Managers targeted in Vic strata law upgrade
December may seem a long way off but for strata residents in Victoria, it will see a new dawn for their Owners Corporations as laws passed last month eventually come…
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.
OCN seeks views on way forward for strata
The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) wants to hear your views on what the priorities should be in the ongoing review of strata laws in NSW. OCN has created a short…
Podcast: New pet laws and defining ‘reasonable’
In this week’s podcast we give the NSW Parliament’s deliberations on it’s new strata pet laws a kick along. As reported here, the Lower House has taken a good six…
Tax and planning boost for build-to-rent blocks
The NSW government is getting behind build-to-rent housing in a big way, announcing major changes to tax and planning policies to encourage developers to build apartment blocks that will be…
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…
Why first-time buyers need better protection
As our various governments, state and federal, lure us with grants and tax breaks into buying new and off-the-plan units, they really need to put more safeguards in place to…
Finding homes for strata’s invisible 25 per cent
Who do you think lives in apartments in our big cities? Are most other apartment dwellers just like you or are you somehow different from the mob? Based on a…
Podcast: What a great year … for pets and renters
This week’s podcast may be the first of 2021 but 2020 doesn’t get away that easily. Last year will be remembered in global politics as the year of Brexit, Trump,…
Online guide blazes trail through defects jungle
A new interactive, user-friendly online guide will help current and future apartment owners discover and deal with building defects, say its authors. Launched this week, the step-by-step guide, devised by…
Commissioner’s lifeline on new-build defects
Owners corporations in relatively new buildings deciding whether to fix building defects themselves or take recalcitrant developers to court – at huge expense and with no guarantee of success –…
‘Abominable’ tower was last straw on defects
An apartment block described by its developers as one of its “architectural landmarks of the finest standard” has been outed by NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler as the “straw that…
Upper House report slams Government on cladding, defects and reforms
A NSW Upper House committee has slammed the NSW State government over alleged failures in three key areas all of which are directly related to apartment living. The government is…