Debt dodgers beware
The unpaid levies scandal has taken a comic turn around one well-known Eastern Suburbs building with an apartment owner who owes nearly $15,000 to his Owners Corporation scuttling in the…
Wheelchair access
Sometimes in this job you need the wisdom of Solomon – but mostly you only need to know when to the pass the buck. This week’s curly question is one…
Value of votes
There is a basic and fairly pragmatic principle that guides the running of strata plans and that is “user pays”. At the heart of this concept are your unit entitlements,…
Same Strokes for Different Folks
Another New Year and, it seems, the same old problems out there in Strataland. But you learn something new every day. My strata building has a number of tenants and…
Good Guys, Bad Guys
I’ve been taken to task by a couple of readers who challenge two of my assertions: that short-term rentals are a bad thing; and that investor owners are generally worse…
FlatRats 2005
We FlatChatters love living in apartments – so much so that we even put up with the cheats, chisellers, hedonists, misanthropes, selfish scumbags and assorted lying rodents who’ve attached themselves…
Levies cheats make a mint
Just when you think you’ve heard everything in the world of apartment living, another sleazy little scam comes to light. The latest trick by apartment parasites is to withhold their…
Company title fight
For those of you who think strata living is the pits, here is an example of examples of how things could be so much worse … for instance, if you…
Detested investors
I never fail to be amazed by readers stories about how the selfish schemers in this world make life difficult for the rest of us. Entries for our New Laws…
AGMs – Oh, no, not another election
For anyone who wants a say in the running of their building, the apartment block AGMs is your night of nights. It’s when your executive committee is elected and they’re…
Heartbreak Hotel
When we published our book Apartment Living, Sue Williams and I were accused of being conspiracy theorists because we highlighted the ways that residents of new apartment blocks can get…
Trouble In Paradise
You’d think life in a small strata complex of town houses near a beach was a little slice of the Aussie dream. But it has turned into a nightmare for…