Forum: Can we share power to save money?
There has been a trend over the past few years for blocks that had one electricity supply, who then shared the costs according to unit entitlements, to install separate meters.…
Podcast: Drumming up votes with Mascot plans
This week we offer you a podcast with all the bells and whistles – more accurately, it’s drums and gongs – as we take a very brief detour to listen…
Here comes the new wave of student over-crowding
The news that the Chinese government has decreed that students must have in-person tutoring for their degrees to be recognised means approximately 40,000 of them will soon be flooding back…
Qld laws blocking relief for flooded residents
Relief and compensation for apartment owners whose homes were destroyed by Queensland’s floods are being blocked because of outdated laws that prevent the sale of apartment blocks unless all owners…
Turkey arrests builders of collapsed high-rises
Dozens of contractors were detained over the weekend in Turkey, as anger grows over the consequences of the devastating earthquakes and the government vows to take action against construction negligence…
Forum: Blindsided by a sneaky committee coup
It’s a classic strata committee coup: on the TV show Survivor, it would be called a blindside. Obviously, someone in our Flatchatter’s strata scheme didn’t like the way things were…
Podcast: Unit boost too late for returning students
There’s some good news and some possibly calamitously bad news in this week’s podcast. Firstly, the number of apartment building approvals was up by more than 50 per cent in…
Hard lesson for defiant timber floor couple
If you are in a block where your upstairs neighbours have installed a hard floor and their stomps, clomps, thuds and scrapes are driving you mad, you might take heart…
SMs turn against Qld’s pre-sold contracts
Imagine if you bought a new car and you were told you were now contractually obliged to have it serviced by a certain mechanic, on their terms, for the next…
Forum: Slow strata dispute system needs quick fix
Remember the bad old days when we used to complain about the CTTT having a tin ear when it came to strata complaints. Back in the day, it often seemed…
Podcast: Waterproof woes and Brisbane’s boom
The issue we raised last week rumbles on with experienced waterproofers claiming they are being driven out of the industry in NSW while engineers and builders line up to take…
Another builder opts for the brain drain
The whole question of why experienced waterproofers are being allowed to leave the building industry has generated a lot of comment. Here one 14-year veteran explains what the challenges are…