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I just watched this episode of 4 Corners. I am flabbergasted.
I gave up on strata 11 years ago. Bought a house. All the problems with owners, owners Corp and strata managers over 30 years of strata was enough. And the problems I experienced pales into insignificance compared to the issues covered on this programme.
I know I may not be able to manage a house in the future. But I don’t think I could do strata again. I’d like to see it fixed. Then I would reconsider.
What if short term lettings were allowed but owners could only charge the same amount as their property would rent for per week (divided by days stayed) So an owner could not rent their place out per night for the amount they would normally receive per week.
I can see why people find short term letting beneficial if they can make double or more money a month. But if they couldn’t, perhaps having a long term tenant with regular income would be a better option.
Plus short term rentals at the “set” prices would allow those between homes (floods, fires, buying, selling) or those who need somewhere to stay while getting a Reno (eg new bathroom) to afford somewhere to stay temporarily. Therefore not just reliant on holiday makers/travellers.
25/06/2019 at 3:58 pm in reply to: PODCAST: Mascot Tower crisis brings defects closer to home #38284I bought off the plan in 2000. Within 2 years we had to raise a special levy to complete works due to not meeting Australian building code standards. Builder said not his problem. Though we gained access to paperwork from council certifying the complex for habitation there was no name on the paperwork. Just council stamp. Work needed to be completed due to the insistence of our insurer. Issues in individual units too. Builder closed down – but opened up another business.
Cars with faulty airbags must be fixed at no cost to owners – dangerous. And retailers who sell uncertified electrical appliances/products face heavy penalties. But apartments/strata…you’re on your own.
So the findings say they will ensure that builder, engineers and designers of high rise apartment buildings will have to be registered. And that the structure follows building codes. So up till now they weren’t? So I could have rocked up with a sketch of a building, say it’s all good and off we go?
If you own your own torrens title home and hire someone to do work and they are not qualified in their profession they can be fined. If you as a home owner of your own place do not do due diligience and check for the licence of a tradses person you have engaged to carry out work you may not be able to make any claim against any inferior work.
But you buy off the plan. In a high rise apartment block. You do not have the input of who builds, designs or checks. You in good faith believe that those who have handed you a contract have done all the checks. Done their due diligence. Then you move into your brand new apartment and there are faults. But no body knows whose fault it is. How could this happen? With tonnes of steel and concrete above peoples heads? But now they think that there should be compliance?
If a torrens title home owner wants to build onto their property, they have to just thru hoops to ensure and prove compliance. Why not those who build strata?
09/02/2019 at 5:39 pm in reply to: Cladding: It’s your money that the governments are burning #35672You have more rights when you return a $20 toaster to a supermarket than you do a brand new apartment. The government tells us that with the increasing populations in our cities the only way is up – take it or leave it! With that proviso it would seem that one has to also accept and pay for any problems that may arise.
I have read insurances are not required for residential constructions over 3 storeys. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? No insurances required for 3 storeys or below? How can we expect safe and sound high rise homes when those responsible are not held responsible!
Not until those who built apartment towers are held accountable for the quality of their builds – materials used and building codes met – will we see developments that are well designed and constructed and made to last for years.
09/02/2019 at 2:37 pm in reply to: Cladding: It’s your money that the governments are burning #35669I can’t believe that car owners have been contacted and advised that their car has dangerous/defective airbags that they must have replaced – for free! There is even talk of cancelling a cars registration if the owners do not get this free fix done.
But buy an apartment with dangerous cladding or structural issues and the onus is on the owner/owners corp to discover and correct! Wow!
There are definitely people who live in strata who have a chip on their shoulder for some reason. Rather than being pleased to have a roof over their heads, it is like they are resentful that this is where they have to live. They want to do what ever they want without rules or regulations, as if it were their own home (which is ironic as there are also rules and regulations for houses too).
So they tear down walls, use common property as their own, and my favorite was the owner who dug up all the plumbing in the common property outside of his unit and redirected water runoff to go underneath the slab! And then, when it all goes to crap – that’s when they turn to strata. Because, of course, when you live in strata someone else pays for everything. Especially when it goes wrong! Right?
I have also struck those who don’t want to knock down a wall or change the common property – because they want to strata to do it, and pay for it. If I had a dollar for each downsizer or retiree who moved into strata believing that they never had to pay for anything or do anything again in their lives! That all they had to do was pick up the phone and tell someone to fix their tap while they were out to lunch. “well what do I pay levies for then?” they say when told no. I still hear people saying to me they can’t wait to move into strata so they don’t have to do anything!
And yes, renters I believe are treated like second class citizens. This has to change as the number of renters will out number owner occupiers soon. In my old complex it was the owners we had a problem with. The tenants were happy in their homes and loved where they lived!
There is good and bad with anything. Where and how you live is no different. In the end – we should all be grateful for having a roof over our heads. Many people do even have that!
Wow Jimmy. If you have these woes what hope does the ordinary person in strata have! I kept hearing about those strata reforms and kept hoping they would cone in arriving like a knight on a white horse making everything in strata right and good. I gave up waiting two years ago. And everyone is still waiting! People in strata deserve a system thst works!
Something similar in my old complex of townhouses. The construction meant that the garages and entrance ways were on one level, and the living areas were half a level up and behind. So behind the garages/entrance ways was the foundations for the living areas, sitting on mostly rock and a drainage line that ran the length of the complex. Owners thought they could do what they wanted – concrete, dig out, storage area with build in shelving, wine cellars, boat storage, teenagers retreat!!! Some even advertised this area when put on the market. But, of course, they all wanted the OC to pay when something went wrong with the area – foundations moved, water build up, mould.
I did try to point out that this was wrong. But, as usual, I was ignored – because they all had stars in their eyes thinking of the extra space they could have for nothing!
Hope all goes well with this little dog Wolf.
Had a friend who lived in an apartment with two little dogs. When the OC found out (after the dogs had been there for couple of months – and my friend did ask for permission but had not heard back) he was informed that this would not be allowed to continue. The OC took him to mediation and to the NCAT. He presented his case that the OC had objected simply because they were there – not because they had done anything (complex had the standard “cannot be unreasonably denied clause). Therefore their objection was not reasonable! Though they did also bring out “it sets a precedence” line – as there had been no other dogs/pets in the complex.
I advised my friend to keep a look out for other breaches of by laws that the OC overlooked – as they wanted to play by law enforcers. Sure enough, they turned a blind eye to this, didn’t bother about that! That was the card he kept up his sleeve!
Wolf
Don’t give up on your desire to have a dog in your apartment. Though there may be comprises (size for instance) I believe you should still battle on! If the only way is up in this country (high rise apartments to cope) and we want to compare ourselves with countries overseas (where pet ownership in apartments, whether owner or renter is more or less accepted) then we have to get onboard with the idea of pets in apartment blocks.
I read recently that in the past year there have been a substantial increase in the amount of pet surrenders. Coupled with the current property market where investors/landlords make up a greater percentage of property owners than in previous years and the fact that a great many new homes built in major cities are infact apartments, then the fact that pets have to be surrendered in increasing numbers is not really a surprise. On my local area facebook page there are many requests for accomodation to rent that are “pet friendly” as well as people trying to find new homes for their pets to to a “change in accomodation requirements (moving into rentals/apartments).
So don’t give up! Not only for yourself, but for the many others out there who resort to giving up their pet for adoption or giving up on ever having a pet due to old fashioned views. Help them move with the times!
When is this ever going to stop? When I bought my old strata property we discovered it didn’t meet building codes in a number of areas. We couldn’t get the builder to fix anything. Our insurer said we had to get it done or else. So we, those who paid for new properties we bought off the plan, had to fork out money to get at least some of the areas brought up to building codes. That builder closed his business. We couldn’t take action against the new business because the old business built our complex.
And here we are 15 years later. No further ahead. I cannot see how anyone thinks that new owners should have to pay an extra couple percent of the purchase price to have their new homes “repaired” which is one option I have heard. When we have a lemon law for new cars, because when we pay $25,000 for a new car we should expect to have one that is built correctly and functions properly, why do we not have a law for new apartments costing hundreds of thousands! Why do we not have a “lemon law” for apartments where the builder/developer are required to have money put aside for repairs.
It is disgusting that people have to put up with this. It is ridiculous that they have to fight for what they paid for – a building that meets requirements and is built correctly. I have bought new. I thought it would be better than “old”. Less to fix. Less to do. But I was fixing and finding things to fix for the 13 years I lived there.
And here we have a government who believes the answer to our housing crisis is to build, build, build more and more apartments. No thought as to the problems already encountered (which I believe I have read 80% have had faults in the past) No strata owner buying new/off the plan should have to put their hand in their pocket to pay for corrections for a product that should, like your toaster in your kitchen, be covered when things “don’t work”. There seems to be more rules/laws for home appliances than for your actual home! And we should be angry about that!
05/06/2015 at 10:39 pm in reply to: Jimmy do you still appear in the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald #23718It is a shame that flat chat is no longer in the Domain. I too liked to read this column. There is not much else to read in this section now in my opinion. The Domain doesn’t even cover my neck of the woods as far as real estate sales in Sydney. Straight to the bottom of the bird cage these days.
I find it disappointing that the matter of strata reforms has been delayed yet again. It is also disappointing that there has been more ministers for Fair Trading than I have had baked dinners in the last 12 months.
When I hear that the government is looking at increasing “housing” in NSW, they are not talking necessarily about houses – but apartments/townhouses. They are talking about “strata”.
If the answer to all the problems of enough accommodation/housing is “strata” then shouldn’t the matter of strata reforms be pushed forward, rather than back? And if other states are looking at reforms, wouldn’t this be a good time to get a national strata scheme rather than one for each state?
When I decided to leave the strata world, I was worried that the next day strata reforms would come in and all would be good and I would be very regretful. Still waiting to see something happen. If not for me then for everyone else!
It’s peoples homes we are talking about. It’s peoples lives it affects.
I had often thought of similar to a resident who used visitors parking as own. However I planned to put doo doos on the ground outside drivers side door so that when he left for work early in the morning he would tread in it but not notice until inside his car. To get full enjoyment it would have been preferable to see this happen. Couldn’t be bothered getting up early enough to watch.
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