Covid confusion as strata mask orders remain
Building managers are taking down signs requiring residents to wear masks, strata committees are telling tenants and owners that masks aren’t required on common property and everybody in strata land…
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Report reveals extent of unit block defects
For the past two years or more, a team of top academics based at UNSW’ s City Futures Research Centre has been investigating defective apartment construction in NSW. In a…
Forum: Committee coup breaks so many rules
There are some very dubious goings on in one of our Flatchatter’s schemes, where a coup by half of the committee has been conducted under cover of covid. Up until…
Podcast: Freedom for some but at what cost?
The Flat Chat Wrap podcast covers a lot of ground this week, from the state-wide easing of covid restrictions in NSW (but not in Victoria) to a little local difficulty…
Each-way bets pay when developers join the club
Every time Marilyn Eccles drives past the massive hole in the ground where her beloved Waverley Bowling Club once stood, she feels her heart miss a beat, writes Sue Williams…
How buddies in the block beat the isolation blues
Start talking about a sense of community to some property owners and strata residents and their eyes glaze over faster than an unsuspecting victim during a dinner party pyramid-selling sales…
Flat Chat website: Easier to find, simpler to use
We’ve been doing a bit of a renovation on the Flat Chat website, some of it obvious, some more subtle and none of it involving drilling or jack-hammering. For a…
TV’s Block buyers ‘could save millions on taxes’
The eventual buyers of the properties being renovated on the Nine network’s Block reality TV series could save millions of dollars in depreciation over the life of their investment. An…
Podcast: No-vax bans and climate denial warning
We cover a lot of ground in this week’s podcast, from local pandemic panics to global warming and the potential “scary” effect of political inaction on your mortgages. First up…
Heartbreak over Angus, the pet-ban busting dog
Angus, the pet-ban busting dog, has died. Singer Jo Cooper, who challenged her owners’ corporation’s “no pets” by-laws all the way to the NSW Court of Appeal – and won…
Strata schemes sweat over no-vax bans on facilities
Apartment blocks are considering banning unvaccinated residents from their shared facilities, but is it fair, legal or practicable? Sue Williams, masks up for this feature in Domain. Strata committees across…
Flawed strata thinking in hard flooring
There are many good reasons for installing timber or tiled floors in apartments – and just as many reasons why your neighbours won’t want you to do it. A timber…