We’re back.  Or at least, one of us is for real, but the other one is fake, thanks to an Artificial Intelligence app.

This week I fed two articles from the Flat Chat website into an AI app called Jellypod. I chose the one about NSW Premier Chris Minns’ visit to the Netstrata offices and the other about the NSW Fair Trading minister’s announcement that the Productivity Commissioner has been tasked with discovering what would happen if insurance commissions were cancelled.

I asked the app to create a conversation between myself and co-podder Sue Williams based on the article and anything else it could find on the topics on the internet. I also gave it samples of our voices so it could create an audio file, and a short guide to our characters and different approaches to strata issues.

The result was frankly terrifying. Now, the cloned voices aren’t terribly close to ours, so that’s good, but the content of the conversation was scarily on point.  It is mostly factually correct and reads, as text, in a similar style to the way we speak and write.  

It was also strongly opinionated but completely fabricated an anecdote that neither of us can remember having ever said or written. It also had a problem saying “NSW” and “strata” which came out as “straaaaaata”. Have a listen and see what you think.

Meanwhile, where have we been, you ask? Our recent travels through Europe not only made podcasting hard, it left a mountain of work waiting for us when we returned so it was impossible to sit down and do the podcast for a few weeks.

We are a hand-knitted pod and the fact that it can be a logisitical and technical challenge was reconfirmed when I sat down to record this and my software made me sound like a Dalek with a heavy cold.  It’s all good now, I hope, and we’ll be back in your podcast feed just as soon as we have something new to talk about.

And rest assured, it really will be us – promise!

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

It’s a problem with any bureaucracy, anywhere in the world – and it’s also the reason strong figures in politics prevail – doing the right thing the “right way” takes a lot longer than just getting stuff done when it’s most needed.

The principle of “it’s easier to apologise than it is to get permission” gets things moving but it also leaves the door wide open for knee-jerk, half-baked solutions.

Somewhere in the middle are logical, sensible decisions that can be made quickly and seen through efficiently.

One project that slipped through that net was the plan to turn a former Wesley Mission hostel for the indigent elderly into affordable homes for essential workers.

How that all fell apart, despite a $3m city grant, and why it’s now being sold for commercial development, is our main topic in this week’s podcast.

Meanwhile we leave Poland with fond memories of some fantastic buildings and arrive in Prague disappointed that the only freely accessible paternoster elevator left in the city (the one shown in this video) is out of action for repairs.

And finally, Jimmy has a brilliant plan to solve special levy stress. That’sall in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

Don’t be put off by a tinkle or two of classical music at the start of this week’s podcast. It’s just a small acknowledgement of the fact that we are in Warsaw, where Polish-born piano master composer Frederic Chopin was raised.

What do Warsaw and Gdansk have to do with apartments? Heaps as it turns out. Having been flattened by the Nazis during the Warsaw uprising of 1944, the city was completely restored to its former glory by Soviet overlords after WWII.

And you can take a guess at what the reward was for outstanding contributions to the project, whether it was as an architect or a bricklayer.

A couple of hours north in Gdansk, the shipyards made famous by union leader and eventually president Lech Walesa are mostly silent now. But there are still cranes sweeping the skyline – only now they are building apartments rather than boats.

Oh, and in out mini-rant about how to keep electric bikes and scooters under control, we should have said they have similar system in Hobart.

Closer to home we examine the result of wayward strata manager Whitney Wang’s appeal against having his licence cancelled.

And we look at the pile of money it took to by Australia’s most expensive property -almost as high as the building in which it sits.

That’s all in this weeks’ Flat Chat Wrap (although Jimmy can’t believe he didn’t describe Warsaw as a Chopin centre). Enjoy.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

This week we’ve taken the podcast overseas as we’re recording on a cruise ship off the coast of Norway.

But it gives us an opportunity to look at one of the vexed questions of living in strata in Australia.

You may not know this but there is already one city in Australia that has rent controls.  Do they work? Do they keep rents low or just set a benchmark for rent hikes at every opportunity.

We take advantage of a stop-over in Amsterdam to find out how rent controls work there – where 45 per cent of the population are tenants – and do they solve the housing problems that it too suffers?

And we take a look at the strangest “hotel” rooms in the world and what our cities might be like if everyone rode bikes.  That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

Last week Sue dropped a bomb into a discussion about new strata laws in NSW, one of which will invalidate by-laws that block sustainability changes because they would alter the look of the building.

Does this mean the end of by-laws that forbid drying laundry on balconies? Surely not using a tumble dryer and instead using the wind and sun is a sustainability issue?

And, if it is, doesn't that mean, at the very least, out-of-date laundry bans can be changed with a simple majority, meaning that a no-laundry minority of 25 per cent can't veto change.

This week we look at the new laws and the current model by-laws and ask if the government hasn't inadvertently started a war between NOOOBs (Not On Our Balconies) and Greenies.

And speaking of wars, we also look at a new book about missing anti-development activist Juanita Nielsen which suggests her campaigns to halt unfettered high-rise developments, and her disappearance 50 years ago next month, may have led to the current housing crisis.

That's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

If you've been hiding under your bed - and who isn't tempted these days? - you may not have heard that NSW is about to see a second tranche of strata law reforms become a reality on July 1.

What are the new laws and what do they mean? We invited Robert Anderson, President of SCA-NSW, the state's professional body for strata managers and service providers, on to the podcast to explain some of them.

We discussed the fact that strata contracts will come under Federal consumer protection laws for the first time, and what that means - especially in relation to SCA's much maligned standard contract.

Did you know Fair Trading is planning to issue a standard strata management contract, like the one for rentals? Me neither.

We also touched on estimates for legal services, new processes for minor renovations, embedded networks, common property repair delays, the doubling of fees for seeing strata records, and the behaviour of committee members at meetings.

And Sue thinks she's found a wrinkle that will make it harder for buildings to ban drying laundry on balconies.

That's all in this week's (legal) action-packed Flat Chat Wrap.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

Imagine if you could build apartments in half the time at 15 per cent less cost and a guarantee of no waterproofing, fire safety or structural defects.

‘Tell ’im he must be dreamin’,” say strata’s Darryl Kerrigans.  Apartment blocks take longer to build than ever, cost more, and fire and waterproofing are still endemic defects across the industry.

Enter Wayne Larson of PT Blink who is already constructing hundreds of new blocks with the promise that the process will be faster, less costly and with a much, much higher level of quality control.

How do they do it? It’s been described as a cross between Lego and Ikea flat pack furniture. 

Quite simply, at the same time as the steel frame is being constructed on-site, the floors, walls, bathrooms, windows and balconies are being manufactured in factories hundreds of kilometres away.

Okay, but doesn’t that mean identical looking chicken coops springing up all around the country?

Far from it, says Wayne. They take architect drawings, pull them apart and create the individual components, which then all come together, ready to occupy the spaces created on the steel frame.

Have a look at this video and it will make even more sense. But first, listen to this week's Flat Chat Wrap. Enjoy.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

As many of you may already know, every second Tuesday, JimmyT goes on ABC Radio with James Valentine on his Afternoon show to chat about apartments. 

Last week, Jimmy and James took calls from listeners about what you can and can't put on balconies, compulsory training for strata committees, tradies who block car spaces, and car lifts that break down.

They also heard from one gentleman who hates strata and everything to do with it. As usual, it's a lively segment, so we thought you might like a taste of what you get on the radio.

Jimmy is on with James on Tuesday afternoon, June the 3rd at 2pm. Why not send them a text on 0467 922 702 or call on 1300 222 702 and ask a curly question of your own. 

And you can hear more of James (without Jimmy) on ABC Afternoons.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

In this second part of Lawyer in the Hot Seat, recorded last week, strata legal eagle David Bannerman fields questions from Flat Chat's Jimmy Thomson about a range of issues, starting with what is vexatious litigant and how do you deal with them?

Then there's the matter of disputes between neighbours and whether or not the strata committee should get involved - and what they can and should do if they go down that road.

We look at embedded networks, how they are used to rip off apartment buyers, who should be warning strata newbies about them, and the very simple way purchasers can make sure it doesn't happen to them.

And finally there are webinar viewers attendees' questions. That's all (only without the pictures) in this week's Flat Chat Wrap.

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

In what has become an annual event here on Flat Chat, this week we were invited on to a webinar run by leading strata lawyer (and Flat Chat sponsor) David Bannerman for the Q&A session that we call Lawyer in the Hot Seat.

In it we discuss such diverse issues as Lithium battery safety, a Vegepod balcony plant system that's been banned becasue it's not in keeping with the look of the building, the surprisingly widespread problem of mould and explore the vexed question of underperforming committee members.

This is a long session so we have split it and will run the other half next week.  There's a lot in it because, as is the nature of strata, one answer leads to a Jenga stack of other questions. 

You can check out the Bannerman's website for a stack of strata-related information

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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 [email protected].
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.