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 or Bill. Hmmm.
About the only issue that’s particularly relevant to strata residents in this election is negative gearing. One theory is that if they restrict it to new properties, off-the plan apartments will boom but house prices and rents for older properties will stabilise.
However, the biggest challenge is firstly, convincing Australians that it’s OK to live in apartments and secondly, that it’s OK to rent for years and years (like they do in Europe and America).
Will it happen here? Maybe … round about the time you are getting snow reports from Hell. Meanwhile, if you’re not sick of elections, my Flat Chat column this weekend will explore the worst kind of chairmen and women you can end up with.
For now, the Flat Chat faithful have been bashing away at the keyboards to bring you another set of curly questions and straight answers.
- What do you do when a government department rents units then lets them to employees for short-stay accommodation – who then ignore the by-laws? That’s HERE.
- How do residents get home when the only lift is out of action for repairs? The answer includes a link to a very handy summary of all the legal and financial issues of what happens to rents when basic facilities are removed. That’s HERE.
- He’s at it again! The dodgy developer who wants to charge the initial owners for the building’s water has produced “minutes” of a meeting that never happened. That’s HERE.
- Does the owner of a pre-1974 building need a special resolution by-law to install bi-fold balcony doors? That’s HERE.
- How do you find out if your chairman has sneakily installed downlights in contravention of your by-laws? That’s HERE.
- It’s a mess … some units have pergolas that are common property, some have pergolas that are lot property but have been maintained as common property and some units have no pergolas at all. Now the EC wants to look after all the pergolas at everyone’s expense. That’s HERE.
There’s all this and a lot more on the Forum.
