Tenants shut door on ‘open house’ inspections
A Melbourne couple’s objection to large numbers of prospective buyers coming through their rented home could curb ‘open house’ inspections in Victoria, especially, and even in NSW. According to a recent…
Things that go bonk in the night
You call an exorcist when you hear things that go bump in the night, but who do you call for things that go bonk during the day? “I am suffering…
Cop the rise or hit the road
Nobody likes rent increases – no renter, at any rate – but when are increases fair and what can you do if they aren’t? “I was just notified of another…
Day traders’ crossed lines
A complaint from tenants that their phone lines weren’t working has revealed that their rented flat was being used as an office and they had been promised there would be…
Owner incensed by holy smoke
Ah, the gentle tinkle of a tiny temple bell, the whispered chant of a Buddhist prayer, the barely visible thread of smoke from an incense stick. What could be more…
When renting a unit beats buying a house
The news last week that the Reserve Bank of Australia thinks young people might be better off renting rather than buying had a resonance in strata more than any other…
Long-term pain in short-term shame
An odd little coincidence occurred in the past few days. In the same week that we discovered, almost tragically, that students and young tourists were being housed in shipping containers…
Shipping containers of shame
Shipping containers of strata shame The other day I put a dark thought into the mind of a contact in the NSW government. Fair Trading has been running a campaign…
Strata law reform gunned down
The NSW Government has put on hold strata law changes that were due to come in this month – including allowing a majority of owners to sell units from under…
How short-term lets distort the rental market
Forget the buck’s night strippers’ glitter clogging up the lifts, the weekend footy fans vomiting in the stairwells and the country kids doing cannonballs in the communal spa, there is…
Curious case of a cat and an iPhone photo
The fur is flying in a strata battle over an illegal cat and a sneaky iPhone photo. It starts with a Flat Chat reader who tells us she inherited an…
How to beat brat dumping
Brat dumping – when parents buy an apartment for their teenage or young adult offspring so they can offload the results of their lack of child rearing skills on to…