Forum: Flooring breach bungle and flawed law
The main story from the Forum this week is a real comedy of errors, with a dash of misguided or mischievous bush-lawyering thrown in. A Flatchatter has written to us…
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Podcast 99: Long-term rental will tempt tenants
This week we returned to a topic we raised in the last podcast, namely build-to-rent and specifically the new Liv Indigo building at Sydney Olympic Park. They held an open…
Nights on the tiles as cat leaves a future fossil
Bathroom Chronicles, Part 7 We’re rapidly reaching the conclusion that cats and renovations don’t mix. After our misadventures in the hotel across the road, we thought we’d be past the…
Forum: consternation over late nomination
Sometimes in life, the secret of success is a question of good timing. Strata living is no exception and this week our Flatchatters have been watching the clock or, at…
‘Secret’ estate townhouses set to smash sales records
It can hardly be called a secret but scaffolding, workers in high-vis vests and trucks are the only obvious clues to an intriguing new development underway in Pyrmont. The project…
Podcast 98: A tale of two very different rentals
We are looking at two very different kinds of rentals this week. The first is build-to-rent apartments (which is definitely NOT affordable housing, regardless of what anyone else might tell…
Fair Trading “fakes it till it makes it” on party houses
It’s been called window dressing and a sham. In fact, the only thing in favour of the “party animals” short-term holiday letting (STHL) code of conduct announced last week is…
Passing the buck when there’s no bucks to pass
In these straitened times, with so many apartment owners and renters suffering severe financial stress, the buck – or lack of bucks – often stops with the owners corporation or…
Catastrophes and things that go bump in the day
Bathroom chronicles, Part 6. It has begun. In an exercise that had the military precision of a Dad’s Army assault gone slightly awry, we rounded up our cats and decanted…
Forum: Is ancient wiring too big a risk to keep?
Here’s a question that will resonate with owners in older buildings. When your block’s electrical wiring isn’t good enough to safely power a domestic oven, should the owners corp be…
Podcast 97: Renovation – best-laid plans (and tiles)
It’s renovations all the way in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap as we chat about a Forum post asking what can be done about a disastrous and unauthorised renovation, now…
Party animals plan masks limp Airbnb code
It’s easy to spot when a state government policy on controlling short-term letting might have serious holes in it – Airbnb and other holiday letting (STHL) operators say they’re happy…