Flat Chat Wrap #3 – best and worst times to buy, bullied by by-laws & lawn parking
Is this the best time to buy an new apartment or just the worst time to sell? And what you should look out for in offers that seem to be…
by-laws
Flat Chat Wrap #1 – pet bans, bad by-laws, crazy neighbours and Airbnb laws
A chat about all the most interesting, strangest and most controversial items on on Flat Chat this week. In Episode 1, Jimmy discusses pet bans, undoing bad by-laws, crazy neighbours…
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…
When ‘common sense’ makes no sense at all
Common sense, that good old standby we apply to any dilemma, however complex, is the thinking equivalent of comfort food: it makes you feel better now but causes problems later.…
Podcast: Ep 3 of the Wrap looks at buying and selling
Is this the best time to buy an new apartment or just the worst time to sell? And what you should look out for in offers that seem to be…
Help! What do we do about our no-pets by-laws?
Reports that the NSW Tribunal has once again overturned a no-pets by-law has sent a ripple of concern through Strataland – especially among blocks that in the past decided the…
Beware the ratchet effect of bad by-laws
A ratchet is a brilliantly simple piece of engineering: easy to turn in one direction – almost impossible to go the other way. The “ratchet effect” when applied to by-laws,…
Back to the bad old days as by-laws balked
I hate to say it, but it seems we’re heading back to the bad old days of the CTTT when it comes to our strata tribunal (NCAT). According to an…
Pets and apartments – an interview
A couple of weeks ago our friends at Pet Insurance Australia sent us some questions about pet ownership in strata schemes, to form the basis for a feature they’ll be…
New Airbnb laws? Don’t hold your breath waiting
Psst! Don’t tell anybody but, you know those new laws about short-term holiday letting that everybody got their knickers in a twist about? Well, the rumour is that they’re not…
Business booms in blocking illegal Airbnbs
What would most Flatchatters change first about their apartment blocks if they had three magic wishes? Make it harder for people to let out their entire flat through Airbnb, was…
Roundup: When business bags your parking spots
The often irreconcilable differences between strata residents and commercial operators in the same scheme are to the fore in the Flat Chat Forum this week, with two tales with sadly…
Balcony smokers in your top three strata gripes
The results of our recent poll are in – not as definitive as a general election but more accurate than Peter Dutton’s guesstimate of his support – and there is…
Climate shame when strata airs its dirty laundry
It seems that energy prices and the belief (or not) that there’s such a thing as global warming have the power to topple Prime Ministers. The fossil fuel versus renewables…
Why pre-sale renos could be bad planning
For any prospective home buyer with a skerrick of visual imagination, a rundown home is a massive canvas on which to express themselves. That might apply to apartments even more…
NSW passes Australia’s tightest Airbnb laws
Short-term holiday letting in NSW will have “tougher but fairer” regulation from 2019, after the state parliament passed the Government’s plan for the industry yesterday. Minister for Better Regulation…
‘Business as usual’ for Airbnb by-laws, says strata lawyer
With the announcement two weeks ago that legislation is going to be changed, allowing owners corporations to pass by-laws forbidding owners from listing their entire apartments on holiday letting websites,…
Why lazy landlords end up with terrible tenants
If you are a landlord – or the less feudal term ‘property investor’ – do you think of your tenants as assets or liabilities? You might worry about getting bad…