Ghost parking – sweet revenge on a rogue parker
This may be too good to be true – and too delicious to reject out of hand – but we may have found a way of moving cars parked illegally…
Qld owners use pester power to curb contracts
Here at Flat Chat we have long campaigned against the “legalised corruption” of the pre-sale of caretaker management contracts in Queensland. There, for no better reason than to put more…
Messy message as final ‘airbnb’ code delayed
Late last week, when NSW Planning finally released the new regulations on short-term holiday letting – aka STRA, aka “airbnb” – there was something to annoy everyone. The proposals would…
Forum: Parking vigilante is breaking the law
Let’s be honest, if you’ve ever found someone else’s car in your parking spot, you’ll have been tempted just to park in behind it and leave it there, ignoring pleas…
Rents drop dramatically as apartment vacancies soar
There’s more bad news for apartment investors – which means good news for renters – as rents plummet and availability of units soars in Sydney and Melbourne. This is in…
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…
Riding shotgun with our building commish
A couple of weeks ago, Sydney Morning Herald and Domain contributor Sue Williams accepted an invitation to see Building Commissioner David Chandler in action on a development site. How do…
Forum: Neighbour throws shade on plan to cut canes
What’s that thing they say about the squeaky wheel always getting the oil? In strata, it’s more likely to be the loudest voice that’s the only one heard. However, some…
Podcast: Meditations on a block of Wellness
In what turned out to be a fairly hectic week we hit a very welcome speedbump in the form of enforced rest and relaxation at a new apartment block launch,…
Tale of two states as ‘no fault’ evictions under fire
It’s been very much a tale of two cities (and states) for renters in Sydney and Melbourne this past week. As of last Sunday, Victorian tenants no longer have the…
RE ‘experts’ on better service exclude customers
If there was any doubt which side of the great strata divide Fair Trading is on – between those who make money from Real Estate and those who live in…
Party flats and the invisible airbnb blacklist
Party animals and horrible hosts beware! Breaches of the NSW holiday rental Code of Conduct are already being pursued and hosts and guests face being blacklisted – even though the NSW…