The podcast this week is almost entirely taken up with the new laws that passed the other day in the NSW parliament. 

We won’t see most of them kick in until later in the year, but the effects could be immediate.

Dodgy contracts that could see off-the-plan sales rescinded might be being rewritten as we speak.

Building managers and strata committee chairs might well be asking what they have to change to fulfil requirements to act in the best interests of strata schemes.

Developers’ low-ball estimates of levies for new blocks might be getting pumped up a little if a $55k fine could be imposed for deliberately underquoting.

But the one unanswered question – in the podcast, at least – is what form the Strata Taskforce is going to take and how it will operate.

Such are the vagaries of online publishing that we answered that question in this story, after we had switched off the mikes. But we can have a chat about that next week.

And finally, we welcome our new sponsors Strata Community Insurance to the Flat Chat fold. Insurance is all about risk, but we reckon SCInsurance is a safe bet.

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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 week’s podcast we wonder whether the announcement of fines for strata managers who don’t reveal the various deals and relationships they have with developers and service providers signals a sea change in how NSW Fair Trading regards strata professionals who play fast and loose with the facts.

Quite clearly, this is a response to the revelations last year about how Netstrata allegedly hid insurance commissions from its clients. But is it enough?

Netstrata is not the biggest strata management company involved in this, nor, in all likelihood, will it be the worst offender. Will we ever find out? Manwhile, strata schemes should not be mistaken in thinking it’s your strata manager – the one who turns up at your AGM who will be fined.

This is about the companies, large and small, whose culture has evolved from support and service to profits at all costs. Your strata manager is only doing what their job description dictates.

Also in the pod, we look at a new drive to build homes specifically for essential service providers like nurses, cops and firies.

We discuss the likely impact of the new releases of designs from the NSW pattern book for low-density apartment blocks.

And we mull over what should be done about a spare chunk of common property that has been annexed by an enterprising owner.

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.

In this week’s podcast we ask why it is that, while the so-called Arrow decision has established that pre-sale strata contracts are invalid, some developers can get away with signing them.

As raised by our friend Francesco Andreone at GoStrata, what needs to be done to the laws to stop this pernicious exploitation of strata owners’ lack of knowledge and experience?  

And why do we apartment owners have to risk our money in taking developers  to court to re-litigate these cases every time they turn up.

On a lighter note, we ask how over-50s would cope with having to share homes again.  Sure it would help with loneliness and isolation, as well as being financially prudent.  But what would other Boomers' behaviour do that drove you mad?

And finally, Flat Chat has a new media outlet and a whole new readership (we hope) who have missed out on our 20 years of fighting the good fight for strata owners and residents.

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.

It seems strata may have a new pantomime villain (like we need one).  This week we look at multi-millionaire developer of fancy pants apartment blocks Tim Gurner.

He once shocked an economic conference by saying the country needs 40-50 per cent unemployment.

If that wasn’t bad enough it’s alleged he was the first public figure to draw parallels between young people eating smashed avocado and not being able to afford to buy a home.

Now this Melbourne developer of luxury apartments, and some of his customers, are in conflict as defects start to surface in his uber-fancy St Moritz block in the Victorian capital.

It’s not so much how the mighty have fallen (because he hasn’t) as how the prices have fallen, and in a rising market.

But before that, we look at the new regulations for strata managers that come in nest week (Feb3) and wonder how much difference they will really make.

And finally, Jimmy comes up with his radical plan to build more affordable apartments, saying that affordable luxury is impossible but liveable affordability may be the way forward

If you can tolerate a bit of noise from your neighbours, and one lift instead of two, surely apartment blocks could be built more cheaply without the risk of them falling down. 

That’s all in 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.

With half of Australia still in holiday or hangover mode, and half of Sydney stuck on a railway platform somewhere, this is a short and (we hope) sweet Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week.

First, we look at a new trend in affordable and comfortable co-living, which already exists in two completed blocks in Sydney, with another one on the way.

Then there’s the revelation that the price gap between houses and apartment narrowing dramatically, as houses get a bit cheaper and apartments get dearer.

And finally there’s news of a new and possibly trend-setting addition to a planned apartment block which will doubtless get tongues and tails wagging with its direct appeal to dog owners.

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.

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 “State Significant Developments”, especially in areas ripe for development but where Nimbys rule the roost. We shall see.

However, one of the more remarkable achievements around this is that the government has managed to announce this without even mentioning one significant and controversial word.

Also we hear about the apartment residents who turned their harbour view flat into a huge, expensive New Years Eve event venue … only it wasn’t their flat. 

And we point the fingers at the Sydney residents who have taken Nimbyism to a new low – kicking locals who are already down and permanently out.

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.

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. 

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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.