ROUNDUP: Paint or varnish? Another strata cover-up
Every so often I get the feeling that there must be a strand of DNA that makes people both nit-picking and want to live in strata. Take the post from…
Podcast: What the pollies are promising the strata voters of NSW
It’s hard to believe that we’ll be voting on Saturday (March 23) for, possibly, the first new government in NSW in eight years. It’s also hard to believe that we…
Coalition vows to make it easier to vote solar
Just when we thought the government didn’t care about strata they come up with a pre-election announcement designed to raise the high-rise feelgood factor. According to this story in the…
NSW Election special: Whose policies are best for apartment residents?
With an election in NSW next weekend (March 23), and another for the whole country just a couple of months away, apartment owners and residents who aren’t rusted on to…
Cladding clam-up as Fair Trading issues threats, rather than access to help
By Sue Williams Residents at high risk from potentially deadly flammable cladding are being denied information about what they should do to make their buildings safe, consumer advocates claim. Instead,…
Roundup: When ‘privacy’ is more important than unit block fire safety
I was gobsmacked this week to discover that Fair Trading have refused to even tell owners in the 400-plus buildings seriously affected by flammable cladding that there’s a seminar this…
Podcast: Talking to the woman who could be our next strata minister
We were very lucky last weekend to catch up with Labor spokesperson for Better Regulation and Innovation Yasmin Catley who, current polls suggest, is a very real prospect of being…
Strata Commissioner plan signals sea change in political thinking
The revelation this week the NSW Labor plans to create a new Strata Commissioner, should they win government, has been met with surprise and relief across the strata community. As…
Roundup: Revenge as bullying by-law is bounced
One of our long-suffering Flatchatters took her problems with her strata committee to NCAT the other week. The dispute was all about work that the owners corp should have done…
Podcast: The link between holiday lets and high rise cladding fires
It used to be that when anyone talked about problems in strata, the perennial topics were the four Ps – pets, parking, parties (the noisy kind) and puffing (the smoke…
NSW Labor promises strata commissioner to tackle defects
EXCLUSIVE: By Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson A dedicated Strata Commissioner to protect apartment owners and residents and restore confidence in the strata sector will be introduced by the Labor…
Smoker who accidentally started Lacrosse fire cost builders $377,000
Building surveyors, architects and fire engineers will all have to compensate builders LU Simon up to $12.5 million for the cost of repairing and replacing flammable cladding on Melbourne’s Lacrosse…
Opal Tower owners don’t know how lucky they are
The owners of apartments in the now notorious Opal Tower probably don’t realise it, but they are lucky. Obviously, it was bad luck that supporting walls in their building in…
Roundup: A quick health check on the Forum
Does your pulse race at the thought of someone stealing your parking space? Are you having sleepless nights, worrying about the flat next door going on Airbnb? Have you developed…
Podcast: Why we’ll never get a Royal Commission into building defects
I was intrigued this week by the announcement by the Federal Labor leadership that they plan to pour some of the money from their proposed “honesty tax” on banks into…
Seminar: Don’t get burnt by flammable cladding
Should you be worried if you have flammable cladding on your building? The simple answer is yes, of course – but perhaps not for the obvious reasons. While the dangers…
The day Airbnb came round to complain
About two years ago, I got a phone call from two of my editors at the Sydney Morning Herald. I should say “former editors” – none of us work there…
On TV pouring cold water on the flammable cladding controversy
The fire earlier this month (February 2019) on the outside of the Neo200 building in Melbourne conveniently coincided with a meeting of state and federal government ministers at which it…