Revised pet law offers clarity and compromise
The vexed question of pets in apartments and unfair by-laws took a new twist this week when Alex Greenwich, Sydney’s member of the NSW Parliament saw his proposal for a…
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Forum: Something shady in manager’s offer of help
There’s a sad and slightly creepy story from Tasmania this week – and it’s all about how some people haven’t quite got to grips with the concept of strata even…
Podcast: Bad landlords and skinny buildings
The Flat Chat wrap this week is taken up with three main topics. The first is a petition to parliament to create a blacklist of bad landlords … launched by…
Fair Trading fluffs again – is air-con sustainable?
Our revelation last week that NSW Fair Trading has no idea what double glazing is, even though they specify it in their renovations regulations as being a permitted “minor renovation”,…
Helping older residents – now we have a number
You can understand why older people are reluctant to move into aged care – and that was even before they became hotspots for Covid-19 infections last year. For some seniors…
Call for landlord blacklist to warn would-be tenants
Bad landlords could soon find themselves on a “blacklist” if tenant Rachel Black has her way. Rachel, also a landlord herself, has launched a petition to the NSW Parliament, supported…
Forum: How you can lose even when you win
The headline on one of our posts this week, says it all: “It’s as if I’m paying to sue myself.” The situation is pretty common. The strata committee takes an…
Podcast: Unit prices stall and ropey reno regs
Hi, did you miss us? We took a little break last month but we are back with our new, improved Flat Chat Wrap podcast. We – Sue Williams and JimmyT…
Why first-time buyers need better protection
As our various governments, state and federal, lure us with grants and tax breaks into buying new and off-the-plan units, they really need to put more safeguards in place to…
Are we finally falling out of love with apartments?
Have Australia’s apartment residents finally had enough of strata living and are they now fleeing back to houses? Do they see high rises as high risk for too many varied…
Double trouble as regs fail on minor renovations
When is double glazing not really double glazing? When it’s cited in NSW strata regulations. As mentioned in this week’s newsletter, and detailed on the Forum, a Flatchatter is involved…
Forum: Who pays for gate crasher’s damage?
There are some issues that bring out the bush lawyer in all of us. Take the sub-tenant who accidentally drove into his block’s garage gate, doing $4000 worth of damage.…