Sydney high-risk mega-block secretly locked down
NSW Health’s rush to push through new Public Health Orders for “high-risk” high-rises may have been motivated by an out-of-control spread of the Covid-19 virus in one of the city…
lockdown
Lockdown renos – it’s worse than we thought
The impact on people forced to stay in their apartments while building work goes on around them could be a lot more severe than originally thought. If the apartments undergoing…
Virus rages unchecked – and so does anger at renos
“Just stay home … don’t go out … work from home if you possibly can,” say the Premier, the Health Minister and anybody else tasked with enforcing our lockdown. And…
NSW Health nudges the needle on reno rules
Health NSW has acknowledged (but only just) that strata residents deserve a bit more protection from noise and potential covid-19 transmission, in its latest Covid-19 advisory. Nudging the needle on…
Confusion reigns over blockdown renovations
NSW Health and Fair Trading seem to be struggling to keep up with each other over whether or not renovations are allowed in apartment blocks. According to a Health spokesman…
Podcast: Lockdown PHO a strata dog’s breakfast
We had a new PHO out last week – that’s a Public Health Order, not a Vietnamese noodle soup – and as we discuss in the pod, it’s more of…
JimmyT’s covid comfort food kitchen: Cullen Skink
Remember when we were first locked down last year – everybody was baking cheese scones and their own sourdough? Judging by the lack of crusty bread pictures in my various…
Forum: Trapped in lockdown renovation Hell
Regular readers of Flat Chat may remember how last year we wrote about a Melbourne couple who were enduring the living Hell of a major renovation taking place in an…
Block party planning and the vax of the matter
There’s an old saying: “if you want to make God laugh, tell him you have a plan.” When this column appeared in the Australian Financial Review last week, it opened…
Podcast: Email privacy & Afternoons radio with JV
This week’s podcast takes a look at an area of strata life where strata managers could be breaking the law … because apartment-owning clients want them to. We’re talking about…
Wins for Vic residents as lockdown renos halted
There have been two pieces of very rare good news for Victorian strata owners and residents, in the past week. The state government has extended the defect claims period for…
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…