Flat Chat hits 500
They said it would never last (well, I did) but this is my 500th Flat Chat column after more than 10 years of its existence. Why are we still here? Perhaps it’s…
An ill wind in Victoria
Whisper it, but Melbourne may be feeling the first gusts of a perfect storm that could and probably should lead to a major rethink about apartment living. Perhaps it will…
Defect deadline warning at Flat Chat Live
Executive committees in some new buildings have just four weeks to make a claim for defect rectification or they could miss out completely, according to panelists at last week’s Flat…
Noisebusters: Who ya gonna call?
A tenant in a group of townhouses has a problem with a noisy neighbour. She has approached the strata manager who has told her it’s not his problem as she…
Short shrift for airheads
Melbourne city council were due to be back at the Building Appeals Board this past week, to re-argue their case that residential apartment blocks are no place for short-term holiday…
Late call on rental damage
We came across this interesting titbit on the interweb – a couple had left their rented accommodation in May and their bond had been refunded (albeit after two months). Now…
Eye in the sky drone grounded
When an apartment resident decided to grow a “sauvage” garden on his balcony – filling it with soil and letting it grow wild – he claimed the by-laws allowed for…
Law defective on defect claims
It’s all gone quiet on the strata law reform front but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Strata laws are one thing but the most significant legislation for new apartment…
Winners and losers in user-pays rentals
If proposed curbs on interest-only loans make life easier for people who want to buy where they live, at prices uninflated by speculators, what about tenants? Like it or not,…
Persons of interest pumping up prices
If we ever needed proof of a disconnect between the cost of building apartments and the prices at which they’re sold, it came a couple of years ago when a…
Do we need a no-tenant tax
Have Sydney’s rental vacancy rates turned the corner? With a rise in the availability of properties to 2 percent, while hardly easy, life could be getting less stressful for renters.…
Forced sales – a chance to have your say
The spectre of aged residents being hauled off to retirement homes, kicking and screaming, so that rapacious developers can turn their old apartment blocks into something shiny and new, has…