IMHO: Let’s hear it for hip and cool hearing aids
Hearing aids don't make you look older - asking people to repeat themselves does. And now you can use your earbuds as basic aids, look cool and hear everything.
Five-fold increase in insurance costs ‘justified’
A major insurer was justified in raising strata premiums by 500% due to four-year claims history, according to finance watchdog AFCA.
Pets and fee-free rents in tenancy law reforms
The NSW government is to introduce a suite of measures to make life better for tenants, who comprise more than half of the residents of strata in the state, including…
Podcast: A simple (free) solution to strata strife
JImmy and Sue chat with Tim Sara of Strata Choice about how the strata management industry is coping with all the recent ructions and how he sees the way ahead…
Windows, sliding doors and the DBPA regs
The whole vexed question of who is responsible for windows and sliding balcony doors has been a frequent topic of discussion on this website – not least because it depends…
New laws passed to crack down on rogue SMs
New laws designed to crack down on strata managers receiving secret kickbacks while introducing higher penalties for agents doing the wrong thing, have passed the NSW parliament, the government announced…
Forum: Changing our tune over noise complaints
Sometimes we feel like we are being led up the garden path by you lovely people, especially on the Forum. A poster in the past week was worried about neighbours’…
IMHO: Why pets are props in property shots
Hot on the heels of our comments that PR companies are using less-than-authoritative surveys to fabricate news stories to promote their clients’ wares comes information about a “new trend” where…
Strata Trapped: Manager lashes out at ABC
Michael Lee, a strata manager and committee chair highlighted in the ABC TV Four Corners report The Strata Trap, has lashed out at the controversial documentary’s allegations, saying they contain…
Podcast: The other strata trap, post Chandler
We start this week’s podcast by looking back at the previous episode which has broken all our records for regular downloads. It’s not surprising really, given that it was a chat with…
IMHO: A quick strata fix is better than no fix at all
Subscribers to the Flat Chat Newsletter get a weekly dose of my personal musings on the topics of the week, along with our round-up of recent posts, so I though…
Forum: Rules and regs of the strata game
There’s a question in the Forum this week that touches on a nerve for me – and it’s about rules and regulations for committees. Now there are plenty of those…