Who’s really got your back in strata battles?
Everybody’s got somebody out there on the barricades or in the trenches, fighting the good fight on their behalf. Drivers have the motoring organisations while cyclists and pedestrians have their…
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Roundup: Time we took a closer look … at us
There are lies, damned lies and then statistics, the old saying goes. And then, to compound the mendacity, there’s what politicians and journalists do with them. I love stats. My…
Defects bond? Jail the dodgy developers!
This post, an expanded version of last week’s roundup intro, appeared in this form in the Australian Financial Review. Happy New Year! Two pieces of legislation came into force as…
ROUNDUP: New laws – the good news and the bad
Happy New Year! Two pieces of legislation come into play today. The first sees the long-awaited defects bond for new apartment blocks come into effect. The other sees what seems…
Party on … without making your neighbours hate you
It’s probably a little late in the day for this – it appeared in the Flat Chat slot in the Australian Financial Review last week – but it applies to…
Roundup: Why the Law Lords’ ruling on Airbnb really matters
Just when I thought I was going to get to 2018 without mentioning Airbnb again, the Privy Council in London goes and stuffs things up – but in a good…
Time to chuck another Aussie tradition on the barbie
Here’s a question for everyone who is getting their teeshirts in a twist over flammable cladding: Would you give up having barbecues on your balconies if it meant you didn’t…
Airbnb: ‘It’s about planning – not by-laws’
DR Cathy Sherry of the Law department of UNSW was quoted in the Privy Council findings. Ironically, she doesn’t think allowing by-laws to restrict holiday lets is not the answer.…
Law Lords’ ruling a major blow for holiday lets
A legal ruling in London could bolster legal defences against court challenges to anti-holiday letting by-laws. Strata lawyer Tom Bacon explains … Britain’s Privy Council has unanimously ruled that owners…
Roundup: Legal action launched over Bankstown fire tragedy
The family of the student who died in the Bankstown fire five years ago, as well as the surviving victim, are suing everybody and anybody who may have contributed to…
The gift of knowing how much to give at Christmas
Christmas is a dangerous time for the concierges and door-persons of our big city apartment blocks – they risk being buried alive under an avalanche of goodies. The problem for…
Strata strife: The not-so gentle art of complaining
If you live in an apartment, sooner or later you are going to want to complain. Whether it’s about the noise from next door, or the smoke from the barbie…