Roundup: Opal mining and balcony madness
Happy New Year! A great deal of attention for the last week has been focussed on the Opal Tower crisis, for good reason. But it’s not just the cracks in…
Four dead, 35 missing after gas blast in Russian block
At least four people have died and 35 others are missing after a gas explosion brought down several floors in an apartment block in Russia’s Ural Mountains on New Years…
Holiday let fireworks – parties, crime and a backlash
If you’ve had illicit Airbnb or other short-term holiday lets (STHL) in your block and hadn’t realised it, you will know all about it by now. Christmas and New Year…
Podcast: On TV talking cracks in the Opal
Despite having a great head for radio, I was enticed on to TV last Saturday (Dec 29) to talk building cracks with Professor Mark Hoffman (one of the engineers called…
On TV talking cracks in the Opal
Despite having a great head for radio, I was enticed on to TV last Saturday (Dec 29) to talk building cracks with Professor Mark Hoffman (one of the engineers called…
Fair Trading’s flaws exposed says real estate supremo
Fair Trading NSW is simply not up to the job of protecting the interests of apartment owners, according to Tim McKibbin, Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Institute of New South…
Opal: Roberts steps up while Kean sidesteps strata
If there was any further evidence required of Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean’s waning interest in strata owners, it comes this week as Minister for Planning and Housing (and former…
Cracks in Opal block reveal holes in strata protections
OK, nobody died, but this was a pretty grim Christmas for the residents and owners of the Opal Tower in Sydney’s Olympic Park. Many of them were evacuated from their…
Roundup: No smoke as strata residents ignored yet again
As I sit on an island off Cambodia, dealing with the consequences of risking one “street food” meal too many, a very urgent and important email from the government pops…
Podcast: The Wrap … all the way from Cambodia
Wrestling with laptops and hotel wi-fi, we finally bring you the second-last Flat Chat wrap podcast of the year. Was it worth the effort? Only you can be the judge…
Flat Chat Wrap #7 – Are your levies too high
How to work out if your levies are too high, the sensible controls that have led Airbnb to threaten politicians’ votes and nominations for our Heroes and Villains of Strata.
Property prices – are you predator or prey?
With house and apartment prices falling – to the extent that some people who bought off-the-plan at the height of the boom are potentially looking at negative equity –opportunists are…