WA: Apartment for sale ads ‘should be standardised’

This Media Release about the need to standardise apartment sale ads in WA has been provided by Strata Community Association (WA).

Changes needed to protect buyers from hidden details

For sale advertisements for apartments in Western Australia should be standardised to protect consumers, Strata Community Association (WA) President Catherine Lezer said.

Ms Lezer, who heads WA’s peak strata industry body, said there needed to be consistency in the advertisements so that prospective buyers could easily compare apartments and be sure of what they were getting.

She said it should be compulsory for apartment listings to include outgoings for the lot, such as quarterly strata levies. A standard square metre measure also needed to be introduced that is restricted to the internal measurement of an apartment, including any balcony.

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“The situation at the moment can be confusing for buyers,” Ms Lezer said. “It can be difficult to compare apartments on the market because the information supplied is not consistent.

“Prospective buyers may not be comparing apples with apples when looking at apartments, which can affect their decisions.

“Not having standard measurements, for example, can hide a plethora of oddities such as mezzanines, car stackers or exclusive use parking.”

“Some advertisements include carparks and storage in the apartment size, others use the internal dimensions and some use architect’s measurements which include outside walls and can increase the size by six percent.”

“Prospective buyers also need to know what ongoing costs they will be up for so they can compare properties. It’s essential strata levies and service fees such as water and council rates are there for the buyer to clearly see.”

“Some ads have no outgoings listed, others have water and council rates only, some list the strata levy and reserve fund separately. It can all be very confusing.”

Ms Lezer said strata industry reforms in WA in 2020 brought much needed disclosures to prospective WA buyers. The next step was for law makers to address apartment advertising.

Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data released in June showed that more West Australians are calling apartments or flats home, rising to 6.5 percent of the population, up from 5.7 percent in 2016.

WA has more than 343,555 strata lots, according to Landgate data.

This week more than 3300 apartments and units were listed for sale on one real estate site alone.

“As apartments and units become increasingly popular, it’s important we make the road to ownership as easy to navigate as possible,” Ms Lezer said.

“Buying a home is a big life event and we want new members of the apartment community to come in comfortable that they have made the best choice for them.”

Strata Community Association (WA)

This post appears in Strata News #593.

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