QUESTION: My girlfriend and I split up pretty badly and I just moved out and went overseas for a few months.  When I got back recently, I discovered my ex had just walked out of our rented flat and left all my gear in it. When I contacted the landlord, he said he stored it [...]

Many strata owners complain that their neighbours have too much control over their lives … then you get someone who feels there’s way too little. QUESTION: My owners corporation is non-existent.  In our little group of eight townhouses, everybody just does what they want.  One owner has converted their garage into a playroom for their [...]

Are there really 8000 unstable balconies in Australia?  Could there be even more? After a wooden balcony packed with young people gave way during a party at a house in Lane Cove last week, building advisory service Archicentre said six per cent of Australian homes have a timber balcony or deck and about 8000 of [...]

Renting a home can be cheaper and offer you more freedom than owning … but it comes at a cost. QUESTION: How can I fight a 60 days notice of termination of a residential tenancy agreement? I have been a good tenant for several years but  my lease expired  some years ago. Now I have [...]

Just because you rent your home doesn’t mean you don’t own nice things that are valuable and difficult to replace.  But what happens when something goes wrong? QUESTION: Please settle an argument.  I reckon if there’s a fire or a flood in my apartment then I will be covered by landlord’s insurance (he’s got it) [...]

A professional strata titles surveyor wrote to me last week saying he was checking a sales contract from a well-known developer when he noticed a clause that has a strong whiff of rip-off. The clause allows the developers to sell the building management and security services to whoever they like. It also commits the purchaser [...]

We spoke a couple of weeks ago about proposed new tenancy laws that among other things, may allow sub-lets without owners’ approval* . One critic, manager of a major apartment block near Chinatown, claims there’s already a large number of residential buildings “that have every second unit overcrowded by students or backpackers, some housing a [...]

The question of what to do about old, crumbling apartment blocks standing where new, larger and more efficient apartment blocks might be built is an increasingly urgent issue. Demand on inner-city living space is increasing and small blocks well past their use-by dates are very much in the sights of developers.  But you need a [...]