Author: Hazel Easthope, Professor, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Sydney

Ten of Australia’s leading consumer groups have now written to the federal treasurer calling for an urgent inquiry into Australia’s strata management industry. The open letter from Choice, the Owners Corporation Network, the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby and seven other groups follows this week’s ABC Four Corners investigation, showing many apartment owners were being ripped off by their strata management firms. When the ABC asked property owners about suspicious activities in the industry earlier this year, they were flooded with more than 1,000 separate reports in a fortnight. The allegations include hidden kickbacks from builders and insurance companies, their hidden…