Fancy tapware – is it just money down the drain?
I have to confess, I’ve never previously paid much attention to the shape of taps. But as D for Demolition Day approaches in our planned bathroom renovation, the style, function…
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The Forum: Give bogus, bullying by-laws the boot
There’s a nasty by-law floating around various strata schemes these days – I say nasty because whatever its intent was, it’s having the effect of discouraging owners from challenging their…
Podcast 94: Tax shock and giving loans some credit
It’s a bit of a Budget special on Flat Chat this week, if only because we are talking about money. Specifically we are discussing the personal taxes that you probably…
Virtual vendors go online to combat covid concerns
As we emerge from lockdowns and self-imposed enforce isolation, Zoom-based meetings and working from home have affected our lives in strange and unexpected ways. And, according to this story in…
Your strata profits are taxable – and it’s personal
Last week we wrote about the clever apartment owners in Bondi who sold common property air space and converted unused storerooms to saleable units, all to fund a major upgrade…
Forum: What to do with a do-nothing committee
Sometimes you have to apply the Goldilocks principle to strata committees. Like the three bears’ beds, some strata committees are too hard, some are too soft and others – maybe…
Desperate resident gets the covid reno runaround
Living with renovations in your apartment block isn’t easy at the best of times, but we put up with it because, in the give and take of strata living, some…
Podcast: Now you can read it as well as listen
This week’s podcast is all about wheel-clamping, email privacy and the amazing legacy of the Sydney Olympics athletes’ village. But one of the biggest pieces of news this week is…
How our Olympic village became a housing winner
A decision to turn normal Olympic Games planning on its head has resulted in an enduring success story for Sydney, with the former athletes’ village now a sought-after suburb. Before…
Why self-financed upgrade could only happen in NSW
A small one-bedroom flat in North Bondi was listed for auction last week, with the vendors hoping for about $800,000 when it goes to auction early next month. Nothing very…
Five stages of bathroom renovation grief
It’s been about a month since we decided to renovate our 20-year-old bathrooms and we are going through something that is akin to the five stages of grief. Except, instead…
Forum: When ‘she’ll be right’ is oh so wrong
That old chestnut of who is responsible for repairs done on a nod and a wink rears its ugly, unloved head again in this week’s Forum. A Flatchatter writes that…