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 under Australian Consumer law.

Why?  Because the parties with the most to lose – Strata Community Australia and the NSW Attorney General’s office – are pretty powerful voices.

And we look at our poll on what Flat Chat readers like most about the proposed changes.

There’s a clear split between laws that affect existing owners and buyers but there’s one proposal that will affect everyone in strata that stands out from the crowd.

That’s all in this week’s and 2024’s final 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.

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 they want, rather than what apartment owners need.
In fact, we ask the question, is the NCAT tribunal so ill-equipped to deal with strata issues that it is actively undermining Fair Trading's efforts to improve public confidence in apartment living.
And finally, we highlight a new build-to-rent development in the heart of Sydney which will allow long leases and pets, but remove toxic strata committees, rampant rent increases and the threat of Airbnb displacing residential renters.
Ooops! In the podcast we said we were going to mention two ambushes in the Four Corners TV episode that brought Netstrata to book.  We talked about Stephen Brell but forgot to mention former Strata Commissioner John Minns.  However, we covered him in detail last week, so you're not really missing out. 

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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 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 on NCAT – the NSW Tribunal which seems to be doing more to undermine efforts to build confidence in strata than all the dodgy developers and suspect strata managers combined.

Can we trust a body that has untrained Members making decisions about our lives when many of them clearly don’t know or care about strata? 

Separate to the point of being in opposition to Fair Trading, the whole Tribunal system is clogged with regurgitated cases that could and should have been dealt with at the first time of asking. 

Justice delayed is justice denied – and that applies in strata too.

And finally it’s time to inject some pre-festive cheer with a story of owners who would rather share their new apartment block with low-income tenants, than live in an ivory tower.

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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.

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 apartment buyers?

Will heavy fines stop them from underestimating levies to make their apartment sales unrealistically attractive?

Will coming under Australian consumer law mean the end of one-sided strata manager contracts?

We can only touch on a few aspects of the proposed new laws but you can find out more about them HERE  … after you have listened to this week’s podcast, of course. 

____________________________________________________


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.

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 Bronwyn Weir.  And, once you’ve listen to the podcast, you might want to read more about it HERE and HERE (with links to the original ABC news story).

Two years ago, Jimmy wrote that apartment blocks in Victoria were rotting from the inside.  Now a report by the strata government’s Cladding Safety Victoria has confirmed that half the buildings they inspected were doing exactly that. You can read about it HERE.

And finally, would you leave a spare key with someone, in case of emergencies? Should it be compulsory?  That’s all in the Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


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.

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 first highlighted in this podcast and Sue’s SMH story before we left for Europe.

We discuss why strata schemes are way behind free-standing homes when it comes to installing solar, prompted by this story.  Does it have something to do with embedded networks and devious developers?

We look at a renewed push to wash away outdated and anti-sustainability by-laws that forbid drying laundry on balconies.

And we wonder if councils could be doing more to encourage the inclusion of creative spaces in new apartment blocks, following this report.

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

____________________________________________________


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.

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 revealed how many previously unidentified apartment blocks still have potentially fatal flammable cladding, more than seven years after the Grenfell disaster.

Meanwhile the contrast in Australian political approaches to the housing shortage – lack of supply or excess of demand – was brought into stark relief by the result of the US presidential election. 

One side said it was a failure of investment, the other that it was caused by immigrants. 

Spoiler alert: Donald Trump will be back in the White House until J D Vance slips an overdose of moonshine and opiates into his diet Coke then announces he was secretly a liberal all this time.

Seriously though, as we discover, even a socialist republic has trouble building apartments ordinary people can afford (unless you’re Aussie – then they’re a bargain).

This week’s podcast is the last to be recorded on our travels and is a bit shorter than usual, not least because we were cramming the last of our journalistic tasks in between trying to make the most of our dwindling days in France.

Next week we’ll be back to whatever passes for normal in strata.

____________________________________________________


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.

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 last week, come into effect in the new year.

That doesn’t just help tenants. As Jimmy says, if landlords or even owners corporations want to know what renters’ rights and responsibilities are, check the websites that offer advice to tenants and you’ll know exactly where they are coming from.

Then we have the latest apartment prices from the last quarter with Queensland outstripping Melbourne.

And finally, a sad story that has a bit of everything: A pregnant mother of five falls from a tenth-storey window, a boyfriend with a criminal history, conspiracy theories on the internet and a miracle of survival.

But seriously, if as Sue says, you find the story disturbing or know someone who does need advice and support, you can always call Lifeline on 131 114 or go online HERE.

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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’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 allegedly slipping old receipts and invoices into their strata schemes’ portals. 

This has led to some strata owners realising for the first time how much extra they have been paying for compulsory insurance, thanks to hidden brokerage fees and commissions.

And we speculate on what the next strata scandal will be – the potential misuse of “full delegation” clauses in contracts, which allow strata management firms to take over the running of strata schemes with little or no consultation with their owners.

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

____________________________________________________


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.

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 committee’s members live several floors away from the noise are undisturbed and therefore unperturbed.

And, for the cracked and uninviting icing on the strata cake, the role of chair and secretary has been taken by a strata management firm that’s rapidly becoming synonymous with shady practises. 

Should commercial gyms ever be allowed in strata buildings? The local politicians and council officials who can’t see any problem don’t spend nearly enough time in gyms, or strata for that matter.

Also, this week, we use the excuse that we are travelling overseas to look at how the anti-Airbnb backlash is spreading, the form it’s taking and how a TV ad campaign is hitting the global holiday rental platform right where it hurts – in the big lie about “sharing”.

That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap

____________________________________________________


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.