FLAT CHAT WRAP

We turn back the clock – but just a little – for this week’s podcast when we look at the weirdest and wackiest questions asked and problems presented on the Flat Chat Forum in recent months.And we have a long chat with Kathlyn Loseby, President of the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects as well as COO of Crone Architects.She’ll be talking about the importance of good architecture – and what architects can bring to a building that no other professional can.Listen HereFirst up, though, it’s our cavalcade of chaos starting with a strata manager who won’t let an owner even nominate for election to the committee because the resident has taken a complaint against the owners corp to Fair Trading and NCAT.Then there’s the owner who put a video camera on common property outside his front door without permission.  When the owners corp complained, he attached it to a peephole inside his front door – which is still common property.We recently had someone ask if they could post on their notice board pictures from their security camera of people who had buzzed every apartment in the middle of the night until they found the one they were looking for.And there are a lot more example on the podcast, all results of people not knowing how to behave, or not caring.One bunch of people who do tend to care are architects, and we talk to Kathlyn Loseby about why architects are often employed to help get approval for building projects, and then their reputation is used to sell the apartments, but they are cut loose when things get tricky, especially when developers want to cut corners.NSW is about to bring in legislation that means any building over two stories high must be designed by an architect.  But Kathlyn gives a compelling case as to why architects should be locked into projects until they are complete.As she says, a problem that costs $1 to fix during the build cost $15 to fix after completion and $45 once people have moved in.And there is only one profession that understands all the elements that go into a whole building – and that’s the architects.Oh, and we ask her for her favourite apartment building in NSW and she choses the 1948 International Modernist No 17 Wylde St (pictured above, featured here). Definitely a stunning example of inspiring architecture.You can hear Kathlyn in conversation with Jimmy and Sue or read the transcript below.Transcript in fullHere is a trancript of the podcast. Broad strokes by a computer, fine lines by an endlessly patient human.Jimmy  00:00It’s that time of year, when you start looking back on the previous year, and obviously a lot of it is to do with; if it isn't Donald Trump, it's COVID. But in strata, we trundle on, doing what we always do. I've been looking back at some of the weird and not very wonderful questions that have been asked on the Flat Chat forum.Sue  00:24That should be interesting.Jimmy  00:26Later on, we're going to talk to Kathlyn Loseby, who is, Sue?Sue  00:30The New South Wales President of the Australian Institute of Architects, and the CEO of Crone Architects.Jimmy  00:38Okay.Sue  00:40She’ll be talking about design and the latest in design of apartments.Jimmy  00:44Okay. I'm Jimmy Thomson.Sue  00:46And I'm Sue Williams.Jimmy  00:47And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]Looking back on the year, I decided to go back through all the forum things that I do every week. Every week, I do a little roundup of the latest questions on the Flat Chat forum. So, I went through them and it was quite amazing.Sue 01:17What was amazing?Jimmy 01:19Amazing thing was I’d planned to go through the whole year, and I got to September and already had more than enough.Sue 01:26What was the most bizarre question you've been asked?Jimmy 01:29I think one of the most bizarre and most disturbing was this guy..

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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.

With most of the worst of the pandemic behind us here in Australia – or, at least, the first and hopefully the last wave of infections – we thought we’d take a few moments in the podcast to discuss positives that have emerged from the months of lockdown and working from home.Apparently, according to a  Zoom conference that Sue sat in on (and that’s a great leap forward, right there), technology has advance by five years in the past five months, including having your apartment block’s or office’s lift knowing you are leaving before you’ve even opened your door.Quantum computing and robot-run farms are also making headway and there are even advances in electrically powered air taxis, although Jimmy reckons the biggest advance would be developing technologies to make sure they don’t crash into each other.Listen hereJimmy’s thoughts on how the pandemic has improved our lives are more prosaic – he likes having to book his gym sessions, as it means he’s less likely to talk himself out of exercising.It should be said that both of your podders admit to major technological snafus later in the podcast, both of which left them red-faced, albeit in very different ways.The podcast’s guest this week is Nadia Crighton of Pet Insurance Australia who talks about the implications of the recent revocation of “no pets” by-laws in NSW and how we can navigate this furrier and friendlier new world so that some day soon people will wonder what all the fuss was about.It’s all about respect for each other and our personal boundaries, she says, taking the time to train your dog properly and adopting basic courtesies like keeping your dog on a leash on common property and not getting into a lift with someone who doesn’t want to share it with your dog or cat.By the way, she draws the line at demanding that dogs be muzzled in lifts. "People who are scared of dogs are going to be more alarmed at the sight of one wearing a muzzle,” she says.And somewhere in there she explains why the smartest dogs aren't always the wisest choices for apartments, why low-shedding animals need just as much grooming, and why a good dog breeder will interview you, rather than the other way round.All that and more in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.Transcription in fullWith the heavy lifting done by computer and the fine-tuning done by humans, the podcast transcript is more readable than ever. Yay!Jimmy  00:00So, it seems we are gradually coming out of lockdown across Australia.Sue  00:06Fantastic!Jimmy  00:07And it got me thinking, we should try and do something positive about the effects the pandemic has had on our society and the way we live, because I'm sure there are some positives. And later on, we'll be talking to Nadia Crighton, of Australian Pet Insurance about dogs; pets in apartments and how they should be compulsory. Well, she doesn't say that. I'm Jimmy Thomson.Sue 00:33And I'm Sue Williams.Jimmy 00:36And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyWhat positives have you seen come out of the pandemic and the lockdown?Sue  00:59Well, I guess we have a better idea of the importance of community and how we really need to be connected. I think perhaps we've kind of glossed over that in other times when we've been too busy to sit and talk to people. I was talking to somebody the other day, an AI expert. I was at a conference where she was speaking, and she was fascinating. She said, “the good thing about COVID is that in the five months that we've been affected, technology has increased by five years.  So, in five months, we've had the equivalent of five years technological advance.Jimmy  01:38Why? Because everybody's stuck at home, inventing stuff?Sue  01:41That's right, and because we can't get together physically anymore, we've had to rely on new technologies like zoom to make the world keep going during this difficult time.

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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.

There are two major strands to this week’s podcast.The first stems from a question raised in the Flat Chat Forum, about an apartment owner who wants to install a stairlift – one of those seats that trundles up a staircase – in a narrow common property stairwell.It's for his elderly mother, so you have some sympathy, as you'd have for the other owners who had to squeeze past the rail every day.Listen HereNow the plusses and (many) minuses of this proposal are thrashed out in the Forum but here in the podcast, we have come up with a cunning plan.Depending on the structure of the block, owners might be able to install a small passenger lift on the outside of the building for between $100k and $150k.  Ouch, I hear you say. $150k?But get this, the value of EACH apartment that benefitted from the lift might easily go up by about the same amount.So say you had six apartments (excluding the ground floor units) who each contributed $25k – about the cost of a bathroom renovation – you could raise the value of every upstairs flat by about four times that or more ... and make your lives a lot easier.Of course it would depend on the layout of the block –  the stairwell would need to have one external wall – and by-laws and what not. But the point is, it’s do-able and the owner in the Forum story would be able to get him Mum up and down the stairs without any trouble at all.The other major part of the podcast is a chat with Karen Stiles, the Executive Officer of the Owners Corporation network.She is working with NSW Minister Victor Dominello to create a register of every strata scheme in NSW, including their major points of contact, whether it be the secretary, chair or strata manager.It's one of those ideas that's both radical and logical - probably the two main reasons why it hasn't been done before.There’s all that and more in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.The transcript, in fullJimmy  00:00This is a momentous occasion.Sue  00:02Really?Jimmy 00:03Believe it or not. This is the 100th podcast.Sue: 00.07Wow.Jimmy 00:08We have done 100 of these things.Sue  00:10That's incredible. Congratulations, Jimmy.Jimmy  00:13It means we've been doing it for almost two years.Sue 00:15Wow. It's gone quickly, hasn't it?Jimmy 00:18It has, and, and the numbers of people listening are slowly growing.Sue  00:23Fantastic. Thank you very much listeners.Jimmy  00:25Yes, thank you and to help us celebrate her 100th, pass it on to your friends. Get more people listening; that would be very cool. If you enjoy it, your friends will probably enjoy it too. This week, we have an intriguing story about somebody who wants to install a stair lift, where we suspect no stair lift should be installed. And we'll be talking to Karen Stiles, the executive officer of the Owners Corporation Network. I'm Jimmy Thomson.Sue 00:56And I'm Sue Williams.Jimmy 00:57And this is the 100th Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]So here's the scenario that was posed on the forum. Older building, narrow stairs; an apartment on the third floor. The owner, he’s put up a bylaw to give him permission to install a chairlift; a stair lift. They call it stair lift, not a chairlift. That's what you use in ski resorts. It's not quite as elaborate as that.Sue  01:37So that's up the fire escape, up the fire stairs?Jimmy  01:39No, no, no, no, it's in the commonly used general staircase thing. I don't think there are fire stairs.Sue  01:47Oh, okay. Well, there wouldn't be I suppose, would there. There’s just one, one staircase. There’s only fire stairs if you've got a lift.Jimmy  01:53So he's got a situation where there's 16 apartments, or 18, 12 in one block, and six in his block, but it's all the same strata plan. And he's worried that the 12 people in the other block won't really care about what's happening in his part..

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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.

We’ve scored a century! This week sees us post the 100th episode of the Flat Chat Wrap – and that's only counting properly produced and distributed episodes.We would have held a giant dance party to celebrate but, hey, what with Covid-19 and social distancing and all, we might limit it to a chocolate croissant with our morning coffee.Now, before we go any further with the self-congratulation, this week’s podcast, available here, is mostly about how you can turn an inaccessible old walk-up apartment block into a level-entry “gem”.And we hear from Karen Stiles of the Owners Corporation Network about plans for a new register of apartment blocks, including their main contact details. Hmmm.  All you secret, anonymous, uncontactable chairs and secretaries take note.But getting back to our 100 episodes, it’s interesting to note how much the pod has changed.  The major  developments have been the addition of Sue Williams to the regular pod crew, and the inclusion of weekly guests.Their topics have ranged from interior design to exterior paint jobs, and bathroom renovations to building defects.  We have one coming up next week on pets that animal lovers and haters alike won’t want to miss.The pod has gradually grown longer, musical “stings” have been added and the audience has expanded too. This website says that if your podcast episodes get more than 123 listens in the first month of release, you are in the top 50 percent of world podcasts – something we achieve easily.But we could always use more listeners, so please tell your friends.And we’ve made mistakes along the way.  Just last week we talked about build-to-rent apartments for the second week in a row, and watched podders drift off in alarming numbers. Message received, loud and clear.And then there was the time I was riding my bike in Centennial Park, listening to the pod just to check it was all OK, and realised I hadn’t deleted some of the re-records and extra bits from the end.The upside is I did one of my fastest circuits ever as I raced back home to recut and re-post the offending episode.Somewhere in the midst of all this we produced a podcom – a podcast sitcom – called Hyperbole Towers which, as of today has been downloaded 679 times.  Big thanks to City of Sydney for providing most of the money for that venture, and to our friend Todd McKenney for playing the uncredited Ted McKonney, just for the fun of it.If you missed it, the online player is at the end of this articleAmong other changes,  we recently started providing a transcript. Those readers who don’t listen to podcasts seem to appreciate it (which is just as well because it can be a nightmare to produce).In case you were wondering, the podcast is recorded in our back bedroom (aka my office) every Sunday afternoon, when outside traffic noise is down, using a Blue Yeti microphone, Audacity free audio editing software, Zoom online calls for interviews, a folding table with a yoga mat on it to cut down the echo, and an online transcription service called Otter.ai, supplemented by the skills of a freelance editor, for the text version.When you put it all together, it’s quite an operation, but it’s OK once you get into a rhythm and we enjoy it. Hope you do too.  Here’s to the next 100. And here, in case you missed it, is the pilot episode of Hyperbole Towers.

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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 returned to a topic we raised in the last podcast, namely build-to-rent and specifically the new Liv Indigo building at Sydney Olympic Park.They held an open day last weekend and we went down to have a look and chat to … well, anyone who was interested in talking to us.You can hear the results of that in the podcast (or read the transcript at the end) but this build-to-rent block does seem to be a game-changer, although it’s not for everyone.[Powerpress]Why not?  Well, it’s between 10 to 30 percent more expensive to rent there, for a start, although a lot of that can be offset by having no power bills, having whitegoods provided as well as saving on gym memberships and suchlike.But the most important thing is that tenants are the main game, not an afterthought.  It still amazes and bothers me that tenants are treated as second-class citizens in some strata schemes, considering they make up more than 50 per cent of apartment residents, across the board.So, however the sums add up, being treated with consideration and respect would be worth spending a few dollars more.Complaints And it removes a couple of obstacles to a happy life that exist in strata.  There is no rental agent to go through when there is a problem. Too many rental agents in Australia see their job as being to protect the landlord from being bothered by their tenants.So legitimate complaints go unanswered – often because the landlord isn’t even aware of them – while tenants constantly teeter on the edge of the dreaded six-monthly lease renewal and rent rise.Yes, I know there are bad tenants out there.  But one bad tenant makes life difficult for one property owner.  One bad rental agent can make life miserable for dozens of renters.  And, trust me, there is more than one bad rental agent.And then there’s the strata committees, or lack of them.  In build-to-rent, the developer, or a single investment entity, owns the block so it’s not strata and it doesn’t come under strata law.For anyone, owner or renter, who has felt excluded from the decision-making process in their building, there wouldn’t be much difference in moving into a renters-only environment.If your strata committee is a closed shop, and actively discourages communication in either direction – as many do –  then you wouldn’t notice living in a building where there is no committee.EngageActually, that’s not fair, because the management team at Liv Indigo – if their sales pitch is to be believed – actively engage with residents, partly so that problems can be dealt with promptly, before they become “issues”.We can only go by what we saw with our own eyes and, unless Mirvac had hired actors, people seemed to be comfortable and happy. The plusses for many renters at Liv Indigo are pretty obvious beyond the bells and whistles of gyms and mini-cinemas.Pets are allowed, you can decorate the apartments to suit your tastes, leases are for 12 months, there’s a maintenance team on-site, faulty appliances are replaced immediately and short-term lets are strictly forbidden.Meanwhile, there is no bond required and you only pay for the parking and storage that you use, which you can vary according to your needs at any given time.  For the environmentally conscious, the building has a very small carbon footprint, generating solar power and using grey water in its toilets.PremiumLiv Indigo is Australia’s first real build-to-rent scheme in terms of the overseas model where renters pay a premium for high-end facilities and services. Mirvac is planning to roll out more purpose-built schemes in Melbourne and Brisbane over the next couple of years.It’s not for everyone.  In Sue’s story for Domain, she quotes one couple for whom the rent was too high and another potential renter who didn’t want to live in a building with so many people in it.Even so, it does offer a very real choice for renters whose life..

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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.

We are looking at two very different kinds of rentals this week.  The first is build-to-rent apartments (which is definitely NOT affordable housing, regardless of what anyone else might tell you).The other is short-term holiday rentals which are routinely and often erroneously called Airbnb. That's the generic term but, in fact, we will be talking to Stayz, their biggest rivals in Australia.Listen HereBuild-to-rent is a new concept for Australia – the first in the country is having it’s inaugural “open house” this weekend – and it sees a developer build apartments specifically to let them out. None of them are sold to individual owners; they are all owned by the same entity so strata law doesn’t come into it (although residential tenancy laws definitely do).As a result of the block being run in a sole owner-manager structure, the rules can be established for everyone and if your neighbours  don’t like them or consistently break them, they can presumably be asked to leave – something that never happens to even the worst-behaved owners in strata.UpmarketIn the property in question, the Liv Indigo, the developers’ Mirvac are also the managers and they have gone for an upmarket lifestyle approach with the focus on this being your home and not just somewhere you rent.As a result, there is no bond required, you can paint the walls, hang pictures and there’s an on-site café and children’s play room, a great gym and workspace.The fact that there are long leases of at least 12 months and permission to keep pets as the default, all contribute to a living space that should appeal to those who see rental as a positive choice rather than sign of failure.And there are flats of all sizes from studios for singles and start-up couples, to three-bedders for families.  It will be interesting to see how popular these are when availability in “normal” rentals is higher than it's been for a while.Build-to-rent builds a bridge between apartment developers and the ultimate residents.  More than half the residents in Australian apartment blocks are renters, but they are caught between strata laws and the whims of individual landlords, so you can see how a structured relationship with a single entity might appeal.  Right now in Britain, build-to-rent projects are being viewed as potential saviours of inner-cities with one $400 million project in Glasgow’s West End just having been given the green light.We're heading to the open house at Olympic Park on Saturday and we'll report back. You can book a viewing time for yourself at Livmirvac.com.Holiday RentalsIf build-to-rent is one end of the spectrum, short-term holiday rentals are surely the other.  And with the government’s first instalment of it STHL code of conduct having been announced last week, we invited Eacham Curry, Director of Government and Corporate Affairs for Stayz, the holiday rental platform, to be our guest on the podcast.And in case anyone thinks we’ve gone soft on holiday rentals in apartment blocks that don’t want them, we haven’t.  But it’s interesting to talk to someone froma major player in that market that doesn’t have Airbnb’s smug mendacity and flexible approach to facts as their default position.In our chat we ask Eacham (pronounced HM, apparently) what is the main difference between Stayz and Airbnb, what effect Covid-19 has made to their business and if he thinks it will ever go back to what it was.We aks him what he likes and dislikes about the new short-term letting laws brought in, in April, and what he loves and hates about the new code of conduct announced last week.We ask about Stayz in apartments (not a lot but growing) and what are the biggest or most common mistakes owners – especially apartment owners – make when they start letting properties on Stayz?Finally, in our Hey Marthas, Sue discusses the trauma of taking cats to a pet-friendly hotel and Jimmy is worried about A..

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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 renovations all the way in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap as we chat about a Forum post asking what can be done about a disastrous and unauthorised renovation, now that the owner is planning to sell, bodgy renos included.That’s one end of the spectrum where a major and mostly illegal renovation has been allowed to continue without so much as a “by your leave” let alone a by-law.At the other end of the reno rainbow, an old chum has called up to ask about the work she wants to do in her flat where the committee has had the plans for weeks but have only now decided they need to have a general meeting to approve them.Not only that but they want another 17 days to give notice to owners while she has tradies all set with their Makitas revved up and ready to go. Do they really need a general meeting (she doesn’t need any by-laws)? And if so, how could it have been avoided?Listen hereAnd finally we talk to our own project manager for our bathroom renos, Chris Triantis of CBT Projects, and ask him all the truly searching questions like:What's the price range for an average bathroom reno?How long does an average bathroom reno take?What are the biggest challenges for the home owner (especially in apartments)?What is the deal with waterproofing and why is it so hard to get it right?Tiles, paint, plaster or glass - what's the best wall covering?Is light better than dark for wall colours?What's the appeal of Venetian plaster?Do you tell people if you think they're making a design error?When it comes to fixtures and fittings, do you get what you pay for or are you just paying for the brand name?With wall-hung WCs, why can't you just replace an old WC with a new model from the same company?Niche or no-niche?Underfloor heating?Have you ever had to go in and fix someone else's bad reno?All that and more in the Flat Chat Wrap.Transcription in full.The following transcription is a bit patchy. Our various accents almost defeated our transcription service, hence the delay ... anyway, here's a picture of them at work ... enjoy.Jimmy  00:00I got a call this afternoon from a blast from the past. Remember Louise who used to do Urban Cinefile.Sue  00:08Oh , I certainly do.Jimmy  00:09So guess what? She's doing a renovation.Sue  00:12Oh, good luck to her.Jimmy  00:16And we're going to be talking about renovations this this week. But I thought it was ironic. She's in a situation where she put through all her plans weeks ago. But then there's been a change of membership and the committee and there's been a new strata manager come in. And they've just told her I think that work is supposed to start this week. And I've just told her now we need to have 17 days notice for a general meeting to approve,Sue Oh, no. And Strictly speaking, they don't need a general meeting, but they're going by the absolute letter of the law because their strata scheme, their Owners Corporation has never done the thing that most owners corporations do at their AGM, which is to say, the committee can take decisions on behalf of the general meeting.Sue Wow.JimmyThey can't do bylaws or special resolutions or anything else. They say most buildings like ours and 95% of the buildings in NSW. They say the committee can make decisions on behalf of a general meeting. They’ve never done that formally. And so they're saying they have to have a general meeting even though the law doesn't require by-lawsSue  01:27Well,   because that that little thing is on most AGM notices I’ve seen, you kind of think I never really take any notice of it. But it shows how crucial it is.Jimmy  01:38Well, it can be if somebody gets a bit nitpicky anyway, later on, we'll be talking to somebody whose business it is to do renovations in apartments and in houses. That's ChrisTtiantis. I'm Jimmy Thomson.Sue And I'm Sue Williams.Jimmy

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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.

People who don't care about pets in apartments shouldn't switch off just yet, regardless of how bored you are with the whole issue.It has implications for everyone in apartments, whether you have pets or not, as you may discover when your upstairs neighbour starts stomping around on their new, cheap timber floor. Letting ourselves off the leash this week, we also explore why Sydney's rents are going down a lot in some areas but up even more in others.Listen HereAnd we look at the fuel of the future and ask why we aren't pumping money itnto its development right now.But first we ask strata lawyer David Sachs of Sachs Gerace Lawyers, what are the far-reaching consequences of the Appeals Court decision last week in the case between Jo Cooper and the Owners Corporation of the Horizon building in Sydney - that have nothing to do with pets.Basically speaking, the NSW Court of Appeal ruled that Owners Corporations can't pass by-laws about what an owner does or has in their apartment if it doesn't impact on other owners' right to peaceful enjoyment of their lot.More to the point, there are remedies in strata law to pull owners into line if they get it wrong so pre-emptive by-laws that assume the worst are considered "harsh, discriminatory and unconscionable" and therefore invalid. What does that mean for other by-laws? We ask David the following questions in our podcast chat this week:Does the Court of Appeal ruling mean all no-pet bylaws are now defunct?Can buildings still impose restrictions on the type and size of pets?Can they ban pets from common property?Can they require owners to carry pets across common property?What implications does the ruling have for other by-laws?Will we expect more issues to be taken to NCAT e.g. when pets turn out to be a nuisance?Is NCAT up to handling an increased load of (predictably) emotional and contentious cases.Will the definition of "nuisance" need to be redefined in the current review of strata law.David's answers are authoritative and enlightening and he also takes time to support the people we routinely lambast in these pages - the NCAT Members who sit in judgement on our trails and tribulations.After that, Sue gives us a roundup of the areas of Sydney that are winning and losing on the rental roller-coaster ... and why.And Jimmy is talking trains that produce steam but run on an altogether cleaner fuel than coal. The Podcast transcribedJimmy and Sue's dulcet tones transcribed for those who can't or prefer not to listen. They are joined by strata lawyer David Sachs.Be warned: This was transcribed by a soul-less American computer and edited by a grumpy Scot. But it still makes more sense than a Donald Trump diatribe.Jimmy  00:00Got a post on the Flat Chat Forum this week from Jo Cooper ... name ring a bell?Sue  00:09The owner of Angus, the now-legal dog in the Horizon building, and it's a Schnauzer.Jimmy  00:14Yep, and basically, she was writing to tell me that I'm wrong. Because I said that there should be apartment blocks that people can go to. Even though I'm pro-pet, I believe that there should be apartment blocks that people can go and live in, who really don't want to live in the same building as pets.She said you can't have that. Because buildings have to allow support animals like guide dogs. And the law says you can't forbid them. So all it takes is one person to bring in a support animal and that whole argument about people's health and allergies and things goes out the window.Anyway, so it's been pets, pets, pets all week ever since that ruling at the Appeals Court. So this week, we have a special guest, David Sachs from Sachs Gerace Lawyers, who has a pretty interesting take on what that appeal court decision means not just about pets, but about by-laws in general.I'm Jimmy Thomson.SueAnd I'm Sue Williams …JimmyAnd this is the 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.

The big strata news of this week stopped us in our tracks. The NSW Court of Appeals has overturned a decision by the strata tribunal (NCAT) which, earlier this year, ruled that strata schemes could create "no pets" by-laws.Just to be clear, NCAT last year twice ruled that no-pet by-laws were illegal, then the NCAT Appeals Board overturned those decisions, then the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, overturned the Appeals Board decision. So now, in short, NSW strata schemes can't ban pets.The podcast was all set, edited and ready to go when the news came in so we plugged the mike back in, cranked up the recording software and had a chat about what this means to pets and by-laws in general in NSW and elswhere in Australia.You can also read an extensive commentary and find a link to the full news story HERE.After that, we go back to our original podcast which is on totally different subjects - websites and web designers. This chat was partly inspired by revamps of two websites that are very close to us - the OCN's new look and Sue's own website.We chat to Owners Corporation Network's Executive Officer Karen Stiles about what they were hoping to achieve in the revamp of OCN's website - accessibility, authority and clarity seem to be major factors.And then Sue tells us about her new book Healing Lives which was the impetus for giving her own website a major do-over - click on the link and see for yourself.All this plus James Comey, Donald Trump and JimmyT's obsession with bathroom sinks in this week's podcast.Listen HereListening is by far the best way to enjoy the pod, but if you aren’t a podder, or are hearing impaired, you can read the transcript of this episode a little further down this page.However, be warned, it was transcribed by a computer in America – “by-laws" become "BIOS" – then edited by an an over-caffeinated Celt.We caught most of what was lost in translation, but this is an informal chat – with tangent, upon aside, upon lateral thought – that makes a Donald Trump speech read like Shakespeare. But it's fun. Enjoy!Flat Chat 95: TranscribedJimmy  00:00We were just about to lock off this podcast and put it to bed for the week, when an amazing piece of news came in, what was it, Sue?Sue  00:10Well, the long running battle over pets and apartments, it had gone through NCAT a couple of times in New South Wales, and then it had gone to the New South Wales Court of Appeal. And everybody expected that the Court of Appeal would say that it's okay for buildings to ban pets if they want to ban pets with their by-laws. But an extraordinary ruling on Monday, the court ruled that a blanket ban on pets is unconscionable, oppressive and harsh. And therefore no building should be allowed to have a blanket ban on petsJimmy  00:43So does that mean that it's any apartment block anywhere in Australia you can now take your pet in?Sue  00:51In New South Wales, New South Wales everywhere you can take a pet in, which is quite incredible has turned everything on its head. And it really has I mean, lots of people are pretty upset. Lots of people are really happy. And as the dust settles, we'll see what's going to happen in the future.But really, now there's only one level of appeal left, and that's to the High Court of Australia, in Canberra.JimmyAnd that would be really expensive to lodge an appeal to them.SueAbsolutely. So one would kind of imagine that is possible. This final ruling is it, at least for the time being because as we're talking on this podcast about the strata review that's happening, the strata law, it could well be that people will now lobby the New South Wales parliament to introduce new legislation to allow bylaws to ban pets. And that's always a possibility as well, whether Parliament want to get involved. So you'd have to be a specific law saying the rules for pets are different.

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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 bit of a Budget special on Flat Chat this week, if only because we are talking about money.Specifically we are discussing the personal taxes that you probably didn’t even know you are supposed to pay when your strata scheme starts making a profit.  And we'll discuss where to get dough when your strata schemes needs a lot of it in a hurry.To which end, we have a chat with Paul Morton, CEO of our long-time sponsors Lannock Finance. Along the way we’ll touch on why the Australian Tax Office would rather treat you as an individual than a member of a corporationhow it can cost more in real terms to pay cash up front rather than get a loanwhy footballers aren't working as hard as they once didwhat happens when the instructor knows your name in the gym and how potential purchasers are viewing properties in these viral days.You can hear all that by clicking on the play button below.  Listening is by far the best way to enjoy the pod, but if you aren’t a podder, you can read the transcript of this episode a little further down this page.However, be warned, it was transcribed by a computer in America – “strata loan” becomes “straddle on” – then edited by an irritable Scot .We caught most of what was lost in translation, but grammar is one of the first things to go in informal chats, quickly followed by logical progression.  Even so, somehow it  all comes together. Enjoy!Transcribed: Flat Chat 94 Money, Money MoneyJimmy  00:00This week we're talking about moneySue  00:02Good subject.Jimmy  00:04Well, talking about it doesn't mean we have it. That's wishful thinking.  Specifically it’s mainly about tax and a column I wrote for the Fin Review this weekend, which I think is going to cause a bit of a stir.SueOh, how unusual that you're being controversial.  JimmyNo, I just can't help myself. People say I’m a troublemaker. I like to think of myself as a problem solver.Sue  00:31Or disrupter, I suppose suddenly becomes more respectable.JimmyBut you know, a problem solver,  to the person who is the problem, is a troublemaker. It's all relative.And we will be talking to Paul Morton of Lannock Finance, about some of the ins and outs of borrowing money, because we had those stories about the building that borrowed money to do the upgrade.I'm Jimmy Thomson.SueI'm Sue WilliamsJimmyAnd this is the Flat Chat Wrap.Donald the DodgerJimmy  01:15It's very hard to make tax interesting. I've discovered.Sue  01:19It is, unless it's a tax rebate,Jimmy  01:22Or unless you're telling people they are about to get taxed for something you didn't even know you were liable forSue  01:30Tax is actually a bit more sexy at the moment, isn't it? Because I think we've all been fascinated by the stories about Donald Trump only paying $750 in tax. Suddenly, tax seems so much more interesting than it did before.Jimmy  01:44But he is a is an icon of the new morality that exists. You know, when we were growing up, basically, there was good and bad. And there were things that you were supposed to do. And, and you did mostly, and over the years that has evolved into what can I get away with?He's spoken about getting away with tax and not having to serve in the army. We should call him Donald the Dodger. Because he's a draft Dodger, and he's a tax Dodger. And now he's could be a Covid Dodger. That remains to be seen.  But he’s a mask Dodger.Tax FactorSue  02:31Jimmy, that's not what we're talking about. In the old days, we always said the two things you can't get away with are death and taxes. Yeah, but you can actually get away with taxes. Yes. And possibly you can get away with death sometimes.Jimmy  02:44Well, you might delay it.Sue  02:46Okay.Jimmy  02:48Unless the people that you owe money to decide that they don't want you to get away with it.

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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.