In The Forum – Should lobby shoes get the boot?
Forget flammable cladding and crumbling walls, it’s the little things in strata that really get people het up. And it’s one of those multifaceted culture clashes where there’s no obvious…
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Podcast: The joys of apartment living (no … really!)
A while ago I received a complaint from a reader that I had used the phrase “the very best in apartment living”. ‘Very best”, she argued, implied that there was…
Why we don’t want this man in charge of strata
So, the NSW State election has come and gone and nothing much has changed … or has it? And will some of the mooted changes at the top – as…
How to spot a well-managed apartment block
With consumer confidence in brand-new or off-the-plan apartments taking a hit after the Opal Tower crisis in Sydney, where massive cracks started appearing in supporting walls on Christmas Eve, many…
Flat Chat Wrap #17 – Promises, promises … what the pollies are offering the strata voters of NSW
Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams discuss what the various parties are offering strata residents and owners in the run-up to the NSW state election.
ROUNDUP: Paint or varnish? Another strata cover-up
Every so often I get the feeling that there must be a strand of DNA that makes people both nit-picking and want to live in strata. Take the post from…
Podcast: What the pollies are promising the strata voters of NSW
It’s hard to believe that we’ll be voting on Saturday (March 23) for, possibly, the first new government in NSW in eight years. It’s also hard to believe that we…
Coalition vows to make it easier to vote solar
Just when we thought the government didn’t care about strata they come up with a pre-election announcement designed to raise the high-rise feelgood factor. According to this story in the…
NSW Election special: Whose policies are best for apartment residents?
With an election in NSW next weekend (March 23), and another for the whole country just a couple of months away, apartment owners and residents who aren’t rusted on to…
Cladding clam-up as Fair Trading issues threats, rather than access to help
By Sue Williams Residents at high risk from potentially deadly flammable cladding are being denied information about what they should do to make their buildings safe, consumer advocates claim. Instead,…
Flat Chat Wrap #16 – Election fever mounts as the shadow minister speaks
Labor spokesperson for Better Regulations and Innovation (and Fair Trading) Yasmin Catley calls in on the Flat Chat podcast … and part two of the chat with OCN chair Phil…
Roundup: When ‘privacy’ is more important than unit block fire safety
I was gobsmacked this week to discover that Fair Trading have refused to even tell owners in the 400-plus buildings seriously affected by flammable cladding that there’s a seminar this…