Forum: Who has the power to get things done?
Here’s a scenario for you to get your teeth into. Your owners corporation has passed a number of items on the AGM agenda, requesting specific action, but the committee and/or…
Podcast: Chandler talks about older blocks
Co-podder Sue Williams and I took ourselves off to the Owners Corporation Network’s 20th anniversary event last week and it turned out to be a very revealing evening indeed. OK,…
Building insurers back in the apartment game
When Building Commissioner David Chandler told us that his shake-up of new building standards in NSW would lead to a return of insurers providing cover for new apartment builds, there…
Is joining your committee really worth the stress?
There’s an old adage in apartment living that the people you really want on your strata committee are too busy making the money they need to service their mortgages to…
Forum: Leaks reveal holes in tribunal process
There’s an old saying that “justice delayed is justice denied”, and nowhere is that more true than in strata. Take the case that’s just landed on our desk concerning a…
Podcast: Death threats and no-fault evictions
Can you imagine that you simply want to exercise your rights to have your defects fixed and a representative from the developer bails you up in the street and tells…
Parking mad: Visitors, intruders and land grabs
There’s a common issue that connects many of the misconceptions about strata living in one source of irritation, conflict and abuse. Misuse of visitor parking may seem trivial to many…
Two strata webinars you won’t want to miss
Strata is full of people offering advice and opinions based on nothing more than something they heard from someone who might not even live in an apartment … or even…
Myths and fears behind resistance to EV charging
Apartment block strata committees are coming up with increasingly bizarre reasons for not installing electric vehicle (EV) charging in their garages, say experts, and it’s starting to affect their ability…
Forum: Why we don’t really love letters
A frankly annoying post from a new correspondent prompted a whole column in this week’s website. To be fair, it was mostly irritating because it reminded me that some weeks…
Podcast: Rents rise, clubs bet the house on flats
Surprise, surprise! What started off looking like a barren day on the pod-front, right at the end of the school holidays, turned out to give us a lot to talk…
‘Dob in B&B breachers’ plan could boost housing
We are barely into spring but the annual summer short-term rentals spin-fest, postponed for a couple of years by Covid-19, is cranking up already. On one side you have Brisbane…