RENTERS – Insurance
Just because you rent your home doesn’t mean you don’t own nice things that are valuable and difficult to replace. But what happens when something goes wrong? QUESTION: Please settle…
Contract con trick
A professional strata titles surveyor wrote to me last week saying he was checking a sales contract from a well-known developer when he noticed a clause that has a strong…
Renters – In a squeeze
We spoke a couple of weeks ago about proposed new tenancy laws that among other things, may allow sub-lets without owners’ approval* . One critic, manager of a major apartment…
Knocking their blocks off
The question of what to do about old, crumbling apartment blocks standing where new, larger and more efficient apartment blocks might be built is an increasingly urgent issue. Demand on…
Renters – Sticky beaks
QUESTION: Our landlords are nice enough people but they live in the apartment above ours and they are always “popping down” for a chat or, even worse, peering over the…
Double trouble
A lot of strata owners just get on with living and trying to be good neighbours, regardless of what the by-laws say. But then somebody wants to sell and the…
Rising Damp
There was a TV sitcom in the 70s, starring the comic genius Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsale (actress Kate’s dad), called Rising Damp – and that’s the only time you…
Renters: Sharing and caring
I’ve recently started part-time study and that means part-time work. A friend wants to rent my spare room – which will be a big help – but only on the…
Smoke signals
With pavement cafes the next no-go areas for smokers, according to reports earlier this month, where do smokers go when they are driven off the streets? One contributor to the…
Renters: Advance unfair
A word of warning to any prospective tenants hoping to stand out from the very competitive crowd by offering six months’ rent or more in advance: you might have trouble…
Taking care of business
When you break down the word “caretaker” it sounds like a good thing. But is strata it can often mean somoene who’s supposed to take care of you and your…
RENTERS: Buy or rent?
QUESTION: I’d like to own my own unit but the figures just don’t add up. Anywhere I might be able to afford isn’t as good as the place I’m renting…