$50k victory for renters in background checks rort
A NSW Fair Trading investigation has found that 2,300 applicants were illegally charged $19.95 for background checks, despite a law prohibiting such charges.
Fair Trading
How to avoid First AGM dodgy contract traps
Your first AGM can be a minefield of dodgy contract traps but you can avoid them by persuading other owners to make one simple decision – do nothing.
Netstrata report slams ‘disturbing practices’
The long-awaited report into Netstrata accuses the comany of disturbing practices including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and charging excessive fees.
Netstrata scandal: feeding frenzy looms in strata war
With the Fair Trading report into the Netstrata scandal long overdue, this is a trying time for everyone in the stratasphere.
New laws: compulsory training for committees
New laws tabled this week will force strata committee members to undergo training, levies in new blocks will have to be realistic and embedded network scams could see sales cancelled.
Podcast: Contracts, advice and rotting blocks
Jimmy and Sue give a qualified welcome to a new strata guide and discuss the criticism of strata management contracts and the claims about rotting blocks in Victoria.
Are we about to be rendered redundant by AI?
It started as a bit of fun - ask Artificial Intelligence a question about strata. Turns out some of these platforms are a lot smarter than you might imagine.
Podcast: Could AI spell the end of Flat Chat?
Jimmy and Sue discuss what happens when you ask an AI chatbot a question about strata. The answers are amazing, amusing and alarming - for very different reasons.
Podcast: Soft soap won’t clean up strata scandal
So the NSW Fair Trading Minister has revealed his law changes in the wake of the Netstrata scandal and they are, as one strata insider put it, like being slapped on the…
Big strata wins again as new laws tread softly
It seems one person’s regulation is another’s backdoor legitimacy, if the reaction to this week’s anticipated “crackdown” on strata managers by NSW Fair Trading is anything to go by. Minister…
Six-strike strata manager struck off for 10 years
A NSW strata manager has been “struck off” for 10 years by NSW Fair Trading following four years of complaints from at least six different strata schemes. According to the…
NSW to crack down on strata manager scams
The NSW State government is planning to crack down on the “small number” of “unscrupulous” strata managers whom it says are undermining public confidence in apartment living. New laws will…