Don’t just sit there, resolve to get involved
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions? Yes, it’s that time of year when we make promises to ourselves to do better than we did last time around. They tend…
strata
Forum: The trouble with renos okayed on the nod
There are a few quibbles this week about changes to common property and what happens if they are made without proper by-laws. Now, in NSW at least, if you need…
Podcast: Victoria’s strata woes fall on deaf ears
OK, I admit it, I’m becoming obsessed with what is happening – or not happening – in Victoria. And I mean Victoria, Australia, not the capital of British Columbia, as…
Victoria: A shambolic state of strata chaos
How bad are things in Victorian strata? As you will read in this article, the removal of flammable cladding is revealing building structures that are rotting from the inside out.…
Ziggy gets stardust as a top ten pet name
It’s that time of year again. Our friends at Pet Insurance Australia have issued a list of the top pet names trending in 2022. With some all-time favourites topping the…
Forum: The drinking person’s guide to AGMs
Last time we let the Forum sit for a week to see if we could accumulate any more questions – and boy, do we now have a couple of doozies.…
Rotting Victorian strata calls for a champion
Here in Sydney we have often wondered why we didn’t hear too much about defects in Victorian apartment blocks. Was it because they built better buildings there? How about, maybe…
Podcast: Power grabs and fraudsters – two rants
This week’s podcast is short but not very sweet (despite it being our 200th). Sue is away in the UK, which allows me to vent about a couple of issues…
Airbnb by-laws – holiday gifts to your schemes
With the weather being unpredictable these days, there are other sure signs that summer is on the way; Christmas music is flooding our shops, decorations are popping up everywhere and…
Old by-laws could be bad news for flat hunters
When was the last time you looked at your strata scheme’s by-laws? If you are like most people, you might have glanced at them when you bought the unit or…
Schoolies are coming home … to your place!
Apartment owners, residents, committees and managers should be ready to crack down on unruly schoolies in apartment blocks, say strata advocates, as senior students celebrate their end of terms. Apartments,…
Confusion rules: Design and Building Act explained
When it came to tightening quality control of building work, it was always likely that the new NSW Design and Building and Practitioners Act would have unintended consequences. The Act…