FLAT CHAT WRAP

We are back in the saddle for the new year with the news that the NSW government has come up with a new way of tackling the bureaucracy and red tape that’s holding back housing construction – by adding what looks like another level of bureaucracy and red tape. To be fair, the intentions are good. Maybe more really is less, and the new Housing Delivery Authority will accelerate the construction of...

Looking forward to 2025 involves a certain amount of looking back. So we wonder this week what will happen, if anything, as a result of the long-delayed outcomes of investigations into Netstrata in particular or strata management in general.  And we look at the proposed new strata laws for NSW.  Jimmy speculated that the least likely to make it all the way is the plan to bring strata contracts und...

From the scandals around Netstrata - and the harsh scrutiny all strata managers have faced as a consequence - to the departure of Building Commissioner David Chandler, 2024 was a huge year in strata. We look at those events as well as the roller-coaster rides for apartment owner clients of two now notorious strata managers who have found it just too easy to convince NCAT members to do exactly what...

This week we say farewell to former Strata Commissioner John Minns who has decided to quit, despite a months-long inquiry into allegations of conflict of interest finding nothing untoward. Jimmy had a long chat with him (off air) which he relates in the podcast, covering his frustrations during his tenure and his fears for the future – not least who will take over his role. The we turn our sights...

Our deadlines meant we missed the chance to talk about the new strata laws proposed for NSW in last week’s podcast but that has given us time to think about the proposals and what they mean. For instance, is compulsory training of strata committee members a good or bad thing? Will fear of having sales contracts rescinded deter developers from using embedded networks to save money and cheat their a...

Three big stories get most of our attention in this week’s podcast. Firstly there’s the publication of the new Guide to Strata Living, which earns some praise, but a few brickbats from JimmyT.  You can judge for yourself HERE, where there are also links to the actual guide for you to download. Then there’s the recent attack on unfair strata management contracts by eminent construction lawyer Bronw...

We’ve been catching up with all the strata stories that emerged while we were away – and there’s a lot of them, covering just about every aspect of apartment living. The plan to boost Sydney’s night time economy with 24/7 bar openings has alarmed well-heeled resident so Circular Quay (according to this video on the Sydney Morning Herald website). And there’s more angst over noisy gyms which we fir...

Can you imagine paying $30,000 a night for a pad in London? Yes, that’s thirty thousand dollars, in case you thought it was a misprint. And this is in a city that has its share of homelessness and has had to introduce a 90-night limit on short-term holiday lets to combat the drain on residential properties caused by platforms like Airbnb and their ilk. Also in Britain, a government survey has reve...

Your intrepid Flat Chat team’s travels take them to London this week but that doesn’t mean they have lost touch with what’s happening in Australia. For a start a boost to funding for tenants’ supports agencies has been announced by the NSW state government.   That will no doubt be very useful when the inevitable confusion arises from the raft of changes to tenancy laws, passed by state parliament...

This week’s podcast comes to you from less-than-sunny Glasgow, which may explain the slightly different sound quality. But the chat is up to its usual standards as we speculate on what new Building Commissioner James Sherrard will bring to the job as he fills the substantial shoes recently vacated by the redoubtable David Chandler. Then we have a look at the recent revelations about Netstrata alle...

There are so many issues it strata that are “he said, she said” - or “they said, they said”, to put it in a more contemporary context –  that the temptation to not take sides is sometimes overwhelming. But consider the plight of an owner on the first floor of a block who has a noisy commercial gym operating from 6am until after 7pm every weekday. Then add in the fact that most of her strata commit...

There’s a lot of anger and frustration behind this week’s edition of the Flat Chat Wrap. The fury on display on a recent episode of A Current Affair on Nine is both clear and understandable. Prospective owners in the Sapphire apartments in Gosford on the Central Coast of NSW had been told to be ready to move in, only to discover that work has stopped on the near-complete block and there is no occu...

When it comes to getting your attention, there’s nothing quite like being warned that the latest innovation could put you out of business. Okay, we’ve heard it all before, but imagine if a friend was able to access a reliable response to a strata question instantly, wherever you happen to be.  And we’re not talking technical, jargon-ridden geeky stuff. If you everyone was able to get an instant an...

It’s been a tough few months for strata managers, especially the good ones – and there are many of them – who have been trying to do the best they can for their customers while the industry as a whole has been exposed to strident and mostly valid criticism. The irony for the honest and decent players is that they have been copping the additional scrutiny and suspicions directed at the whole indust...

We start this week’s podcast by looking back at the previous episode which has broken all our records for regular downloads. It’s not surprising really, given that it was a chat with ABC TV Four Corners investigative reporter Linton Besser about how and why he pulled together the Strata Trap report. At more than 450 downloads after only a week, this one will run and run, as they say in showbiz. Th...

We’re rolling the Wrap out a little early this week because it’s connected to the hottest topic in strata right now. Linton Besser, the reporter who brought you the Four Corners report T he Strata Trap on Monday, has come on to the podcast to answer our questions about what he’s found in the strata industry, not only in NSW, but across Australia.  What questions? How about what piqued his interest...

Are your cooking and heating appliances giving your kids asthma? This week in the Flat Chat Wrap, Sue talks about a story she’s been chasing where families have found that switching from gas to electricity for their heating and cooking appliances has seen their kids’ asthma disappear. As we head for net zero emissions and electricity becomes the affordable power source of choice, you might want to...

There’s been considerable speculation about NSW Strata Commissioner John Minns this week after the revelation on an ABC news report that he has retained a significant holding in a property management company, albeit through a family trust. Is it a serious problem for the man tasked with overseeing strata management (among other things), especially in the wake of the Netstrata scandal? Or is it jus...

In this week’s podcast, we look at why a problem in a company title block .would have been much easier to resolve had the apartment been in a strata building. The story in the Sydney Morning Herald is about a 71-year-old woman who has had to move out of her home because of damp caused by faulty water pipes in common property. We explain why that problem could have been much more easily resolved ha...

So the NSW Fair Trading Minister has revealed his law changes in the wake of the Netstrata scandal and they are, as one strata insider put it, like being slapped on the wrist with limp spaghetti. With the news hot off the printer, Jimmy jumped in with both feet to claim this is a pretty poor response to the revelation that apartment owners are being misled and ripped off by some of the people whos...

Having been to more conferences that they’ve had Ubereats deliveries – and with drawers full of lanyards to prove it – Jimmy and Sue headed off to the Gold Coast last week to the Strata Impact conference full of hope that this wouldn’t either be another whinge-fest (not least because JT was MC). In fact, it turned out to be absolutely fascinating with all sorts of interesting research from why the...

Three serious stories straight off the website have caught our attention this week – but there’s a bit of fun too. The first two reports are changes planned in NSW laws to make life more secure and a bit easier for renters. Premier Chris Minns announced last weekend that the government is going to stop no-fault evictions – where landlord move tenants out of their properties because that’s the easi...

Oh, dear. Not another swipe at strata managers, please! Yes, OK, it’s a well-trodden path but, to be fair, the baddies have made themselves easy targets for the past few months. As for the goodies, we’d say, as we often do, that they are in the majority. And how frustrating must it be to try to earn an honest buck and provide a good service to your customers, knowing that your rivals are getting a...

In this week’s podcast we look at NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler and how he’s ramping up his efforts to get his message across before he retires next month. And that message is, basically, if you are buying off the plan right now and you don’t go with a developer who has an iCirt gold star rating, you’ve only got yourself to blame when it all goes pear-shaped. We take a look at Sue'...

It’s a bit of a catch-up in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap and a look to the immediate future, too. We’ll be getting abreast of the news that NSW is planning to tighten regulations on strata managers in the state – a move that was announced a couple of weeks ago when Sue was off air. What will this so-called crackdown mean? Will really bad strata managers lose their licences? Not very likely, we say,...