Forum Roundup: Developer backs down
The Flat Chat Forum is a hotbed of debate and discussion, with everything from recalcitrant developers to DIY renovators. Here’s your instant weekly roundup of hot topics and cool advice on the…
Pool safety rules get the sitcom solution
Apartment owners in blocks with swimming pools have been thrown a lifeline. New swimming pool safety regulations, due to come in later this month, remove the proposed ban on selling…
Kids stuff: Fun and games on the Forum
The Flatchat faithful have been wrestling with a variety of topics on your behalf in the past week. As ever, there is a range of opinions; some rock solid, some wishful thinking…
A ‘wee’ noise problem keeps strata owner awake
We all have to put up with some level of neighbour noise in apartments, but it shouldn’t be anything that disturbs us or, even worse, keeps us awake at night.…
Hot air and cold facts as Sydney chills out with Airbnb
A Tribunal decision on Airbnb lets in Melbourne has sent a chill through permanent residents of apartment blocks here in Sydney but it also created a wave of optimism, if not opportunism,…
Hot topics in the Forum
It’s been another busy week on the Forum with all sorts of curly questions coming our way and, of course, the collective wisdom of the Flat Chat brains trust casting…
Developer trying to block defects checks
When you are a new owner in a new building, it’s hard not to be suspicious of decisions that could cost you a lot of money. “The building is just…
Flat Chat Live and Trivia Night
Two major strata events are on the horizon. OK, they are major for me … but you might be interested too. First cab off the rank (or should it be…
RANT: Tenants Union backs Airbnb couple in ‘sub-letting’ row
I have just read an article in the Age which in which the Tenants Union of Victoria supported the “right” of tenants to rent out their entire apartment on airbnb.…
No secrets in strata
No secrets in strata Flat Chat with Jimmy Thomson “When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else,” writes American…
Cripes on a bike – how’s this for a storage solution?
Look, we know storage is an issue in apartment blocks and we applaud innovative ideas … but this bike on a balcony takes the biscuit. Not sure which by-law this…
Strata defence: Get your Airbnb by-laws in now
With the state government about to “do an Uber” on short-term and holiday letting, apartment owners need to get their act together if they don’t want to be swamped…