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…
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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…
Podcast: Ghost flats a huge tax break … with added James Valentine
Since our last podcast took us to Russia, we thought we’d stay a lot closer to home with this week’s. A story in the Australian newspaper caught our eye, concerning…
Reasons why you should – and shouldn’t – get elected to your committee
Do you ever get the urge to stand for election to your strata committee? Are you convinced you could do a better job than the existing members? Do you want…
Cladding bills could cost owners a quarter of units’ values – report
Australian apartment owners in buildings fitted with flammable cladding face bills of up to one quarter of the value of their homes, according to a new report. And state governments…
Scams and scandals from the ‘bad old days’
Looking back over that past 15 years or so of Flat Chat, it’s interesting to note the issues that have come and gone. A couple of years ago, arguments about…
From the Forum: Pool ban posts make headline news
Our Forum posts about the building that wants to ban children from its swimming pool has ruffled a few feathers. First of all there was a flurry of appalled and angry messages (which you can…
PODCAST: Apartment living in the new Russia … and a $120K email
A big chunk of this week’s podcast is taken up with discussing how worried we should be about the defamation case taken by the chairman of a small strata building…
Flat Chat Wrap #26 – From Russia with love and the $120k insulting email
Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams discuss apartment living in the new Russia and the email exchange that cost a Manly tenant $120,000 in a defamation case.
From The Forum: Broken door battle with a difference
An interesting yarn has come our way via our friends at the Owners Corporation Network. It seems relatives and neighbours in a block were concerned that one of the residents…
Why ‘no-cause’ evictions are bad for everyone
When the NSW government brought in its raft of changes to tenancy laws at the end of last year, the headline grabbing issues were new provisions to protect the victims…