One-sided SM contracts exposed… yet again
JimmyT recalls his first encounters with one-sided strata management contracts as a new ABC expose reveals that nothing much has changed in 20 years of complaints and unkept promises.
lawyers
Strata facts (and fun) to the fore at conference
Tickets are running out for the inaugural Strata Impact Conference on the Gold Coast at the very beginning of next month, your chance to see and hear a stack of…
Forum: Cost cuts target legals and managers
The poll we’ve been conducting for the past week has been very revealing. Okay, two of the top four items that you would cut back if your budgets got a…
Podcast: Study reveals $2m in defective thinking
When NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler commissioned a case study into what happened when serious defects were discovered in a new block’s balconies, it revealed a trail of denials, delays,…
Forum: Neighbour blocks approved repairs
There’s a real breakthrough on the Forum this week a complex question from Victoria has been pulled apart and answered by our new Vic correspondent (don’t worry, there’s plenty of…
Webinar to tackle common property questions
Is the wall between my bathroom and lounge room common property? What about my ceiling? Or my floating timber floor? The questions of what is or isn’t common property and…
How Flat Chat grew from a bitter defects battle
Believe it or not, the 200th edition of Flat Chat to appear in the Australian Financial Review was published at the weekend. But that’s not half of it – not…
NSW should help Mascot owners … and why it won’t
It’s been almost two years since the residents of Mascot Towers were told their building was to dangerous to live in. Just last week they were advised to sell the…
Podcast 96: Pets, rents and new age steam trains
People who don’t care about pets in apartments shouldn’t switch off just yet, regardless of how bored you are with the whole issue. It has implications for everyone in apartments,…
Why strata lawyers need to dial down the TV drama
I received an email from a long-time Flatchatter the other day who attached a letter they had received from their strata committee’s lawyer, demanding that they withdraw a case at…
Podcast: On air with Josh Zepps and Part 2 of the strata disaster
Every so often, I get invited on to a radio or TV show to talk about apartments. This week I’ve been on Breakfast on ABC 702 with Josh Zepps, (usually…
Flat Chat Wrap #10 – Talking Opal on ABC radio & and the horrors of a dirty defects battle
Talking about Opal Tower residents being forced to move back on ABC radio. Plus part 2 of our podcast on an off-the-plan strata disaster: lies, spies and lawyers as the…