Podcast: Minions to the fore in war on Nimbys
This week, we open up with a chat about our increasingly popular polls and the surprising results this week revealing what annoys you most about your neighbours. Then we take…
high-rise
Turkey arrests builders of collapsed high-rises
Dozens of contractors were detained over the weekend in Turkey, as anger grows over the consequences of the devastating earthquakes and the government vows to take action against construction negligence…
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…
Drive to entice insurers back to high-rise buildings
Buyers of off-the-plan high-rise apartments in NSW might soon be able to claim on insurance for any defects arising within the first 10 years in a massive game-changer for the…
Podcast: Covid alerts – cover-up or just a cock-up?
Is it a series of cover-ups or just another run of cock-ups? Either way NSW Health is making a mess of its covid alerts when it comes to apartment blocks.…
Strata managers warn of covid complacency
Apartment residents need to stay vigilant if they don’t want to see high-rise lockdowns of the type that recently shut down nine unit blocks in Victoria, say strata managers. “We’re…
Podcast – Buy a $1.2m penthouse on the Minister’s home turf
Fancy a 400 sqm penthouse with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, two parking spaces plus uninterrupted city and parkland views … for only $1.19 million? Interested? Why wouldn’t you be? This…
Flammable cladding – Jimmy T on Sunrise
Earlier this month (Feb 2019) there was a second flammable cladding fire on the outside of an apartment block in Melbourne. Flat Chat’s JimmyT went on Weekend Sunrise to argue…
Flat Chat Wrap #8 – The crumbling Opal Tower and the whole defects disaster
JimmyT and Sue Williams ask the questions everyone else is avoiding, and provide the answers people need to hear, about the Opal Tower in Sydney and the whole defects disaster…
New hope for high-rises hijacked by criminals
I was chatting to a colleague the other day who’s just back from South Africa and she was telling me about an area of Johannesburg that experienced apartment dwellers’ worst…
How to avoid buying a high-rise lemon
Flat Chat is now appearing in the Australian Financial Review, both in print and online at weekends. This is the first column in its new home. With recent revelation that…
High-rise fire task force could cost us millions
NSW apartment owners could face bills for millions of dollars if the government launches a task force to identify buildings with potentially fatal aluminium cladding. But NSW high-rise builders responsible…