Forum: Lines drawn in parking space battle
It’s a bumper crop of Forum posts this week but I’m drawn to one that reminds me of a friend of mine – a real estate agent – who was…
damage
After the deluge: when mould takes hold
With impeccable timing, given the OCN webinar on waterproofing today (Wednesday, April 6), here’s a Sydney Morning Herald Lifestyle section report by Sue Williams about how mould can come into…
Airbnb ‘won’t name renter of trashed unit to police’
Just a few weeks since the much-vaunted short-term letting register and code of conduct became law, Riot Squad police have twice been called in to break up violent and destructive…
Forum: A warning about issuing warnings
I have to admit I’m feeling unusually smug this week – but that’s what happens when you get things so precisely right it feels like there was a betting fix…
Pet-friendly housing helps everyone, says report
A new report backed by six Australian universities has concluded that having pets is good for both tenants and landlords. However, even though more than 60 per cent of Australian…
Forum: Unfinancialized by a sneaky strata manager
One of the suggestions that I made in my overly lengthy submission to the strata law consultations was that seriously incompetent strata managers should face serious penalties, including potentially being…
Forum: Car cable-eating rats in the too-hard basket
We’re taking a deep dive into the too-hard basket of strata committees this week, starting with one that says there’s nothing they can do about an infestation of rats, partly…
Insurance and tax checks squeeze Airbnb hosts
A combination of tax crackdowns and insurance obligations is making the prospect of letting homes on holiday letting websites like Airbnb a much less attractive option, according to a story…
Roundup: Who pays when a party trashes your Airbnb let?
Toilet blockages, carpet burns and broken bed legs; these are just some of the accidents hitting holiday rental hosts according to new data released this week. And many hosts are…
Guerrilla warfare warning over holiday lets in apartments
Bogus by-laws, sneaky shut-outs and strangulation with red tape are all likely to be employed to keep holiday lets out of apartment blocks that don’t want them, say Sydney’s building…
Who pays when upstairs kitchen floods?
Who picks up the bill when a two flats are flooded by a defective dishwasher and neither party is insured? The question was raised by Flatchatter “Powers That Be”, a…