Flatchatter saves $25k on fire safety ‘blackmail’
A Flatchatter has just saved his strata scheme $25,000 – 70 per cent of their fire safety inspection bill – after responding to what they felt were threats and blackmail…
fire
Don’t be alarmed – there’s a burnt toast by-law
Fire alarms can go off for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with fire. It could be smoke from seriously burnt toast meeting an over sensitive alarm,…
Owners win battle over Biowood cladding
Apartment owners battling to have combustible cladding replaced on their buildings have won a landmark legal victory – giving hope to the thousands more facing similar dangers, writes Sue Williams.…
Call for ban on balcony barbies … but not here
The heat has been turned up on balcony barbecues as a cause of fires in apartments … but in a part of the world where you might least expect it.…
New fire safety regs on strata webinar agenda
You guys are getting into the technology, big time. Apparently more than 200 strata residents took part in the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) webinar on Airbnb and short term letting…
Burning issue – OCN seminar on new fire regs
There are few phrases that send more of a chill thorough the hearts of strata owners than the words “fire safety”. Whether you’re in an old building badly in need…
It’s Airbn-BS as families are ‘priced out by red tape’
Even in this crazy, mixed-up, high speed, disrupted world in which we live, some things never change. One of them, sadly, is Airbnb’s determination to tug at our heartstrings by…
From the Forum: fire regs, air cons and limits on tenant numbers
Particularly at this time when half the country seems to be going uip in flames, fire safety seems to be more relevant than ever. So imagine you are in a…
Flammable cladding crisis solved – phoenix it!
The fire engineer who approved the Neo 200 building in Melbourne – the most recent high-rise cladding fire in Australia – has gone to court to try to have his…
From the Forum: fake grassroots campaign fails to catch fire
Our post on the short-term letting fire regulations sparked a fiery discussion (oops, sorry!). And that was before we even discovered that Airbnb hosts had already swamped Planning NSW with…
Flat Chat Wrap #39 – Loopholes and pitfalls in new Airbnb regs
Just when you thought it was safe to dip your toe into the Airbnb discussion, it turns out the proposed new laws are not what they seem. The 180-day cap…
How Fireys may save us from holiday let hell
The NSW government released their discussion document of the proposed new short-term letting regulations this week and, of course, they make interesting reading. I will be examining the proposal for…
Seven years on from fatal blaze, new mid-rises finally get sprinklers
It has taken almost seven years since the fatal fire in the unit block in Bankstown but as of this week, builders in NSW will be required to install automatic…
Smoke alarm and rent rise shocks in Airbnb lets
Smoke alarms that either don’t exist or are covered up, higher rents for permanent residents and a new service that helps hosts find somewhere to stay when they are renting…
Flammable cladding – Jimmy T on Sunrise
Earlier this month (Feb 2019) there was a second flammable cladding fire on the outside of an apartment block in Melbourne. Flat Chat’s JimmyT went on Weekend Sunrise to argue…
Cladding: It’s your money that the governments are burning
There was another cladding fire in Melbourne the other day. It was one of those “accidents waiting to happen” we’ve been hearing about since the horror Grenfell Tower blaze in…
Small fire, not many dead: Ignorance and racism in Neo200 debate
On Wednesday morning I woke up to read a somewhat hysterical story in the Sydney Morning Herald about the latest apartment block fire in Melbourne. Not only was I appalled…
Blocks get together to fight crippling cladding bills
Apartment owners facing bills of as much as $60,000 per unit to fix flammable cladding are being invited to join together in an effort to force developers to foot the…