The art of compromise
If you ever have the misfortune to be in a serious dispute with a neighbour – or all your neighbours, for that matter – and one party takes it to…
State of emergency
Long-time readers of this column will be amazed at this week’s question. For once, a strata manager isn’t accused of doing too little; the complaint is they are doing too…
Strata horror scope
This is the time of year when everybody’s doing horoscopes for the coming 12 months so we should have our own predictions, our Strata-scope, if you like. Firstly, there’s a…
Timber and tile floors
TIMBER, tiled and even polished concrete floors have become possibly the most consistently heated issue in the 15 years that Flat Chat has been in existence. In an old apartment…
It’s a crying shame
Are apartments appropriate places for small children? They’ll have to be if we’re going to accommodate Sydney’s swelling masses. But do the rest of us have to put up with…
Shiver me timbers
There has been a huge response to our column a couple of weeks ago about timber floors. But it wasn’t all bad news. One loyal reader had a hard-fought win…
Battling for a fair go
So Premier Rees has finally put an end the corrupting cancer of developer donations to the Labor party. With about a million Sydney residents living in strata, Mr Rees may…
Beware the tap dance
The past few weeks has seen a spate of emails to this column about wooden floors, with questions ranging from what can be done to force neighbours to reinstate carpet,…
Live and let live
It’s not often that you would claim words of true wisdom are coming out of Canberra but, hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Actually, that’s not…
Time of the signs
Country people are smart – not only do they read this column, they get two questions for the price of one. QUESTIONS: What are the rules regarding agents “For Sale”…
Petty Grievances
Pet owners often complain about rules imposed by strangers in a large block. But what if there’s only one other apartment and they’re putting up “no dogs” signs before you…
Just fine by me
One of the frustrations in dealing with badly behaved neighbours is that after all hassles of pursuing them through Fair Trading and the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, any fines…