Can you ban monster utes from your car park?
Have things been getting a bit squeezy in your apartment parking lots recently? Are you one of those unfortunates who have to push your Toyota Corolla in and out between…
Podcast: How a strata disaster started Flat Chat
In this week’s episode of the Flat Chat Wrap, and with the Opal crisis in the forefront of our thinking, JimmyT and Sue Williams recall the trials and tribulations of…
Roundup: Strata chair blocks Airbnb by-law vote
Can anyone give us a definitive answer on whether or not it’s OK to pass by-laws banning Airbnb? We ask because this week we received an email from a Flatchatter…
Opal report targets beams as well as panels
Significant rectification works will be needed in the beleaguered Opal Tower in Sydney’s Olympic Park.to repair and strengthen damaged hob beams and in some cases the panels that rest on…
Lambert lambasts NSW government over defects
By Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson The NSW Government-appointed expert who wrote its report into building industry standards says that had his 2016 recommendations been followed, the Opal Tower crisis,…
Roundup: An answer for both the Opal and Airbnb
Hold your applause, folks, but I think I’ve come up with a solution to both the Opal Tower crisis and the blight of Airbnb on our apartment blocks. See, maybe…
Why strata needs to get out of Fair Trading NOW!
The highly publicised problems at the Opal Tower in Sydney have brought some much-needed attention to the issue of new apartment blocks with serious defects. They have also generated a…
Podcast: The truth about the whole defects disaster
If you think you’ve heard everything there is to know about the cracks crisis at the Opal Tower in Sydney, and the whole defects disaster in NSW and Australia as…
It’s the system, not the certifiers, say engineers
By Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson Someone will have to die before the NSW Government properly fixes the system for making sure high-rise buildings are constructed safely, a leading Australian…
Unit owners face defect bills of $100k-plus EACH
The residents of the Opal building don’t know how lucky they are. The fact that they have both high-profile and respected developers and builders involved – plus the public attention…
Roundup: Opal mining and balcony madness
Happy New Year! A great deal of attention for the last week has been focussed on the Opal Tower crisis, for good reason. But it’s not just the cracks in…
Four dead, 35 missing after gas blast in Russian block
At least four people have died and 35 others are missing after a gas explosion brought down several floors in an apartment block in Russia’s Ural Mountains on New Years…
Holiday let fireworks – parties, crime and a backlash
If you’ve had illicit Airbnb or other short-term holiday lets (STHL) in your block and hadn’t realised it, you will know all about it by now. Christmas and New Year…
Podcast: On TV talking cracks in the Opal
Despite having a great head for radio, I was enticed on to TV last Saturday (Dec 29) to talk building cracks with Professor Mark Hoffman (one of the engineers called…
Fair Trading’s flaws exposed says real estate supremo
Fair Trading NSW is simply not up to the job of protecting the interests of apartment owners, according to Tim McKibbin, Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Institute of New South…
Opal: Roberts steps up while Kean sidesteps strata
If there was any further evidence required of Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean’s waning interest in strata owners, it comes this week as Minister for Planning and Housing (and former…
Cracks in Opal block reveal holes in strata protections
OK, nobody died, but this was a pretty grim Christmas for the residents and owners of the Opal Tower in Sydney’s Olympic Park. Many of them were evacuated from their…
Roundup: No smoke as strata residents ignored yet again
As I sit on an island off Cambodia, dealing with the consequences of risking one “street food” meal too many, a very urgent and important email from the government pops…