James Valentine – Airbnb discussion document
The government releases its discussion document on short-term holiday letting. JimmyT and James V discuss
Barbie and smoking bans could cut crippling cladding costs
Bans on smoking and removing barbecues from balconies could be a low-cost option for apartment owners as the State government plans to force buildings with inflammable cladding to own up…
Roundup: Elevated anger over lifts that never arrive
Ever wondered why you always seem to be waiting ages for the lifts in your building? Maybe the lady upstairs is holding it for her partner while he hunts for…
Short-term letting: may the Astroturfing wars begin
The key word in the coming months of argy-bargy over the various options in the holiday letting proposals is Astroturfing – meaning a fake grassroots campaign. In an Astroturfing campaign,…
Big guns line up to shoot down holiday let legislation
New holiday letting law proposals have been caught in the crossfire from both online holiday letting agencies – Airbnb and Stayz – which have lined up to shoot down the…
Bans, charges and registration mooted for holiday lets
The State government will go back to the drawing board on holiday letting when it issues its options paper, which industry insiders say is likely to land tomorrow (Friday 21).…
Roundup: Car hits wall, insurer slugs tenant. Who pays?
There’s a post in the Forum this week that should warm the cockles of your heart – but I’m afraid it just has steam coming out of my ears. A…
Bridging the gap between building and contents insurance
The perennial argument over who covers the damage in a flat after a domestic disaster, is about to get a lot simpler for some apartment residents. For instance, if a…
OOPS! 10 classic errors strata living newbies make
For more than 10 years we have been answering questions and offering advice about apartment living. When we started, apartment residents were in a small minority and it was seen as…
Fair Trading claims Airbnb by-laws are invalid
Following the extended discussions on the validity of by-laws that set out to restrict short-stay letting by invoking the residential-only status of some apartment buildings, we contacted fair Trading to…
Roundup: A funny thing happened in my building …
The last time I was on the James Valentine radio show (and if you missed it you can listen here) he commented that even though he enjoyed our monthly segments,…
Airbnb by-laws: Strata lawyers state their cases
Six strata law experts give their take on whether we can create by-laws enforcing our residential-only zoning. My story in the Sydney Morning Herald at the weekend about Fair Trading…