Podcast: On TV talking cracks in the Opal
Despite having a great head for radio, I was enticed on to TV last Saturday (Dec 29) to talk building cracks with Professor Mark Hoffman (one of the engineers called…
Featured
Fair Trading’s flaws exposed says real estate supremo
Fair Trading NSW is simply not up to the job of protecting the interests of apartment owners, according to Tim McKibbin, Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Institute of New South…
Opal: Roberts steps up while Kean sidesteps strata
If there was any further evidence required of Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean’s waning interest in strata owners, it comes this week as Minister for Planning and Housing (and former…
Cracks in Opal block reveal holes in strata protections
OK, nobody died, but this was a pretty grim Christmas for the residents and owners of the Opal Tower in Sydney’s Olympic Park. Many of them were evacuated from their…
Roundup: No smoke as strata residents ignored yet again
As I sit on an island off Cambodia, dealing with the consequences of risking one “street food” meal too many, a very urgent and important email from the government pops…
Podcast: The Wrap … all the way from Cambodia
Wrestling with laptops and hotel wi-fi, we finally bring you the second-last Flat Chat wrap podcast of the year. Was it worth the effort? Only you can be the judge…
Property prices – are you predator or prey?
With house and apartment prices falling – to the extent that some people who bought off-the-plan at the height of the boom are potentially looking at negative equity –opportunists are…
Roundup – even from a distance, cladding plan looks thin
Greetings from Cambodia! OK, the picture above is from the centre of Saigon but we stopped off for a few days on our way to Angkor Wat. Anyway, how would…
The perfect gift for your pet – a treat-feeding spy camera
If you are one of those families that gets Christmas cards from their pets – how do those flat-dwelling moggies get out to the Post Office? – you’ll probably want…
Top Vic cop warns of Airbnb-enabled crime wave
In what has to have been one of the worst weeks for Airbnb since short-term online holiday letting landed on these shores, we’ve had two prime examples of exactly why…
Parking winner loses big time for side-stepping NCAT
The next time you think you have a rock-solid strata case – so good that you want to take it to the Supreme Court, where you think wiser heads may…
Airbnb launches campaign against pro-resident MPs
Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Having had an easy ride from Australia’s mostly pliant politicians, Airbnb has warned that they will now use their considerable online clout to campaign…