Playing the age card to woo younger residents
The property developers lobby group the Urban Taskforce has taken a radical step towards setting the agenda over apartment building recently, with a web and Facebook campaign aimed at getting …
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Podcast: Angst as Airbnb code of conduct flagged
A strange thing happened on the Flat Chat Statcounter a few weeks ago. Statcounter is the software that tells us how many people are reading the website … (more than…
Forget fast electric car chargers, the trickle-up effect is the answer
The highly charged debate about the Labor party’s post-election electric car ambitions – which turned out to be very similar to the Coalition’s pre-election electric car proposals – seems to…
Flat Chat Wrap #22 – New Vic laws, fire sprinklers, electric cars, greyhounds in flats and BBQs
There’s a revolution in strata law on the way in Victoria. Fire sprinkler systems are mandatory for mid-rise apartment blocks in NSW. And what’s the best way to charge electric…
From the Forum: Wired up for a power struggle
We tend to think of apartments as being shiny and new … but there are still a lot of old blocks out there that have been patched up and held…
Podcast: Why strata law changes are such a painfully long time coming
When it comes to strata law reform, it can be a long time between drinks. Victoria is just at the end of the public consultation stage of their very substantial…
Seven years on from fatal blaze, new mid-rises finally get sprinklers
It has taken almost seven years since the fatal fire in the unit block in Bankstown but as of this week, builders in NSW will be required to install automatic…
Vic strata laws set for massive shake-up
This column has often said how wonderful it would be if all the states had similar strata laws – not just to make it easier for people moving interstate, but…
Flat Chat Wrap #21: Property prices panic and the latest developer rort
With property prices plummeting across our major cities, JimmyT and Sue Williams identify where apartment values are plummeting, where they’re holding and where off-the-plan purchasers are being told they can’t…
Podcast: Is it time to panic over plummeting property prices?
It’s fair to say that this is probably not the best time to be a property owner. And if you are an investor in multiple units, your woes could be…
Nothing to do with strata, but … why we’ll never elect a President
It has absolutely nothing to do with strata, but … The recent events in Ukraine and the current turmoil in Washington DC have guaranteed one thing – we will never…
Why everyone has gone quiet on over-crowding
The powers that be have gone curiously quiet on one of the major issues affecting apartment blocks: overcrowding. Where have all the pictures of rooms stacked with bunk beds, subdivided…