Michael Teys is the founder of The Strata Professionals Group and the architect of the professional standard every office in the network operates to.
He brings more than 40 years in strata — including over 30 years as a specialist strata lawyer — 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, advising committees, developers, and owners across the full spectrum of strata disputes, compliance, and governance, and served as a Fellow of the Australian College of Strata Law. He went on to own and run strata management companies across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia, managing a combined portfolio of tens of thousands of 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 network.
He 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, completed under an Australian Research Council scholarship. He has been accepted at the University of Oxford to undertake a Doctorate of Philosophy in Law. He has held research positions at the City Futures Research Centre (UNSW) and Deakin University, and presents regularly at international forums including Oxford, the House of Commons, and the International Research Forum on Multi-Owned Properties in Spain, Canada and Australia.
Michael writes The Strata Professional, a weekly newsletter on strata law, committee governance, and why true professionalism matters in this industry. You can learn more about him at michaelteys.com.
This combination of legal practice, business ownership, and research is the foundation of the franchise standard. Every element of how the network operates — from the no-commission pricing structure to the Balanced Strata Method™ — is grounded in something tested rather than assumed.
$400,000 in legal fees. A leaking shower. Mismatched tiles. The most pathetic strata case ever litigated.
Strata committee members in NSW: before you approve a special levy for waterproofing or building remediation, read this. Michael Teys explains why remediation quotes are consistently inflated and what your committee can do about it. Free keynote, Sydney, 4 June 2026.
Strata owners are being sold remediation they don’t need. History shows exactly how this happens.
Strata volunteers manage buildings worth hundreds of billions of dollars, yet the Federal Government's National Volunteer Action Program doesn't mention them once. That's about to change.
Surgeons have a method. Accountants have a method. Engineers have a method. Strata managers have… an inbox and a prayer. After fifty years, it’s time to ask why no one has built a proper operational method for running a strata scheme. This week’s newsletter tackles the question.
Unfair lock-in management contracts have been the strata industry’s lifeline for decades. Dr Nicole Johnston’s research confirms what owners have long suspected: the standard agreement is designed to protect the manager, not the client. Read why this must change in this week’s edition of The Strata Professional newsletter.
Most businesses talk about what they do. The most disciplined ones start by deciding what they will never do. I'm announcing a new strata management firm built around an 11-point don't do list.
For forty years, the strata industry's answer to dysfunctional committees has been the same: education. This October, NSW mandates compulsory training for committee members. Other states are thinking of doing the same. I think it will backfire, and there's solid psychological science to explain why.
A recruiter posts a senior strata job with 'Schedule B's' as a perk. A LinkedIn storm erupts. And when called out, the response is chilling: 'it's just industry practice.' Sound familiar? It should — banking said the same thing before the Hayne Royal Commission tore it apart.
You pay the excess. You file the claim. Job done — right? Wrong. Every strata insurance claim triggers a tax cascade that multiplies the real cost three to four times over. The financially savvy committees have figured out when not to claim. Find out what they know that yours may not.
