NSW plans crackdown on ‘Airbnb’ rentals
The NSW government is moving to crack down on Airbnb style short-term rentals and vacant holiday homes in an effort to put some of the state’s 50-60,000 untenanted dwellings back…
government
Govt help makes home ownership harder – report
Governments efforts to help more people get into home ownership have made it harder, rather than easier, for first-time buyers to get into the market, according to a new report.…
OCN seeks views on way forward for strata
The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) wants to hear your views on what the priorities should be in the ongoing review of strata laws in NSW. OCN has created a short…
Podcast 98: A tale of two very different rentals
We are looking at two very different kinds of rentals this week. The first is build-to-rent apartments (which is definitely NOT affordable housing, regardless of what anyone else might tell…
Low-income families hit hardest by unit-living’s many challenges
Too many Australians living in apartments have too little choice over where they live, are disproportionately affected by the challenges of apartment living, and are less likely to have the…
Coalition vows to make it easier to vote solar
Just when we thought the government didn’t care about strata they come up with a pre-election announcement designed to raise the high-rise feelgood factor. According to this story in the…
Opal Tower owners don’t know how lucky they are
The owners of apartments in the now notorious Opal Tower probably don’t realise it, but they are lucky. Obviously, it was bad luck that supporting walls in their building in…
Roundup: The only independent lobby group for strata owners and residents
Every little niche of our society seems to have its own pressure group, lobbyists or even political party. So why don’t we? After all, according to the stats in the…
Short-term letting: may the Astroturfing wars begin
The key word in the coming months of argy-bargy over the various options in the holiday letting proposals is Astroturfing – meaning a fake grassroots campaign. In an Astroturfing campaign,…
Winners and losers – the five main options for Airbnb laws
As D-Day approaches for holiday let legislation to be tabled in the NSW parliament, Jimmy Thomson looks at the five main options currently under discussion – and examines the likely…
Redefining off-the-plan rorts
Here are a few new definitions for your strata dictionaries: Sunset clawbacks: Where a developer in a ‘hot’ market allows a project to over-run its “build-by” date, uses the sunset clause…