New pet-friendly strata laws about to bite
A change in NSW strata law that comes in next week will radically alter the default position on pets in NSW strata schemes, bringing relief to pet owners and some…
By-laws & Rules
By-laws and rules (in Victoria) are the regulations that, generally speaking, we are allowed to set ourselves to moderate our behaviour in our communities.
But they are open to challenge. And what do you do if they are simply ignored?
NB: Some of these earlier posts may be out of date – please check – and the reference to by-laws may be in a longer post about another issue.
Forum: In strata everyone can hear you scream
There’s a couple of issues that merit close examination this week. The first is the plight of someone stuck at home and unable to get a minute’s peace because of…
Podcast: Pets to lets – 200 columns and counting
How has apartment living in Australia changed in the past four years? The answer is a lot, but still too little. This week, we celebrate our 200th column in the…
How Flat Chat grew from a bitter defects battle
Believe it or not, the 200th edition of Flat Chat to appear in the Australian Financial Review was published at the weekend. But that’s not half of it – not…
NSW Health nudges the needle on reno rules
Health NSW has acknowledged (but only just) that strata residents deserve a bit more protection from noise and potential covid-19 transmission, in its latest Covid-19 advisory. Nudging the needle on…
By-law breaches: New links for our new-ish laws
The “new” strata laws in NSW came into effect almost five years ago in 2016. The old CTTT became the “new” NCAT two years prior to that. Since then, at…
Forum: Under water but over-insured
It’s not often that you hear people complaining about being over-insured but, hey, this is strata and anything can happen. In a nutshell, an owner installed a nice new timber…
Podcast: Lockdown PHO a strata dog’s breakfast
We had a new PHO out last week – that’s a Public Health Order, not a Vietnamese noodle soup – and as we discuss in the pod, it’s more of…
Tenants and pets – how to get a home with yours
In these times of enforced isolation, pets have never been more valuable for their comfort and companionship. But there is still resistance among many landlords – and strata schemes, for…
Unmasked: How NSW Health doesn’t get strata
There’s an old saying that you should never ascribe to malice anything that can just as easily be explained by stupidity. With that in mind, we can only assume that…
Forum: Tree root blockage leads to a poonami
Boy, you’ve been a busy lot in the past week. Don’t you have jobs to go to or something? But seriously, this week’s bumper crop of questions to the Forum…
Ironically, Covid-19 does discriminate after all
They say the Covid-19 virus doesn’t discriminate, but that is, of course, utter BS. If you were born into a culture where social interaction within extended families – including physical…