Podcast: BBQs and secret committee meetings
A couple of issues popped on to the Flat Chat radar while we were off being festive. One was all about smoking on balconies which, if that wasn’t serious enough,…
Thousands of homes to lose rental protection
Thousands more renters will face serious financial challenges this year as subsidised properties drop out of a national affordable housing scheme, claims housing pressure group Everybody’s Home. Its spokesperson says…
Light up! Why states won’t ban balcony smoking
The recent win by NSW apartment dwellers over their balcony smoking neighbours sent a puff of panic through strata smokers and their barbecuing brethren. However, nicotine addicts need not have…
Forum: We’re back and we’re parking mad
Happy New Year! Well, you have been busy bees over the holidays. All those questions you’ve wanted to write but never had the time … until now. So we’re back…
A funny thing happened on the way to the podcast
OK, I admit it – we’ve been in holiday mode. Could we have cobbled together a podcast on Sunday morning after New Year’s Eve (or Hogmanay, as we call it…
Smoke drift battle exposes NCAT’s farcical flaws
The recent Sydney Morning Herald story about a couple who – at the third attempt – won a case to get their neighbours to stop smoking on their balcony may…
Don’t just sit there, resolve to get involved
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions? Yes, it’s that time of year when we make promises to ourselves to do better than we did last time around. They tend…
Forum: The trouble with renos okayed on the nod
There are a few quibbles this week about changes to common property and what happens if they are made without proper by-laws. Now, in NSW at least, if you need…
Lurid stories behind real ‘Only Murders’ blocks
With a second series of streaming comedy-crime-drama Only Murders in the Building underway, the true stories have emerged of the two famous – if not notorious – New York apartment…
Podcast: Rent bidding ban and too much information
In this our last Flat Chat Wrap podcast of the year, we kick the tyres of a couple of issues that will have consequences throughout strata. Or will they? And…
Chandler backs active lending to boost quality
Just suppose you want to invest in the residential property market but you don’t want to be a landlord, Airbnb host or, even worse, unwitting enabler for dodgy developers. You’re…
Small victory for litigious Victoria strata warrior
An increasingly attractive suggested method for dealing with… let’s call them “persistently critical” owners in a strata scheme has been to try to pass on the cost of strata managers…