Forum: Are no-pets by-laws back by stealth?
Here’s a blast from the past: A Flatchatter is thinking of buying into a strata villa and has discovered it has a “no pets” by-law. “Weren’t they outlawed after the…
renovations
All you ever needed to know about renos
There are so many different sources for information about what you can and can’t do in your apartment or strata scheme I thought I might post this compilation of renovation…
Forum: When you can’t do what the law demands
Usually in the intros to these Forum roundups, we try to give you the best of the newest posts. It just so happens that there are plenty to choose from…
Concern as 50,000 unit blocks reach use-by dates
Between Mascot Towers and the Opal building, and more recently Vicinity in inner-West Sydney, the high-profile problems at various Sydney apartment blocks has drawn our attention to the quality of…
Forum: Cashed-up and confused by costs levy
Here’s a bit of a brainteaser. An owners corp has won its tribunal case against a couple of lot owners over unapproved renovations. The OC’s strata manager has now asked…
Podcast: Defects detected and pets rejected
In this week’s podcast we chat about a report which reveals that one-third of 500 unit blocks inspected in a survey had serious defects, from leaking bathrooms, to fire safety…
Strata owners slam NSW Health ‘confused mess’
With yet another “tightening” of lockdown restrictions for greater Sydney, and once again the specific needs of apartment residents being ignored, the peak group for apartment owners in NSW has…
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…
Unmasked: How NSW Health doesn’t get strata
There’s an old saying that you should never ascribe to malice anything that can just as easily be explained by stupidity. With that in mind, we can only assume that…
Fair Trading fluffs again – is air-con sustainable?
Our revelation last week that NSW Fair Trading has no idea what double glazing is, even though they specify it in their renovations regulations as being a permitted “minor renovation”,…