How to curb your levies but keep the quality
A few weeks ago we looked at the fancy additions to your apartment block that may be inflating your levies through running and maintenance costs. But there are many ways…
levies
Forum: Man with the power who doesn’t want it
This is one of those stories that you remember whenever anyone complains about there being too much bureaucracy around apartment blocks and buildings in general. One Flatchatter in Victoria has…
How to avoid paying other strata owners’ bad debts
Recent media reports about levies (or fees) debts and their consequences may have alarmed some apartment owners and puzzled others. A Sun-Herald story earlier this month about the “cruel” owners’…
Podcast: Defects, debts and dream bathrooms
Sometimes we are just too efficient for our own good. No sooner had we sent this week’s podcast off for transcription than the news broke that NSW Building Commissioner David…
Podcast – all you need to know about levy debt
Last week saw the publication of a confected scandal of an elderly couple who’d been given bad advice, blaming their owners corporation for a special levy of $18,000 that had…
Podcast: Hidden issues, fake news and 40k listens
This week on the podcast we hop into the highly dubious story that appeared in the Sydney Sun-Herald this week about a poor old couple who are facing bankruptcy because…
‘Cruel levies’ debt story a cheap shot at strata
COMMENT by Jimmy Thomson: The Sun-Herald article this week about the elderly couple who supposedly may be forced to sell their apartment or face bankruptcy could be used as a…
Forum: Deadbeat owner paid no levies for 10 years
Apartment owners not paying their levies is an all-too-common occurrence in strata. But when one owner out of four his dragging the chain, that’s 25 percent of a block’s revenue;…
Podcast: Positive property plan and negative gearing
The first thing that happens after a new government is elected is that the Prime Minister and the party divvy up the ministries. The next thing after that is that…
‘Free money’ for blocks with budget shortfalls
Strata schemes are being offered what could be, if they choose, “free money” to fill the holes in their budgets created by owners defaulting on their levies. And assistance is…
Forum: Committee coup breaks so many rules
There are some very dubious goings on in one of our Flatchatter’s schemes, where a coup by half of the committee has been conducted under cover of covid. Up until…
Forum: Family owns half the lots, rules the roost
I feel like we have wandered into the realm of strata nightmares this week. First up is a family that owns half the apartments in a small block and, surprise,…