Investment that bounces
QUESTION: I’m looking at buying a one-bedder in a hotel conversion as an investment property. The asking price is about $550K and the average rent is $650 per week. That…
Negligent agent – but who pays?
QUESTION: I live next door to a unit that has recently sold. Over a ten year period, the property has been continuously let via one real estate agent. I went…
Setting strata straight
The state government is currently canvassing opinions on how we think strata law should be fixed. The fact that they are admitting there are problems is a huge breakthrough in…
Antisocial networking
I’ve been extolling the virtues of a Redfern building’s Facebook page so it was disappointing to hear about another Sydney block where the networking has become very antisocial. Renters…
The year of living strategically
As this is the last Flat Chat for the year, let’s look at what’s happened in strata in the past 12 months. We got a new Fair Trading Minister when…
CSI: Corrupt Strata Investigations
O, what a tangled web we weave … sometimes someone pulls a loose thread in the fabric of their strata life and, just like in a TV detective show, everything…
Light relief from storm damage
QUESTION: Recently on a very windy day, a strong gust of wind rattled through our rented house and two light shades sheared off their brackets, meaning the whole fitting had…
Silencing noisy boys
QUESTION: I live in a block where, for the last year, there’s been a group of very noisy youths in one unit, shouting, swearing and talking loudly on their balcony…
Cloosing gate on uninsured claims
QUESTION: An owner’s car was recently damaged by the automatic garage door as it closed on the car’s bumper. Apparently the sensors did not detect that the car was still…
Would you pass a strata driving test?
Eavesdropping on an email discussion at the Owners Corporation Network the other day, I came across this question: what do you do with a rusted-on Executive Committee member who's been…
Agents – the heroic and the horrific
‘Jimmy, I like ur column SMH, but do u have 2 continually bag out landlords, most of us r fair otherwise we wouldn’t have tenants.’ So Tweeted @schtang a few…
Have your say on the CTTT
I have been accused in the past of being unfair to the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. Considering I have described them as clowns and their processes as ‘chocolate wheel…