Podcast: Property price panic and dodgy donations
With property prices soaring but houses outstripping apartments, as detailed in this story, we try to make sense of it all. Why is the gap between the cost of houses…
Strata pets
There was a time in strata blocks when “no pets” was the default rule for apartment residents.
When the model by-laws in various states changed to allow residents to apply for permission to keep pets, which could not be unreasonably refused, “we have never allowed pets” was considered to be a reasonabe reason for refusal.
But times have changed and that is no longer the case, as you will read in these posts.
NB: Some of the stories in these pages go a long way back – check the dates as the laws may have changed. Also references to pets may be part of a larger story.
Forum: When strata donations are illegal
Suppose you have a committee or a chair who’s passionate about some issue related to apartments – something like Airbnb or pets or anything that’s likely to get the political…
Podcast: Would you roll the dice on a $22m flat?
If you have a hankering for the high life and have a lazy $22 million lying around, you could score an apartment in the huge Crown tower above James Packer’s…
Podcast: Horror of our $700 million defects hole
There’s a horror story, a happy ending and a bit of housekeeping in this week’s podcasts. The horror is the $714 million owed by Home Building Compensation for all the…
Forum: “Can’t hear you” on pets just won’t work
There’s an unwritten rule in strata that committees are always less smart than they think they are. You can file that alongside “strata law is never just common sense” and…
Podcast: States’ split is rental as anything
This week, having survived a computer crisis on the home office front, we delve deeper into the differences between the way renters are treated in Victoria and NSW. In the…
Push to free strata from NSW Fair Trading
NSW Labor has launched a renewed push to take strata out of Fair Trading and into a separate Government entity, saying it’s evident that stakeholders don’t trust the current structures…
Your pet laws and by-laws, state by state
Recent re-interpretations and rulings on pet by-laws in NSW, not to mention much-needed updating of the basic strata laws behind them, have left a lot of pet owners scratching their…
Podcast: Dogs banned but NCAT says OK to cats
There’s a few differences in this week’s podcast from previous editions. For a start, Sue is on the other end of a Zoom call as she takes advantage of easing…
More pet turmoil as NCAT backs no-dogs by-law
The endless pets-in-apartments saga took another twist last week when a tribunal ruled that a no-dogs by-law was acceptable, even though last year the NSW Court of Appeal decreed that a…
OCN seeks views on way forward for strata
The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) wants to hear your views on what the priorities should be in the ongoing review of strata laws in NSW. OCN has created a short…
Forum: Seeking speaking permission & rising damp
There’s a genuine “Catch-22” hidden in one of our questions this week. How can you ask to speak at a strata committee meeting when you aren’t allowed to speak? The…