Dementia sufferer wants to be elected
Ageing is not an issue that we immediately associate with apartment living … but it should be. Retirees and empty nesters are among the largest social groups moving into apartments.…
Landlords caught in repairs trap
Which law do I break? That’s the dilemma facing landlords whose tenants are suffering because of a failure of owners corporations to repair and maintain common property. “I keep having…
Brake on forced unit sales
The whole question of whether a majority of owners can vote to sell their entire building, bulldozing the objections of those who would rather stay, is the hottest topic in…
Passions high when strata owners start shooting
As more details emerge (here) of the strata dispute that led to the shooting at an executive committee meeting in Lakemba, the arrest of an elderly owner and the fracturing…
How to bounce a brothel from your block
How do you get rid of a brothel from your block? That’s the question facing owners in at least one residential apartment block in Sydney according to THIS STORY in…
Nude not naughty, just potty
This tale of neighbour annoyance comes directly from the Department of Be Careful What You Wish For. Take a happy little row of modern townhouses where most of the neighbours…
Pool Safety Crackdown Delayed
You probably didn’t realise it but until a couple of weeks ago, a huge number of unit blocks in NSW faced having their swimming pools locked up and even drained …
Lost clauses as strata law reform dances on
It’s not exactly Strictly Ballroom but the slow…slow…quick-quick…slow progress of NSW strata law reform dances on, albeit with a few shimmies and sidesteps as the details are fine-tuned. And that…
Poo and pee from a dangerous dog upstairs
It’s the perfect strata storm – a duplex where the two owners have already fallen out and tenants who introduce a dog which then proceeds to spray poo and pee…
Am I paying my landlord’s bills?
The question of granny flats and who pays the power bills has been turned on its head by a Flat Chat reader who lives in the main house while the…
Strata reforms back on track
The strata reform first promised for July and then delayed until later this year is back on track, according to Fair Trading sources. “We’ve managed to get draft Bills quicker…
New window on an ageing issue
QUESTION: I live in a building built in 1965. What differences are there for buildings if the strata plan had been formed under the 1973 act in terms of the…