Current Page

[Jimmy-T]

The other day I put a dark thought into the mind of a contact in the NSW government.

Fair Trading has been running a campaign about the dangers of dodgy phone and tablet chargers after a young woman was killed when her USB booster went seriously awry and caused an electrical backfire.

“Think about all those illegal phone and laptop chargers attached to multi-socket power boards in over-crowded student flats,” I said.  Cue a stunned silence.

Just a few hours later we started reading reports about a fire in Sydney in shipping containers that had been converted into a makeshift hostel.  That no one was killed is little short of a miracle.

Coincidence, yes, but this is what we are reduced to.  People can’t get cheap, safe, clean accommodation  so they are living like refugees, right in the heart of our cities.

Meanwhile fat cats and greed heads are turning their residential units into illegal  holiday rentals and de facto hotel rooms because they can make more money that way.  Laws are ignored, as are the effect on health, welfare and safety of their neighbours.

So what is the government doing about it? Nada, zilch and nothing.

In the past month the NSW government turned its back on strata owners and tenants by putting long-awaited and  much-needed strata law reform in a box, marked “not to be opened until after the election”.

As far as short-term lets go, it passes the buck on to local councils who more often than not do nothing, no doubt waiting for the next disaster to nudge someone else’s elbow.

Meanwhile residents of apartment blocks where illegal rentals are happening right under their noses turn a blind eye because they “don’t want to cause trouble”.  Hope that works for you when your building goes up in smoke.

But let’s forget self-interest for a second. Consider this: every residential flat that’s illegally let on a holiday website is another shipping container of kids looking for a safe bed for the night.

We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. There’s more of this on flatchat.com.au/forum.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

Topic