Heat on planners and pollies as cities swelter
Poor building standards and soaring energy costs are forcing one in three Australians out of their flats and houses and into air-conditioned shopping centres and community facilities during heat waves.…
Jimmy-T
Forum: Vendor gets that sinking fund feeling
It’s been a quiet weekend on the Forum. The effect of chocolate on your ability to put up with your neighbours is worthy of a PhD (if it hasn’t been…
Different strata strokes for different states’ folks
As we frequently remind readers, strata laws are different across the different states in Australia. Sometimes the differences are minor but occasionally they are glaring and speak to the culture…
Podcast: When what you see is not what you’ll get
This week, we delve into the dark arts employed by real estate agents and property stylists to persuade you that an absolute lemon is, in fact, your dream “forever home.”…
Webinar will plug blocks into EV charging facts
Can individual owners have electric vehicle (EV) charging in their apartment block parking spots or do they have to wait till the whole building is cabled? Can the owners corporation…
How styling can mask a pile of property problems
A cooling property market has led to estate agents having to work just a bit harder to move apartments and houses. And, as Sue Williams reports, that has meant some…
Forum: Mystery of a bulge in a bathroom wall
It’s Easter and it’s not only the buns that are hot and cross. It’s bad enough when there is a problem in your block and you don’t know what’s causing…
Podcast: EV doc block shock and green backflip
It’s another bumper podcast this week with some topics revisited, some from the Forum and others that are fresh out of the Flat Chat hot cross bunfight oven. First up,…
Lack of foreign investors to hit rental supply
The continuing absence of overseas investors from the Australian property market, added to many local investors’ reluctance to buy new and off-the-plan properties, may lead to a significant undersupply of…
‘Free money’ for blocks with budget shortfalls
Strata schemes are being offered what could be, if they choose, “free money” to fill the holes in their budgets created by owners defaulting on their levies. And assistance is…
Losers pay: Special levies mandatory for NCAT cases
Listen up all you litigious committee members! We have discovered something via the Flat Chat Forum that should make every strata committee in NSW think long and hard before they…
Doctor sells electric car after EV charging blocked
Confusion about strata by-laws has resulted in a busy doctor having to sell his electric vehicle (EV) and go back to a gas-guzzling, polluting car when his strata committee refused…