Airbnb insurance alert lists five main dangers
The arrival of online short-term rental sites such as Airbnb and others, created a whole new landlord-tenant relationship: one where owners, or ‘hosts’, are encouraged to provide all sorts of…
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Flat Chat Wrap #29 – the great Mascot Tower giveaway … and what it means about cladding
Confronted by images of residents of Mascot Tower evacuating the building, the NSW government has moved relatively swiftlly to plug the accommodation gap with a loan to the Owners Corporation…
From the Forum: Washing woes as perfumes pollute upstairs pad
There are periodically so many discussions and debates about laundry on balconies that the issue has it’s own section in the Flat Chat Forum. But it’s not the sight of…
PODCAST: Mascot Tower sinking but residents kept afloat by loans
This week in the Podcast we look at the Mascot Tower story and the apparently generous offer by Fair Trading to bankroll emergency accommodation for residents. They are saying it’s…
Boycott: Is it time we had an off-the-plan ban?
The advice from Owners Corporation Network spokesman Stephen Goddard could not have been more blunt: Don’t buy apartments off the plan. His actual words in an opinion piece in the…
Months of Vic misery ahead but Hawaii eyes Airbnb crackdown
Victorian apartment residents have at least another 20 months of disruption to deal with – probably more – according to a response we received from the Government there about any…
Flat Chat Wrap #28 – Residents out on the street as another Faulty Tower crumbles
Residents of the 130-plus apartments in the Mascot Tower apartment block in Sydney’s South were evacuated over the weekend when cracks in walls and supporting beams suddenly widened. JimmyT and…
From the Forum: Rogue committee rides roughshod over rules
It’s been a while since we’ve had a forum post about a committee that’s gone “rogue” – making decisions without consulting other owners and awarding themselves all sorts of perks.…
PODCAST: Mascot Tower crisis brings defects closer to home
For obvious reasons, our podcast this week is about the Mascot Tower crisis. We recorded the podcast before we were aware of the story in today’s Financial Review revealing that…
Faulty towers – hope for the best but prepare for catastrophe
It’s hard to know exactly how to respond to the chaos at Mascot Towers. If you haven’t heard, last weekend hundreds of residents were forced to leave a South Sydney…
Flat Chat Wrap #27 – Ghost towers, cladding costs and power games
This week, JimmyT and Sue Williams discuss the brand new empty flats that investors are “warehousing” – keeping them locked up and unlived in – until the property market improves.…
From the Forum: Turmoil over sneaky cake-taker
It’s been a bit quiet on the Forum front, what with the long weekend and all. But the saddest story of the week is probably the smallest in terms of…