Guerrilla warfare warning over holiday lets in apartments
Bogus by-laws, sneaky shut-outs and strangulation with red tape are all likely to be employed to keep holiday lets out of apartment blocks that don’t want them, say Sydney’s building…
Past Posts
These posts go all the way back to the raw versions of my Flat Chat columns for the Sydney Morning Herald’s Domain section over th e past 15 years. Some of the issues are specific to New South Wales, some are universal. There will almost certainly be differences in strata law between NSW and other states and countries and the laws have changed over that timespan too.
If you have a serious problem, contact the agencies (in Australia) listed in our contacts sections. Or contact a properly qualified and experienced strata lawyer. These columns should not be regarded as a substitute for professional legal advice.
Roundup: A fair go for proxy people
Happy New Year and welcome to 2017, arguably the biggest year in apartment living in NSW since our state inflicted this particular method of sharing our space on an unsuspecting…
Social media minefield for shabby holiday flats
Here at Flat Chat we tend to get a bit fixated on illegal short-stay holiday lets in residential schemes, so much so that we can forget that there are entirely…
Roundup: Kicking butt and taking names
It has been a gratifying week here on the Flat Chat desk with a couple of appreciative emails thanking us for our advice. We even learned a colleague had been…
Big guns wheeled out in holiday lets battle
It’s been a funny old week in StrataLand. The whole short-stay letting issue is headed for a major showdown with both apartment owners and Airbnb bringing out the heavy artillery…
MP warns airbnb backlash could lead to bans
Exclusive by Jimmy Thomson A backlash against commercial holiday lets being forced on strata buildings could see home shares and holiday swaps banned completely from high-rises in NSW, warns a…
Minister targets strata law cheats and tyrants
Fair Trading minister Victor Dominello has promised to crack down on strata “tyrants” and cheats who set out to circumvent the letter and the spirit of the new laws that…
Strata Santa’s gift for you
As this is the last Flat Chat of the year, I have a Christmas gift for you. It’s a book full of fun and games and recipes and comes…
Roundup: Flat out on the Forum
Well, the advent of the new strata laws did make a difference – the number of visitors to this website went up by about 10 percent in the past week.…
Rents through the roof in Airbnb hot spots
By Jimmy Thomson Rents in Sydney’s hottest Airbnb hotspots are soaring by up to five times as much as city averages, an analysis of housing costs reveals. And ordinary tenants…
Strata laws need a sanity clause
Did the earth move for you on Wednesday? Or was the long-awaited arrival of a raft of new strata laws just another day at the office? To be honest, the…
New laws on strata levies and capital works
The new NSW strata legislation requires owners to ‘actively consider’ how they want their future maintenance and capital works to be funded. Flat Chat sponsors Lannock Finance explain why setting…