Will cook and clean … for a room in your home
Take people who don’t have enough time on their hands to do basic domestic duties … but own one of seven million spare rooms believed to be lurking in Australian…
The Wrap podcast: From homeless to renting, USA-style
This week’s Wrap podcast topics could hardly be more different. In one we discuss what you can do when a homeless person takes shelter in a nook of common property.…
Flat Chat Wrap #4 – Homeless on common property & build-to-rent in the USA
Homeless people sleeping in common property and – a world away – what it’s like to live in a ‘build-to-rent’ apartment in the USA. The Flat Chat Wrap takes an…
Roundup: Rent bond rollover is a tonic for tenants
The big news this week is … innkeepers will no longer be responsible for their guests horses and saddlery. Seriously, some government reforms and removals of outdated laws have taken…
Capital offences: Gentrification opens door to … guess who
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON DC There’s an interesting process underway in the US capital and it’s something with which we are familiar with here in Australia. No, I don’t mean…
When ‘common sense’ makes no sense at all
Common sense, that good old standby we apply to any dilemma, however complex, is the thinking equivalent of comfort food: it makes you feel better now but causes problems later.…
Airbnb fights tough new city laws in court
LETTER FROM BOSTON: As a long-time thorn in Airbnb’s side, I’m trying not to take this personally. But no sooner do I arrive in Boston, Mass. than Airbnb files a…
Roundup: Something rotten in the state of Queensland
As I have said many times, the pre-sale of management rights in Queensland is a form of legalised corruption that leaves apartment owners to pay for contracts that they had…
Triple win for buyers in sunset clawbacks case
The couple who successfully held the line against the “Sunset Clawbacks” of an apartment block in Sydney’s Surry Hills won two final victories last week. In court, they were awarded…
Hold on – help is closer than you think
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in strata or whether you are a resident or a committee member, sooner or later you are going to need to ask for…
Report demolishes Airbnb’s residential rental myth
A new report has blown major holes in three of the myths at the heart of the Airbnb short-term letting pitch. According to a study by the Australian Housing and…
Podcast: Ep 3 of the Wrap looks at buying and selling
Is this the best time to buy an new apartment or just the worst time to sell? And what you should look out for in offers that seem to be…