Michael Teys is the Founder and Chairman of The Strata Professionals Australia. He brings together more than 30 years of specialist strata law practice, a decade of strata business ownership, and an active programme of academic research into multi-owned property governance.
Michael practised as a specialist strata lawyer from 1994 to 2018, advising committees, developers, and owners on the full spectrum of strata disputes, compliance, and governance. He served as a Fellow of the Australian College of Strata Law from 2006 to 2018. From 2004 to 2014 he was the CEO and major shareholder of strata management companies operating across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia, with a combined portfolio of 28,000 apartments. Running those businesses gave him direct exposure to the operational pressures strata managers face and revealed the structural weaknesses that became the catalyst for founding The Strata Professionals Australia.
Michael holds a Master of Philosophy (Built Environment) from UNSW, where his thesis examined how mixed-use strata developments create anti-commons risks that impede urban renewal. He has held research positions at the City Futures Research Centre (UNSW) and Deakin University, contributing to published work on building defects, passive fire protection, and pathways to professionalism for strata managers. He presents regularly at international research forums and policy discussions, including the International Research Forum on Multi-Owned Properties, the House of Commons, and the International Institute for the Sociology of Law. His current research undertakes a comparative socio-legal analysis of catastrophic governance failures in high-rise, multi-owned residential buildings.
This combination of legal practice, business ownership, and academic research gives Michael a perspective few in the Australian strata industry can match. Every element of the firm’s operating model, from the no-commission pricing structure to the Balanced Strata Method™ governance framework, is grounded in something tested rather than assumed. Committees that engage The Strata Professionals Australia are engaging a firm led by someone who understands their legal obligations, has run the operations they rely on, and is actively shaping the future of strata governance through published research and policy engagement.
Upcoming webinar: How strata managers are adapting to a new business environment
Wasting Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Experts' Time
In December, I'll be presenting with Free Leaseholder in London, to talk about how Australia's strata management system compares to the leaseholder system in the UK.
How Radical Transparency Can Save Your Strata Management Reputation
New conflict of interest disclosure standards are coming into effect for NSW strata management companies on February 3, 2025, impacting how they operate and interact with suppliers. This toolkit explores the 7 key areas managers must now disclose, going beyond insurance commissions to ensure transparency and ethical practices.
Announcing a new training session for real estate property managers
Through the Lens of a Strata Manager: The Practice Behind the Process
We area nation that speaks 8 separate strata dialects, yet the basic strata concepts are the same across the nation. So are the issues that trouble us. As we seek to understand what unites us and what divides us, this week our focus is the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory has a small but distinctive strata presence with 25,427 lots across 2,960 schemes. Here are some other highlights of the latest research about the Northern Territory strata market: · 16% of the population live in strata (compared to 15% nationally) · 59% of Northern Territory strata schemes contain 5 lots or fewer · 49% of residents are aged between 20-39 What makes the Northern Territory's strata sector distinctive? 1. Balanced scheme size distribution with moderate concentration of larger developments: The Northern Territory shows a more balanced distribution of scheme sizes compared to other jurisdictions, with 59% of schemes containing five lots or fewer, being significantly lower than Tasmania (88%) or South Australia (74%). Large schemes (50+ lots) represent only 3% of total schemes but contain 23% of all lots, suggesting the presence of substantial developments that provide economies of scale for professional management. 2. Licensing and education requirements: The Northern Territory mandates licensing for all paid body corporate managers, in addition to professional indemnity and trust account obligations. The territory also requires that managers have completed the Diploma of Property (Agency Management), which covers compliance, financial management, and business operations across twelve units of competency. This approach ensures that body corporate managers possess both formal qualifications and practical competencies before entering the profession, setting a high standard for service delivery. 3. Diverse resident demographics reflecting transient population: The Northern Territory has a unique demographic profile with 48% of apartment residents born in Australia, reflecting the territory's role as a gateway for migration and temporary workers. With significant populations from Nepal, India, and other countries, the Northern Territory's strata communities are highly multicultural, requiring body corporates to navigate diverse cultural expectations around property management. The Northern Territory's strata sector reflects its unique position as Australia's most remote jurisdiction, with a transient population and ongoing development activity creating distinctive challenges and opportunities for strata management and community governance.
