FLAT CHAT WRAP

This week’s podcast topics have come straight off our front page and our Forum. For instance, how would you feel if an owner started allowing – maybe even encouraging – their dog to swim in the communal swimming pool. Now, many free-standing home owners allow their pets to swim in their pools.  And the pets clearly enjoy it. But does that mean we should allow dogs into our communal pools?  Aren’t...

Sue Williams is back in the Flat Chat Wrap co-chair this week as we discuss the proposed Dodgy Developer Database announced by the NSW government last week. Sue reckons it can only be a good thing to get all that information but is concerned that it might all be too complicated for ordinary owners to understand. Jimmy points out that he doesn’t think it will ever see the light of day, and even if...

“It’s like heading down the runway while you are still building the plane” – no, we’re not talking about buying off the plan, but the pressures and perils of creating an Oscar-winning, multi-million-dollar animated Hollywood movie. We’re taking a slight detour this week into the world of comedy and show-business, in an interview with our good friend Warren Coleman, formerly of the Castanets Club c...

This week in the podcast we revisit the vexed question of whether or not you should be allowed to view other owners’ email addresses. The SCA (Strata Community Australia – aka, the strata managers) website says this in its FAQ for apartment block neophytes:How do I obtain the phone number/email address/postal address of members of the committee? Due to privacy laws you only have the legal right to...

This week’s podcast is about the bushfires.  For a change, apartments are not portrayed in the media as the worst possible way to live in Australia. That’s not to say unit blocks are immune from danger and disruption; as the original article points out, you still have to protect them from fire and floating embers. And can you imagine what would happen if the flames nudged up to a block clad in fla...

Privacy, consumer protections and how to engineer radical change in your apartment block are the main topics for discussion in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast. A heated discussion in the Forum has spilled over into the pod, with JimmyT trying to establish where or not it’s true that the law forbids strata managers from revealing owners’ email addresses in the strata roll (in NSW).Certainly, tha...

Privacy, consumer protections and how to engineer radical change in your apartment block are the main topics for discussion in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast. A heated discussion in the Forum has spilled over into the pod, with JimmyT trying to establish where or not it’s true that the law forbids strata managers from revealing owners’ email addresses in the strata roll (in NSW).Certainly, tha...

Amazingly, this is our 50th Flat Chat wrap which means we have been doing this for almost a year. And yet, the same topics come up, time after time, albeit with the occasional (welcome) twist. For instance, co-presenter Sue Williams has had enough of Airbnb – or, at least, stories about them.  She has a point but when you are dealing with a super-aggressive interloper in the property market, you h...

Amazingly, this is our 50th Flat Chat Wrap which means we have been doing this - the podcast thing - for almost a year. And yet, the same topics come up, time after time, albeit with the occasional (welcome) twist. For instance, co-presenter Sue Williams has had enough of Airbnb – or, at least, stories about them.  She has a point but when you are dealing with a super-aggressive interloper in the...

This week’s podcast features JimmyT and Sue Williams examining the half-million dollar turnaround in a strata defamation case, a discussion about who’s the boss in a strata scheme – the committee or the strata manager – and a chat about how we can get a bit too relaxed when we’re planning our holidays from our “lock up and leave” apartment. The first item refers to the recent Court of Appeals deci...

This week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast features JimmyT and Sue Williams examining the half-million dollar turnaround in a strata defamation case, a discussion about who’s the boss in a strata scheme – the committee or the strata manager – and a chat about how we can get a bit too relaxed when we’re planning our holidays from our “lock up and leave” apartments. The first item refers to the recent Court...

We cover a lot of ground in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap, starting with the surprising news that new apartments are getting bigger while houses are getting smaller.  Is it all about downsizing and empty nesters? Or did we never really need all that space to begin with?  You’ll never guess where the largest new apartments are … and Jimmy wonders what a rumpus room  really is. Also in the podcast, we...

We cover a lot of ground in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap, starting with the surprising news that new apartments are getting bigger while houses are getting smaller.  Is it all about downsizing and empty nesters? Or did we never really need all that space to begin with?  You’ll never guess where the largest new apartments are … and Jimmy wonders what a rumpus room  really is. Also in the podcast, we...

This week, JimmyT and Sue Williams tackle subjects that range from the sinister to the sublimely ridiculous … with some practical advice for investors in between. Why won’t the government release the lists of the 444 buildings that have flammable cladding on them? Is it the risk of terrorism, as they say … or is it just potential vandalism … or the effect on property prices? Jimmy has his own cons...

This week, JimmyT and Sue Williams tackle subjects that range from the sinister to the sublimely ridiculous … with some practical advice for investors in between. Why won’t the government release the lists of the 444 buildings that have flammable cladding on them? Is it the risk of terrorism, as they say … or is it just potential vandalism … or the effect on property prices? Jimmy has his own cons...

JimmyT thinks of changing the name of this week's episode to Hard Chat (but won't because he's scared of Tom Gleason) as he's going in hard on two very different targets. Firstly, he wants by-law breachers to either accept instant fines or face a 50 percent increase, or even more if they decide to challenge it at the Tribunal and lose. Harsh?  Not harsh enough, he reckons, for...

JimmyT was thinking of changing the name of this week's episode to Hard Chat  as he's going in hard on two very different targets (but won't because he's scared of Tom Gleason).Firstly, he wants by-law breachers to either accept instant fines or face a 50 percent increase, or even more if they decide to challenge it at the Tribunal and lose. Harsh?  Not harsh enough, he reckons...

It’s a short and (hopefully) sweet Flat Chat Wrap this week with JimmyT flying solo as he looks at the clouds gathering over Airbnb and other holiday letting websites – and one ray of sunshine. The bright spot is Airbnb’s country pubs promotion which is bringing a bit of rural Australia into our homes … and maybe getting some of us out of the city and into the country. You can see some of the vide...

It’s a short and (hopefully) sweet Flat Chat Wrap this week with JimmyT flying solo as he looks at the clouds gathering over Airbnb and other holiday letting websites – and one ray of sunshine. The bright spot is Airbnb’s country pubs promotion which is bringing a bit of rural Australia into our homes … and maybe getting some of us out of the city and into the country. You can see some of the vide...

In this week’s podcast JimmyT and Sue Williams look again at the issue of the overturning of the pet ban by-law in one of Sydneys biggest and poshest apartment blocks, in the wake of the warning by the committee that any pets brought in before the appeal is heard may have to be “put down”.Is it a valid threat as there is a window when there is no active by-law?  Lawyers at ten paces, we think. And...

SHOW NOTESIn this week’s podcast JimmyT and Sue Williams look again at the issue of the overturning of the pet ban by-law in one of Sydneys biggest and poshest apartment blocks, in the wake of the warning by the committee that any pets brought in before the appeal is heard may have to be “put down”.Is it a valid threat as there may be a window when there is no active by-law?  Lawyers at ten paces,...

Blame the bank holiday, the Rugby World Cup or the need for a break, but we thought we'd revisit our old friends at the fictional (or is it?) apartment block Dardanelle Towers, where suspicion of vandalism in the car park has fallen on an unlikely culprit. Parking, terrorism and a health scare dominated the most recent meeting of the Dardanelle Towers executive committee. The parking issue ca...

Blame the bank holiday, the Rugby World Cup or the need for a break, but we thought we'd revisit our old friends at the fictional (or is it?) apartment block Dardanelle Towers, where suspicion of vandalism in the car park has fallen on an unlikely culprit. https://episodes.castos.com/flatchatpod/Dardanelle-Towers-3.mp3 Parking, terrorism and a health scare dominated the most recent meeting of...

We cover a lot of ground in this week’s chat with journalist and author Sue Williams, including two old favourites – Airbnb and pet bans - and a brand new concept (to us at least) negative interest. Yes, you know all about negative gearing and you may have even encountered negative equity, but Sue was hearing about negative interest at a Property Summit sponsored by The Australian Financial Review...

We cover a lot of ground in this week’s chat with journalist and author Sue Williams, including two old favourites – Airbnb and pet bans - and a brand new concept (to us at least) negative interest. Yes, you know all about negative gearing and you may have even encountered negative equity, but Sue was hearing about negative interest at a Property Summit sponsored by The Australian Financial Review...