Chewing the strata fat with James Valentine

I made my last visit of the year to James Valentine’s Afternoons on ABC radio last Wednesday and we had a lot to chat about, not least the new strata laws that have dominated the landscape for the past couple of weeks.

But it wasn’t just the Fair Trading Minister’s wish list that we discussed, although did give that a good kick around the park.

There was the strata manager who is aiding and abetting the rusted-on strata committee to stay in power even when the majority of owners have voted to remove them.

There’s the builder who’s frustrated that new laws mean he has to pay for an engineer’s report to renovate his own bathroom even though he’s done hundreds of similar renos for his customers.

There’s the caller who wants to be able to pay major maintenance bill by splitting the payment between a special levy and a strata loan.

There’s another who wants to know what to do about owners who are undertaking unapproved renovations when the strata manager has washed their hands of the issue.

There’s the apartment seller who wants to know if they need permission to paint and recarpet their flat, and if they will get a refund on levies paid in advance.

It’s a lively discussion and you can hear it by clicking on Afternoons – ABC listen and whizzing forward to the 35 minute mark (although the rest of the show is pretty good too.)