Flat Chat Strata Forum Rental rants Current Page

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  • #7333
    Jimmy-T
    Keymaster

      This week’s Herald investigation  into foreign students exploited by ruthless landlords has exposed some brutally ugly facts of rental life in Sydney, including sexual blackmail, massive fraud and illegal development.

      Tuesday’s Herald revealed that hundreds of family homes near universities have been converted illegally into quasi-boarding houses with unwary tenants – mostly foreign students –  crammed in, ripped-off and worse.

      But it’s not just houses that are getting the Slumdog treatment. Flats are routinely converted into mini-units or multi-bed bunkhouses while owners corporations have to jump through impossible bureaucratic hoops to prevent it.

      When the owner of a three-bedroom flat in Alexandria, illegally converted into five mini-units, recently faced legal action from his Owners Corporation, he ‘sold’ the flat to his estate agent, meaning his long-suffering neighbours would have had to start the whole process again. Only last-minute Supreme Court action halted the sale.

      Minister for Citizenship and Communities Victor Dominello wants new laws to regulate bogus boarding houses.

      But, with overcrowding and subdivision turning some of our biggest strata blocks into  luxury slums, Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts should also step up to the plate.

      Both tenants and strata owners are supposed to be protected by Fair Trading and the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.

      Enough said?

      The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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    • #12689

      Jimmy,

       

      Where was the local council involvement in all this. Surely if the Owner's Corporation had reported this to the council the renovations would have breached any number of building regulations. Maybe council involvement would have made Supreme Court action unnecessary.

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