplinary action “Pursuant to section 192(1)(i) of the Property and Stock Agents Act”.

Okay, what did she do that led to her having her licence cancelled? Sorry, that section of the Act only lists the kind of action the Secretary may take – not why that action was taken.

Section 192(1)(i) says they can be disqualified “from being involved in the direction, management or conduct of the business of a licensee, either permanently or for a specified period. Subsections (h) and (a), also cited, just say that Fair Trading is allowed to effectively ban the individuals and their companies, and cancel their licences.  They do not record the reason for the bans.

If you want more detail, you can try the Verify NSW website which will tell you if individuals or companies have been the subject of disciplinary action.  But even then the info is patchy.  One name from the Name and Shame list was struck off for irregularities with strata scheme funds.  Another was fined and had their licence suspended for six years – but for what, we are not told.

Now, in the case of the $2m rip-off, it’s pretty clear why NSW Fair Trading took action. The FT website says its investigators uncovered 398 fraudulent transactions impacting 66 separate strata plans between February 2024 and December 2024, with Ms Carah’s employment ceasing with SMS Community & Strata Specialists at the end of January 2025.

“Strata managers are required to hold separate trust accounts for owners corporations. Those funds must only be used as the owners corporation directs and cannot be used for any other purpose,” said Fair Trading Commissioner and Acting Strata and Property Services Commissioner, Natasha Mann.

“This case is disturbing. NSW Fair Trading is ensuring people like this are removed from the industry so that consumers are protected.”

Not fit and proper

Ms Carah’s alleged misconduct included one strata scheme where she had taken $216,500 over 13 transactions, another $112,000 was nabbed across 13 transactions in another strata scheme, and a further $162,552 was siphoned off across 19 transactions in another strata scheme.

In light of the above, Fair Trading said in a statement, Ms Carah was found to not be a fit and proper person to be involved in the direction, management or conduct of the business of a licensee under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002,

That’s all pretty obvious.  But if Fair Trading’s list is to be truly effective it needs to explain in reasonable detail what the miscreants did that got them suspended, including complaints and allegations from their clients that were found to be valid.

Or, at the very least provide links to where that information might be held. Otherwise the whole “transparency” exercise is more chiding and hiding than naming and shaming. And in the absence of detail, all the thousands of strata managers who are doing the right thing have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them.

This may look like Fair Trading is providing valuable information so that we can avoid suspect strata managers but these people have already had their licences suspended so they won’t be in business anyway. The Fair Trading complaints register isn’t much help, either – what do strata managers come under – property or consumer services?

It feels like a smokescreen but it’s probably just that FT hasn’t thought things through. Either way, strata schemes are just as much in the dark about potential strata manager hires now as they were before the $2m disappeared.