FLAT CHAT WRAP

Jimmy Thomson investigates four different kinds of insurance (including Airbnb) and why telling one little white lie about whether or not you were allowed to have short-term letting in your apartment could invalidate your cover. He's joined by Steve Tchepak, Acting Head of Underwriting at our sponsors CHU Insurance. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about a...

One of the big questions around the recent Mascot Tower problems was why didn't the building insurance kick in, rather than the state government having to bail the owners corporation out with emergency funding. The simple answer is that it looked very much like a building defect and that's not covered by ordinary strata insurance. So what is strata insurance -  the compulsory one that co...

Confronted by images of residents of Mascot Tower evacuating the building, the NSW government has moved relatively swiftlly to plug the accommodation gap with a loan to the Owners Corporation to cover the cost of emergency billets for the owners and renters. As JimmyT and Sue Williams discuss in this week's podcast, the state government's loan may never have to be paid back, because they...

This week in the Podcast we look at the Mascot Tower story and the apparently generous offer by Fair Trading to bankroll emergency accommodation for residents. They are saying it’s a one-off, as they must.  If NSW Fair Trading let it be known that they were in the market for payouts to help people with building defects, the queues of the duped and dudded would be longer than the lines for the new...

Residents of the 130-plus apartments in the Mascot Tower apartment block in Sydney's South were evacuated over the weekend when cracks in walls and supporting beams suddenly widened. JimmyT and Sue Williams discuss what this means for the residents of this block and all the others built in Sydney to the same standards around the same time. And they come up with a proposal to at least stem the...

For obvious reasons, our podcast this week is about the Mascot Tower crisis. We recorded the podcast before we were aware of the story in today's Financial Review revealing that the developer and builder of the property next door, as well as the local council,  were already facing legal action because of disturbance caused by the construction of another residential  tower in the adjoining lot...

This week, JimmyT and Sue Williams discuss the brand new empty flats that investors are "warehousing" - keeping them locked up and unlived in -  until the property market improves. Then there's the new report about the massive costs facing owners in buildings with flammable cladding - and why our state governments need to do more to help owners..And finally a look at people who get...

Since our last podcast took us to Russia, we thought we’d stay a lot closer to home with this week’s. A story in the Australian newspaper caught our eye, concerning growing signs that  investors are prepared to mothball their brand-new, off-the-plan apartments. Rather than put their units on the market when both rents and property prices are in a downward spiral, some investors are locking them up...

Do you ever get the urge to stand for election to your strata committee?  Are you convinced you could do a better job than the existing members? Do you want to join but keep being frozen out at the AGM?Our colleague Sue Williams has written a piece for The Sydney Morning Herald’s Domain section on whether or not you should join your strata committee. The answer to that question, by the way, is yes...

A big chunk of this week's podcast is taken up with discussing  how worried we should be about the defamation case taken by the chairman of a small strata building in Manly (you can read all about it here), and what that means to those of us who like nothing more than firing off angry emails to vent our spleen at the powers that be in our apartment blocks. But before that, our regular corresp...

Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams discuss apartment living in the new Russia and the email exchange that cost a Manly tenant $120,000 in a defamation case. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au. Register to as...

JimmyT and fitness trainer Shannon Cleary discuss what works and what doesn't in apartment block gyms ... and what to do if you don't have one. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au. Register to a...

Our article this week about the fabulous Parker rental apartment complex in Alexandria, Washington DC, got me thinking about the facilities that are intended to entice us to buy and rent in apartment blocks. One popular item is a gym – but that word covers a multitude of sins.  It could be a fabulous, state-of-the-art facility that would grace any five-star hotel. Or it could be an airless convert...

JimmyT talks to Tim Sara, a senior  manager at one of Australia's biggest strata management companies - and reveals both the light and dark side of a challenging career.  ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat...

When Flat Chat started about 15 years ago, strata managers were (we thought) public enemy number one.  And it’s more than likely the feeling was mutual. We won’t go into a rehearsal of why that was, suffice it to say that things have changed … a lot. The industry has become more professional, standards have been raised and the quality of service – and mutual respect between strata managers and you...

Jimmy T and Sue Williams explore the latest developments in the strataverse ... and come up with some very odd stories indeed. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au. Register to ask and answer questions abo...

A strange thing happened on the Flat Chat Statcounter a few weeks ago.  Statcounter is the software that tells us how many people are reading the website … (more than 4000 a week, if you must know, and still growing)Anyway, there was a whole bunch of searches from the NSW Department of Energy and the Environment, which sounds as Orwellianly conflicted as a Department of Peace and Arms Sales, to me...

There's a revolution in strata law on the way in Victoria. Fire sprinkler systems are  mandatory for mid-rise apartment blocks in NSW. And what's the best way to charge electric cars in strata schemes? JimmyT and Sue Williams discuss the issues of the week ... ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on...

When it comes to strata law reform, it can be a long time between drinks. Victoria is just at the end of the public consultation stage of their very substantial reforms to their strata laws and they still have a long way to go.  It will be interesting to see how many of the proposed changed in their draft reform Bill actually make it on to the statute book. We have predicted two years until they s...

With property prices plummeting across our major cities, JimmyT and Sue Williams identify where apartment values are plummeting, where they're holding and where off-the-plan purchasers are being told they can't walk away from new units that are worth less than they agreed to pay for them when the signed the contracts. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all...

It’s fair to say that this is probably not the best time to be a property owner.  And if you are an investor in multiple units, your woes could be multiplied. On the other hand, if you are a renter, now could be the time to sign up for a long-term lease at a lower rent … if you can find oneThere are so many factors assailing property prices, it’s hard to see a clear way forward. This week in the F...

JimmyT and Sue Williams ask the big questions about the new strata minister ... like, who is he? Plus the best and worst of Australia's strata laws and what makes an ordinary pet a "support animal". ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send c...

Fancy a 400 sqm penthouse with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, two parking spaces plus uninterrupted city and parkland views … for only $1.19 million? Interested? Why wouldn’t you be? This place also as a huge gourmet kitchen, timber floorboards, a massive tiled terrace and a fully fitted home office. What’s the catch, you ask. Well, this particular penthouse is atop a boutique hotel … in Tamwort...

Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams take a wry - and slightly bruised - look at what's attracting mail to the Flat Chat Forum. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au. Register to ask and answer questions abo...

Jimmy Thomson talks to Sue Williams about why she loves apartment living and would never live in a house. ____________________________________________________ Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia. Find us on Facebook   and Twitter and the Flat Chat website. Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au. Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living a...