‘Strata Trap’ manager first to be banned for life

Controversial strata manager Michael Lee, who featured in the ground-breaking Strata Trap report on ABC TV’s Four Corners, is the first in NSW to be banned for life from operating as a strata manager.

Lee has also been fined $11,000, his company, Result Strata Management, has had its licence cancelled and it has been fined $22,000.

Lee who was just three days from the end of a four-month suspension issued in January, is believed to be the first strata manager in NSW to be “struck off” purely for the way they conducted their business.

Lee was shown in the ABC report apparently using hired “security” to prevent owners from entering the AGM to vote against him and his committee. Lee, an owner in the building, was its strata committee chair as well as its strata manager.

Fair Trading has posted two disciplinary notices on its website, one related to Lee himself and the other to the company. Lee and the company’s director and licensee in charge Yun Yang have both had their licences cancelled permanently.

According to this story in the Sydney Morning Herald, after a long-running investigation into their activities, Fair Trading officials found that, under Lee’s direction, the company had failed to disclose conflicts of interest, consistently breached rules of conduct, charged fees for services not rendered, and failed to ensure that owners’ properties complied with critical fire and safety obligations.

In addition, it hadn’t provided information to owners when required, acted contrary to instructions given at general meetings, and failed to make sure a building had adequate insurance cover. As a result, he had become what they believed was the first strata manager to be banned for life.

When contacted, Michael Lee told reporter (and Flat Chat podcaster Sue Williams) that he was a victim of Fair Trading.

“I have contacted the prime minister about this and all the ministers and all MPs, and we will tell the Supreme Court that this is persecution, and they are acting only on the basis of allegations and no proof at all. They never gave me the chance to provide my side of the story and never tested the evidence,” he said.

‘Most difficult people’

“Strata owners are the most difficult people in Australia. The strata industry is the most stressful one on earth and being a strata manager is the most stressful job on earth. And the new strata laws are giving these bad people in government even more power.”

The action against Lee follows years of complaints about his company. In 2020 Lee was ordered to complete annual educational training that satisfied Fair Trading’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

Following the Strata Trap report and, it seems, subsequent owners’ complaints, Lee was suspended for 120 days on January 15 this year.  He was disqualified “permanently” on May 9, three days before the suspension was due to expire.

Lee is not the first strata manager to lose their licence permanently, but in the past that has always happened due to fraudulent activity related to allied real estate businesses, and not because of poor behaviour in strata management.

NSW Fair Trading has appointed a case officer to help the company’s client strata schemes deal with the fall-out from the licence cancellations.

It should be noted that Lee’s company, Result Strata Management, whose business address is 97-99 Bathurst St, Sydney, has no connection with the Result Property Group of Kingsgrove or Strata Result, which are two entirely separate companies.