Forced sales – a chance to have your say

The spectre of aged residents being hauled off  to retirement homes, kicking and screaming, so that rapacious developers can turn their old apartment blocks into something shiny and new, has dimmed slightly.

Moves to change strata law have been postponed until just before the next state election in March and you have to wonder what political party would go to a poll with Auntie Mavis’ impending eviction  highlighted by its opponents (as it surely would be).

And anyway, the Shooters Party, who these days seem to run NSW, don’t like the proposals, so they’re as dead as a protected species that was mistaken for a feral cat.

However, as the self-help books say, every problem is an opportunity and you have the chance to tell some serious thinkers how you feel about the idea of a majority of owners being able to force individuals to sell their homes so that the whole block can be demolished and rebuilt.

The argument ‘for’ is all about making better use of existing sites while relieving owners corporations of the often crippling burden of their legal obligations to maintain and repair buildings that are long past their use-by dates.

The arguments against range from emotional to legal.  How can you force someone to leave the home in which they raised their family? What’s the point of owning property when you can be forced to sell it?

While politicians have been ducking, diving and dithering (and occasionally shuffling to the cross-benches), the University of NSW’s City Futures department has been trying to find out what people who live in these buildings actually want.

If you are over 18 and either rent or own a unit in a building registered before 1990 log on HERE and start clicking away. The survey takes about 20 minutes and is being conducted in conjunction with leading industry groups, the Owners Corporation Network and Fair Trading. You can read more about the UNSW City Futures department and the point of the survey HERE.

Urban renewal is not going to go away as an issue, despite recent developments (or lack thereof) and this could be your last chance to influence the debate.