‘Astroturf’ submissions flood holiday letting inquiry
Apologies first up to everyone who is sick of reading about short-term holiday letting in this website. If it’s any consolation, we’re sick of writing about it. However, the online…
How not to get your fingers burned over fire safety
Considering how few fatalities there are in apartment fires, the dangers from unit block blazes do seem to occupy a lot of bureaucratic brain space. On the other hand, it…
Roundup: Book now for the fun and factual Strata Matters owners day
Over here at Flat Chat we’re getting very excited about the Strata Matters owners’ day seminar thingy in a couple of weeks. Yes, we will be talking about cladding, yes…
Talking Kings Cross on ABC radio Breakfast
With the first section of my crime novel Perfect Criminals set in Kings Cross, Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck asked me if the Cross was changing and if it was…
Hypothetical: Are Airbnb by-laws worth a legal battle?
Things had gone quiet on the Airbnb front, with both NSW and Victorian policy wonks scribbling away on new legislation to deal with online short-term letting. But thanks to one…
Four out of five lawyers say yes to Airbnb by-laws
Towards the end of last year, NSW Fair Trading ruled – or, at least, stated since they don’t get to make or interpret the law – that Owners Corporations in…
Roundup: How big a deal is the size of your unit?
Of all the things you might have to sacrifice to be able to afford an apartment to buy or rent, how far down the list would size rate? Less important…
Click-power a real option as online meetings take off
In the old days, when strata blocks were mostly two or three-storey walk-ups, everybody was on the committee and communication was chats in the hallway and notes slipped under doors.…
Roundup: TV, radio, books, Flat Chat Live – it’s strata Showtime!
We’re in the middle a bit of a media frenzy here at Flat Chat HQ. Last Wednesday I was on TV on Ten’s Studio10 talking about how Kings Cross…
The copy-cat trap: paying for cut and paste by-laws
Imagine you have commissioned a photograph of your apartment block from a local artist and they come up with a beautiful image that shows the building to its best…
Has Sydney’s Kings Cross become too safe?
JimmyT on Studio10 discusses whether Kings Cross in Sydney has become too tame … and talks about his new crime novel, including why it has an endorsement from ‘Last King…