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The thing about mobile towers is that they don’t want massive power levels at ground near the tower. Instead it is aimed in a beam, in the vertical plane, It would not be difficult to check the levels near a tower, and compare them to levels in a room with multiple mobile phones.
What is going to happen is that as we get inflation under control there will be less demand in the system. People will have less money, so they will do less of living on their own in 2 bedroom units. Philip Lowe, former RBA governor, actually pointed that out and nobody liked it. The RBA is now in the position where they have to do something to offset government spending, so inflation remains in target, because otherwise everyone is going to start believing that our inflation rate is constrained to 3-4%. The outcome of that is that interest rates on bonds would rise.
One reason that demand is lower for relatively newer units, is that sometime after 2000 we lost the technology to waterproof units. You then get a mess as various factions in the owners form who feel that they have a solution. Sorry, but the only solution is to spend 1 to 2 hundred thousand, and if you can’t afford it then let the bank deal with your negative equity.
Worth remembering that excess funds can only be returned to owners (in NSW) if there is a unanimous vote (as in, no votes against) to do so.
That could be a bit of a problem. What I was thinking of was more along the line of with a 50 lot building was to have $20k as a buffer. Having seen plumbing jobs take $10k because of difficulties finding the leak and then diverting the flow and then patching up the places where they gained access, it is better than suddenly needing a special levy.
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In NSW it is possible to do this https://www.bannermans.com.au/library/change-of-unit-entitlements/
It seems that unit entitlements are going to usually based on valuation, and it is probable that valuations of town houses will be greater and so they pay more.
In NSW there is no problem, and I expect the same in Queensland. Strata hasn’t stolen any money, it is shared by the owners. The only situation I would be concerned is if the admin funds became ridiculous.
The usual strata magement agreement allows for the strata manager to perform many of the functions of the committee. At the AGM there should be appointment of a new committee. Otherwise it is off to NCAT.
A couple of points. There are already restrictions on keeping chemicals other than ones that are used for domestic cleaning in units, so people don’t have complete control over what happens in their units. Lihtium ion batteries will spontaneously combust, but it is much less likely than other causes. The chances of it happening are greater when being charged, especially if there is overcharging, and when they are poorly manufactured. That is the big problem with some of the e-bikes, they have cheap and nasty batteries and cheap charging circuitry. The cars are highly regulated so problems will be rare.
I expect that the way this will work out is that if the insurance companies see a reasonably increased risk, then they will be telling government that either the price of insurance will increase or there need to be more rules.
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Basically, the government is now taking on some of the risk, because the risk is too high for anyone else. This generally doesn’t end well.
You take it to NCAT, which for something like this may require legal advice. I think it breaches the basic principle that common property is the responsibility of all lot owners. In the unit block I’m in, I’m one of about 25% of owners who have the roof above them. If it leaks it is not my problem, it is the problem of 100% of owners because that is the deal that they all signed up to.
I’m certain that the strata I’m in in NSW has been deliberately avoiding mentioning the waterproofing problems. It has suited some of the owners who managed to sell up before it eventually became difficult to hide. What happened was they had been supplying a copy of an engineers report to the insurance companies for 10 years and eventually one read it and wondered what had been done about the problems. Not very much and our insurance costs became massive.
One of the unforeseen consequences of too many owners owing too much is that it makes the whole scheme vulnerable to predatorial investors who, in extreme cases, can take control of the block and push through work that requires special levies, forcing more owners to sell. Once they have bought enough properties at knock-down prices, they then sell or plan the whole block for demolition and rebuild at a massive profit.
I assume that any developer can buy a unit and then take the strata to NCAT and get an order that the defects must be fixed.
What will affect Australia in the next year is that problems in the American economy will spread to the world. When it happens it will probably happen quickly. Business will decide that they don’t want to invest, which will increase unemployment, which means less demand in the system. It is hard to predict these things, our economy is very much driven by greed and fear, and you never know when fear will take over.
Having consideration of the situation I’m in, this makes good sense. The government moves in, fixes the building and then charges a rate of say 4%. After it is finished then owners can stay or leave. The main problem is with the banks. I think they would come to the party and cut mortgages because they can do badly out of owners being forced to sell. At the moment we have probably lost 40% of the value. If there are forced sales then it is going to be a lot less. When people have 80% loans and only a few years, say 5, then their equity is only 25%. So the bank are down 15% of the purchase price plus they will be paying any associated costs.
SCA-NSW, surely?
No, is labelled with REINSW and has an October 2023 Copyright statement. On reading it gain I realised that the owners are the Principals and we can terminate with 3 months notice after the initial 3 year period. I can scan it, remove our strata details, and send it to you.