Can developers fix their defective reputations?
We have written a lot in these pages about efforts by the NSW Building Commission to ensure defects in new apartment buildings are fixed, in part using the iCIRT star…
Strata Defects
They range from minor issues with finishes to major structural and fire safety problems – and when repairs are rwuired , the buck stops with the owners. Hers are hundreds of posts that track the failures of the past and the current efforts to create a less defective future.
NSW tips more millions into defect detectives
Life must be pretty sweet for the former NSW Fair Trading civil servants who were tipped into the Building Commissioner’s defects taskforce. No longer do they have to deal with…
Chandler’s parting words: message is the mission
Last week NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler rocked Strataland when he announced he will be retiring in August. But he’s not going away – in fact, he has given himself…
Chandler works his ‘magic’ on Mascot Towers
NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has “pulled a very large rabbit out of a very small hat” in wrangling a deal for owners in the blighted Mascot Towers, says one…
Government failed Mascot owners says strata lawyer
Strata and property lawyer, and good friend of Flat Chat Tony Cordato believes the NSW government has missed a trick in its handling of the Mascot Towers disaster. He thinks…
No evacuation planned for crumbling blocks
There will be no Mascot or Opal towers style evacuations but four blocks comprising 900 new apartments in Sydney’s Macquarie Park are at risk of eventually collapsing due to “serious…
Investors to miss out on Mascot rescue plan
In the quantum of misery that is the Mascot Towers tragedy, it’s hard to tell who has suffered most. Is it the elderly couple who should be putting up their…
Unit buyer confidence low but help is on the way
At a time of year when we start to ponder what the next 12 months might hold, three reports outline the challenges that the apartment sector faces, the current attitudes…
Serious defects in half of NSW strata buildings
If Building Commissioner David Chandler needed validation for supersizing his department from 40 to 400 defects detectors, it didn’t take long to arrive. A new report issued this week reveals…
Have your say on building defect insurance
DLI is a strict liability insurance product of first resort that covers critical building elements, such as structure, waterproofing and fire safety systems. It allows building owners to make a claim…
Podcast: Council cops unit block defects orders
We’re going interstate and all-ages in this week’s mixed bag but we start with a council on Sydney’s North Shore that has been served with a repair order for defects in…
Up to five more Mascots facing possible disaster
There could be as many as five apartment blocks in NSW teetering on the brink of forced evacuation – as befell the Mascot and Opal Towers four years ago –…