Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s a cunning plan, but the two MPs who had most to do with creating and establishing our new strata laws in NSW are now, after the recent cabinet reshuffle, in the perfect position to see how they operate.
Anthony Roberts, our newly anointed Planning Minister, was the architect of the new laws, before he went off to sell the electricity grid.
Victor Dominello who (eventually) took over from him and fine-tuned and shepherded the new strata laws into existence late last year, has moved up one link in the Fair Trading food chain to oversight of the whole Finance portfolio.
And while we’re at it, his replacement, Matt Kean, apparently lives in a Meriton apartment block in Hornsby.
It’s safe to say, then, that never has there been such key MPs who collectively know strata better than these three.
Anthony Roberts has also been tasked with doing something about housing affordability. That will surely inform what he brings to the debate on short-stay letting and the impending new legislation that could, if Airbnb and other online agencies have their way, de-regulate holiday lets in apartment blocks.
We can only wait and hope.
Meanwhile, the Flat Chat Forum waits for no one. Among the topics raised in the past week:
- Is there a lawyer out there who will take on a case pro bono? That’s HERE.
- Can the chair delegate someone to take his or her place when they can’t attend a meeting? That’s HERE.
- Why do strata schemes need a pet register? That’s HERE
- How do you compel an owner to repair lot property? That’s HERE.
- What’s the best way to set up charging stations for electric cars? That’s HERE.
- Exactly how do the new limits on proxy voting work? That’s HERE.
- Why can’t I just put timber flooring in a ground floor flat. That’s HERE.
There are a lot more new topics and new answers to old questions on the Flat Chat Forum (or just scroll down the right hand column of the website and see what takes your fancy).