Aurora shambles exposes deep flaws in Vic strata
An owners’ revolt at a 1000-unit apartment building in Melbourne has highlighted the crippling inadequacies of Victoria’s strata laws and tribunal system. And it illustrates how a built-in lack of…
Free webinars on defects, waterproofing and S237
Waterproofing, the lack thereof or flaws therein, is consistently one of the most widely spread yet least understood issues in strata. However, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) is making a…
Forum: Broken fence lets dog get at next-door cat
This week’s lead post has a tragic (and nasty) pet story at its heart as well as a twisty fence angle that will have all our legally minded Flatchatters intrigued.…
Podcast: Pets, new-build guarantees and refugees
This week’s podcast may have an international flavour – Jimmy is in Scotland and Sue in Sydney — but it covers familiar territory. First up we talk about a campaign…
Strata managers demand support for Chandler
Strata managers in NSW have “warned” whichever party is in power after next month’s government election that they must continue supporting the work of David Chandler and the Office of…
Forum: Can owners corp back resident in dispute?
At the risk of infuriating mental health professionals and family members of sufferers, I have to say there are few things worse in strata than having a “crazy” neighbour. I’m…
Podcast: Buying and selling the air above us
We are all used to being told that we only own the air inside our apartments’ walls, although not the walls themselves, depending on which uniquely quirky set of strata…
Pouring chilled water on the govt ‘gift’ to strata
It’s starting to feel like strata in NSW is one big marginal electoral constituency – except the government can’t give apartment dwellers sports stadia and railway stations. What they can…
Forum: New flatmate peeved by pet pee pong
An unusual issue has cropped up this week and it has a surprisingly simple solution … or it would be if finding somewhere to rent in our cities wasn’t so…
Podcast: Qld forced sales, big trouble in Little Bay
No sooner had we said last week that Queensland needed to look at their “collective sales” laws – allowing a super majority of owners to compel the minority to sell…
It’s time to punt the point scoring on Mascot Towers
It’s been almost four years since their homes in a crumbling apartment block were deemed uninhabitable. But if that wasn’t hard enough (while being occasionally kicked to the kerb by…
Vic authority cracking down on phoenix builders
Victorian building companies who deliberately and repeatedly go bust to avoid paying debts have been put on notice, with the state’s Building Authority (VBA) working as part of the Phoenix…