Water torture
QUESTION: I have moved into an older building and my problem starts EVERY night at 1.30 am when my upstairs neighbour has a shower. Without fail I get woken by…
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Can EC members be paid?
It’s often said that the problem with most Executive Committees is that the people you would like to be running them are too busy earning money to pay their…
Premium dilemma
QUESTION: I insure my investment unit with a landlords insurance policy covering contents damage, personal liability and loss of rent. The contents have been ‘written down’ to an amount where…
Rent reduction removed
QUESTION: My bedroom ceiling developed a leak from common property and there was water damage to the walls. My landlord but did nothing so I called Fair Trading and they…
No free lunch in damp kitchen
QUESTION: In our very small block, the kitchen cupboards of the ground floor flat have started to rot because of damp in the walls. The owner wants us to replace…
Snake in the strata
QUESTION: I’ve just rented found a fabulous new flat but the lease says I need the landlord’s permission to have a pet and the building has a by-law that restricts…
Locked in to key charges
WE get lots of complaints about Owners Corporations and executive committees ‘wasting’ money but what about buildings that are making too much? QUESTION: My Owners Corp seems to be raising…
Mouldy flat, rotten agent
QUESTION: Some overseas friends of mine rented a unit in the inner west which became badly affected by mould over summer. The mother, for whom English is a second language,…
Time called on balcony boozer
Our piece last week about the CTTT’s nitpicking over the case of a noisy and threatening owner piqued the interest of a strata lawyer. “I am dealing with another…
Trial by CTTT nitpicking
We are always telling strata owners to resolve serious problems through Fair Trading and the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. The latter, especially, is supposed to help ordinary people resolve…
Growing irritation
A tenant called Sonia called me on the James Valentine show on ABC 702 last week to complain about a resident who has taken over her block’s common property garden…
Bin laden lady
Even in houses, especially shared houses, the question of whose turn it is to do domestic chores creates angst and anger. So how bad can it be for 12 homes?…