How to help your dog beat home-alone blues
As the world begins to move past the restraints of Covid and lockdowns that once seemed endless but are now history, pet owners may be leaving their dogs at home…
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Show some respect: A Baby Boomer bites back
A week or so ago, I wrote a column for the Australian Financial Review, based on a comment by a senior strata manager that downsizing Baby Boomers were a new…
Tribunal rescinds pre-sold management contract
For the first time in NSW state history, a tribunal has rescinded a strata building management contract, pre-sold by the developer, finding it to be harsh, oppressive and unconscionable, writes…
Are Baby Boomers really the new strata baddies?
Who do you think the fastest growing group of strata troublemakers is? Pet owners or pet haters? Airbnb hosts or tenants and owners with by-law blindness? According to some highly…
Women prosper at the top of the property game
Once, women dreaded walking past building sites or being patronised by real estate agents. But today, it’s increasingly likely that a fair number of those construction workers will be women,…
By-laws that someday you’ll want in your block
Few if any apartment residents love the idea of by-laws telling them what to do … until a neighbour does something they don’t like and they discover there’s no easy…
Forum: Loan or levy? Choice isn’t really yours
Strata loans or special levies – if your strata scheme has to pay a bill how would you rather pay your share? A one-off hit to your bank account or…
Podcast: Builder fails despite home shortage
They say strata is a world of contradictions and never has that been so obvious as this week when one report reveals a shortage of housing, most of which will…
Podcast: Strata’s next big challenge – ageing blocks
This week’s podcast is given over to one topic – but it’s a fascinating one: What are we going to do about Australia’s older apartment blocks? Sure, there’s been a…
Forum: Are two-lot strata schemes too much hassle?
We tend not to hear too much about the mysteries two-lot strata schemes like duplexes and villas. Is “mysteries” over-stating it? For a long time Randwick Council in Sydney’s East…
Concern as 50,000 unit blocks reach use-by dates
Between Mascot Towers and the Opal building, and more recently Vicinity in inner-West Sydney, the high-profile problems at various Sydney apartment blocks has drawn our attention to the quality of…
Forum: Something fishy going on down by the pool
One of the reasons I love this job is that, even though we are often asking and answering variations on the same questions, almost every week I get a query…