Podcast: Why we’re turning to ‘new terraces’
What do you do when you want the shared responsibility of strata but don’t particularly want to live with people above and below you? You buy or rent a townhouse,…
Covid-19 in strata
Strata blocks have been likened to vertical cruise ships when it comes to their potential for speading the disease. Here are stories that represent our coverage of the issues. NB: Some of the Covid-19 references are in subsidiary parts of the story and some facts and figures may have been overtaken by more recent events.
Townhouses on the rise as unit slide continues
Strata buyers are drifting away from apartments and towards townhouses in the post-Covid era, as people seek more space in which to work from home, and less close contact with…
New app to handle heavy lifting in levy calculation
Imagine taking an online tool like a mortgage calculator – one of those apps on a lot of banks’ websites that tell you that you can’t afford to buy the…
Covid crushes city rents but boosts availability
“Sydney and Melbourne’s inner-city apartment glut shows no sign of easing with the clear prospect of high rental vacancies persisting into the foreseeable future,” says Dr Andrew Wilson, Chief Economist…
Strata ‘green renos’ and cladding plans move on
They were overshadowed and somewhat stymied by the pet amendment, but now that has been settled the NSW Government can push ahead with new strata laws that will make it…
Podcast: Bad landlords and skinny buildings
The Flat Chat wrap this week is taken up with three main topics. The first is a petition to parliament to create a blacklist of bad landlords … launched by…
Helping older residents – now we have a number
You can understand why older people are reluctant to move into aged care – and that was even before they became hotspots for Covid-19 infections last year. For some seniors…
Forum: How you can lose even when you win
The headline on one of our posts this week, says it all: “It’s as if I’m paying to sue myself.” The situation is pretty common. The strata committee takes an…
Podcast: Unit prices stall and ropey reno regs
Hi, did you miss us? We took a little break last month but we are back with our new, improved Flat Chat Wrap podcast. We – Sue Williams and JimmyT…
Are we finally falling out of love with apartments?
Have Australia’s apartment residents finally had enough of strata living and are they now fleeing back to houses? Do they see high rises as high risk for too many varied…
When elderly are a danger to themselves and others
My elderly mother is currently being assessed in a nursing home to see if she can look after herself or needs more hands-on help. She is in one of the…
Are online and pre-votes the new proxy farming?
As NSW apartment residents think about what changes they would like to see in strata law, and some of us dive into the deep dark waters of the online consultation…