Why your strata manager doesn’t respond to calls
If the recent insurance commission scandals have taught us nothing else, it is that some strata management firms are more about profits than service. That is not likely to change…
Jimmy-T
Podcast: Strata lawyer answers Forum questions
In this week’s podcast we ask leading strata lawyer David Sachs to run the rule over some of the questions in our Forum. For instance, can the owners corporation charge…
Common Property – all cost, little real value
In this week’s guest post from our friend Francesco Andreone of GoStrata, he’s going to make you think about assumptions we’ve all made about common property in our strata buildings –…
Forum: Developer turns block into Airbnb hotel
What happens when a developer can’t sell all their apartments so then lists them on Airbnb? Are they running an illegal short-term rental hotel? And didn’t their sales people tell…
SCA appoints complaints tsar but the lies persist
Strata Community Association has announced the appointment of an independent complaints tsar, in the wake of the scandal over Netstrata’s exposure for charging secret commissions for insurance policies. But, despite…
Podcast: Chandler says he’s going nowhere
This week on the Flat Chat Wrap we get a glimpse behind the scenes as NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler is a guest at a “town hall” meeting for members…
NSW to crack down on strata manager scams
The NSW State government is planning to crack down on the “small number” of “unscrupulous” strata managers whom it says are undermining public confidence in apartment living. New laws will…
Should we let micro-blocks ignore strata law?
In this week’s guest post from our friend Francesco Andreone of GoStrata, he wonders if it’s time to think differently about micro strata buildings. There’s a lot of them, they…
Forum: Unelected despot bullying tenants
There is a malaise that must be unique to strata buildings – an ordinary owner awards themselves extraordinary powers and appoints themselves de facto building or strata manager. It’s not…
Podcast: Tax fixer-uppers and strata spies
The tax office is targetting double-dipping landlords who claim all sorts of things they shouldn’t, or just claim for stuff the wrong way.For instance, property investors routinely claim levies as a tax…
JimmyT eats his words… and they taste great!
Unless you are avid listeners to our podcasts, you may not realise that a month or so ago Jimmy took himself off to Saigon, Vietnam, for a couple of weeks…
ATO targets double-dip landlords and tax fixers
As we hurtle towards the end of the financial year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is warning rental property owners that their tax returns are in the spotlight this time…