Holding out for a hero: 5 bad strata chairs
As we go to the polls to choose our national leaders, it may be a good time to consider who we elect as strata chairs. We all need a hero. Someone who…
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Roundup: Would you elect either of them as your EC chair?
In Britain they get to choose between being in and out of Europe, in America they get to choose between Trump and Clinton and we get … (drum roll) Malcolm…
Double trouble in disaster duplex
Ask any strata manager what the worst job in their world is and they will tell you it’s not the massive multi-block monster with investors, owner residents and tenants, at…
Roundup: The never-ending list of strata stupidities
The thing about writing lists is that no sooner have you finished it than you want to add something else. My Flat Chat column in the Herald and AFR about…
Unit niggles: Five little things that drive you nuts
We all know about the big issues in apartment living – pets, parties, parking, smoking and short-stay lets. But what about those little irritations – the ones that are no…
Roundup: Good Morning, Vietnam
What has Vietnam got to do with strata in NSW? Ummm … not a lot. No … wait … the first person to buy a unit in Saigon under the new…
Airbnb laws up in the air
Chaos for short-stay hosts as Supreme Court rules, legislation stalls and minister resigns The whole future of who can rent out their Melbourne home to short-stay guests is up in the…
Victoria opens door to party flats
Obviously, the following Flat Chat column was written before the events of last week in Victoria, which you can read about in our other featured story – JT. While NSW…
Roundup: When the developer just doesn’t get it
Buying an apartment is possibly the only commercial transaction in our lives where someone sells you something – usually for a lot of money – but thinks they still own it.…
Strata schemes accused of using ‘slave’ cleaners
It started with a simple question to Flat Chat: Who is ultimately responsible for the cleaning contracts in apartment blocks? The answer revealed that thousands of strata schemes across…
Roundup: How bad does your strata manager have to be?
Did you know there is not a single instance (that we know of) of a strata manager losing their licence for being really bad at their job? Sure there have…
Proxy pain as non-owner rules unit block
It’s a familiar scenario: someone gets on your strata committees and starts ruling the place on the highly dubious basis of whatever they want is what’s best for everyone. That…