FLAT CHAT WRAP

This week’s Flat Chat Wrap covers a lot of ground. including a prison cell in in a studio flat – seriously! – in the same small town in England where our very own Sue  Williams cut her journalist teeth.

We take a long, hard and highly suspicious look at how real estate pictures are altered to make us think we’re getting something that just isn’t there.  You'll find a link to the video HERE.

We get a preview of Jimmy’s “Lawyer in the Hot Seat” chat with strata lawyer David Bannerman – including whether or not strata managers have to let you see other owners’ email addresses and how the Design and Building Practitioners Act is making renovations a lot more expensive.

We hear about a strata manager who revealed that dubious insurance practices are more widespread than we thought – but then took a pop at Jimmy for writing “clickbait” articles.

And Jimmy wonders if he’s been blacklisted by the Strata Community Association … or is it the other way round? 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 feels like the dust has settled  a little too quickly on the Netsrata Scandal, as exposed by ABC TV.  There has been no public statement on it from the state government or their professional body, Strata Community Australia (NSW).
But strata managers are hurting, as even the most cursory skim of LinkedIn posts will attest.  The good operators know they are being tarred with the same brushes that have seen the SCA-NSW President resign - and it doesn't feel fair or good.
You could argue that they only have themselves to blame. Did they know what the bad actors in their industry were doing? And if they did, why didn't they ring that alarm bells?  
Well, we know the answer to that.  Whistleblowers soon find themselves out in the cold and out of work in this country.
That said, it was a senior strata manager who first brough the dodgy dealings of embedded networks to our attention. And an ex-employee of Netstrata contributed to the report that blew the lid off those shenanigans.
With all that in mind, we set out in this week's podcast to find a way forward for the strata management industry - some simple fixes that would restore some pride and confidence in the profession.
However, as we discovered, once you open any can of worms, there's a lot of wriggling going on.

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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.

Are we building the wrong kind of apartments for families? There’s a very interesting report in the Sydney Morning Herald about a survey that suggests that the cookie-cutter apartment designs we see all around us may be fine for singles and couples but are all the wrong shapes and sizes for families with growing kids.

How can this be?  For a start, a two-bed units – three-bedders are well outside the price range for most young families –  are configured with a main bedroom, maybe with an ensuite (if you’re lucky) and a smaller room as the guest bedroom.

OK, Mum and Dad can give up the big room if they have two kids and let them share it (as they do in the SMH story) but surely it would make sense to have three smaller rooms and call it a family unit, or have more flexible internal configurations.  More on that in the podcast.

We discuss the suggestion that we should be building more apartments over railway stations and rail lines.

We hear about Sue’s new book Run For Your Life, the true story about a family fleeing Russian oligarchs by hiding for three years in the Dampier Peninsula in the remote north of WA.  What’s the connection with Flat Chat (apart from Sue)? Dad was structural engineer who was an expert in steel and glass (okay, a bit tentative). 

If you are interested, the book’s first launch in Sydney (there are others in Perth, New Zealand and London) is on Wednesday April 17 from 7pm-8pm at the Mosman Library. Sorry, apparently you have to book in advance, ie asap, and pay for it too ($11 or concessions $9). Click HERE for more details to book. 

The second Sydney launch is on Thursday May 2 from 2pm-3.30pm at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. This event is free but you also have to book asap in advance. Click HERE for details.

And finally our Great Escape this week follows Jimmy to Saigon, Vietnam, where he was “doing the Graham Greene thing” and finishing his new novel.

All that and more 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.

It's interesting listening to the podcom Hyperbole Towers - the podcast comedy we recorded almost four years ago - to hear how much has changed.
There's a reference in there to pets not being allowed - that's gone.  And the whole episode centres around a by-law permitting owners to meet online.  That's now part of the fabric of strata law. 
But some of the issues are timeless, not least how strata committees bring together hugely diverse people who under other circumstances might cross the street to avoid each other.
Add in characters who work from home in their underwear, use “you’re breaking up” as their get-out-of-jail card and get involved in the usual committee power struggles, and you have a potent recipe for some serious fun.

The Hyperbole Towers characters are:

·         Charlie, the long-suffering chair;  

·         Alfie the manipulative and scheming building manager; 

·         Brooke the hopeless secretary; 

·         Steve, the committee treasurer who sees everything in terms of money; 

·         Wendy a do-gooder who is also a nasty gossip and a racist; 

·         Joe a class warrior retiree for whom nothing is Left-wing enough (until it affects his hip pocket);

·         Damien a manic day trader for whom the committee is his only social contact

·         Amber a "massage therapist" who says it as she sees it

There is also a cameo guest appearance by star of stage and screen Todd McKenney, adding some pizzazz to the proceedings.

The Story centres around the Hyperbole Towers committee in online crisis meetings to discuss the potential conversion of their former meeting room turned commercial space into a day spa … or is it a massage parlour?

Meanwhile, constant thumping sounds,  are driving everyone mad, especially since building manager Alfie seems very reluctant to do anything about it.

In its style and format, this is like a classic radio sitcom with some very modern themes.  But it’s a work of fiction and any similarity to anyone living or deceased is purely coincidental.

I you enjoyed it, please share it with your friends and fellow strata dwellers and professionals through this link, and encourage them to do the same.

Credits: Hyperbole Towers featured Tsu Shan Chambers,  Valentino Arico, Amelia Conway, Eveline Schubert, Michelle Rouady, Robin Queree, Matias Klaver and David MacPhail. 

It was narrated and directed by Warren Coleman.The podcom was written and produced by Jimmy Thomson and Warren Coleman. Audio editing and effects were by Sydney Sound Brewery under the watchful ear of John Hresc. Phoebe Armstrong was production assistant.

Hyperbole Towers is a Flat Chat Production, copyright (2024) Words Worth Pty Ltd. It could not have been made without the financial assistance of City of Sydney Council.

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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 you’d expect, a lot of this week’s podcast is taken up with the resignation of the SCA-NSW President and Netstrata boss Stephen Brell, as well as the ABC News story and its follow-up that exposed his company’s business practices..

We’re taking the stance that Netstrata is not the only strata management company engaging in dubious (though not illegal) practices and allegedly concealing what were effectively strata insurance commissions is not the only breach of trust between many strata management companies and their customers – strata owners.

In short (and at greater length in an accompanying article – coming soon) we highlight all the areas in which the strata management culture in NSW is failing both strata owners and the strata managers who simply want to make an honest buck.

But first off, and at no cost to its members, SCA-NSW needs to disband its owners’ section and stop saying they represent owners. That’s like banks saying they represent account holders, car sales people saying they represent motorists or Uber drivers saying they represent Friday night drunks.
And listeners might want to click on one of the links to the ABC stories (above) and scroll down to the section calling for your stories about strata managers.

Also in the Wrap this week we discuss the new Pattern Book about to be released for comment by the NSW state architect, in an effort to show that apartment blocks don’t have to be huge and ugly.

And our Great Escape takes us to India with a couple of Masterchef judges. That’s all on the menu for 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.

The Flat Chat Wrap comes to you from a whole other country – or at least half of it does – with Jimmy in Saigon trying to finish his fourth novel (writing, not reading).

While there he has discovered that there are very similar problems with overseas investors as we have here in Australia.

Continuing the travel theme, Jimmy and Sue discuss the proposed changes to Airbnb laws intended to correct the “light touch” legislation currently in place.

And we can’t mention travel without referring to Mild Rover which this week has pictures to back up Jimmy’s jaunt with Bafta-winning writer Kieran Prendiville, as well as a liverish look at the best and worst in-flight food services.

And finally there’s a touching story by Sue about how an artistic tribute to her late Mum became part of the healing process.

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 myriad reasons why apartment rents are getting closer to and even, in a couple of areas, have overtaken the rents demanded for houses.
Is it because the immigration tap has been turned back on for people from countries where they aren't horrified by the prospect of living in apartments/
Is it because more, especially younger Aussies (wherever they originated) are seeing the benefits or apartment living outweighing the drawbacks.
Or is it just that landlords have decided its time to stop discounting units just because of a fear of flatophobia?
Also we take a look at the perils and potential benefits of asking for the compulsory appointments of strata managers and ask if there's any chance that NSW Fair Trading and the Attorney-General's office (which looks after the Tribunal) could start talking to each other about strata.
Honestly, guys and gals, we can set it up for you.  We'll even buy the tea and bikkies.
And finally, Jimmy and Sue recall the journey from Hell that almost ended their marriage before it had even started. 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.

In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast we look at a report that building commissioner David Chandler has issued a stop-work order at a Wollongong construction site after structural defects were discovered in a 149-unit apartment block.

According to a story in on the ABC news site, Mr Chandler said the prohibition order followed the detection of a number of issues in the Crownview building in the last few years with $37m already spent on remediation but new problems with critical cable tensioning were discovered during remediation work.

As a result, he announced that he was pushing to have regional offices across the state because standards are so lax outside of Sydney – and we have a take on that too.

We glance in the direction of government moves to nudge baby strata managers to get themselves qualified and gain expertise in a bit more than gouging Schedule B fees from unsuspecting apartment owners.

And we look at news that already has the trendoids of Sydney’s inner-west suburbs in a tizz; the NSW government wants councils in these areas close to the city centre to stop blocking low-to-medium rise apartment blocks.

Add that to the Greens’ demand that the Federal Government should build 360,000 homes to be available for low-cost rents and purchases and all those former workers cottages in streets with no parking will be swallowed up … or probably not.

We look at what you really want in the shops in your block and a slight change of direction for Great Escapes.

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.

In this week’s pod we look at “placemaking” which seems to be designing communities just to make them nicer places to live.

By nicer, of course, we mean places that don’t stress you out in the walk to and from the station every day. More trees and open spaces are a start, but then open spaces are exactly where developers want to put buildings. And trees generally get in the way of that.

We look at the NSW government’s plans to bring more high and medium rises to where there are shops (rather than the other way round).  

And we ask what shops we would like in our block - by way of introducing this week’s poll which asks readers what they would like to see in their building.

All that and more in the pod, this week.

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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 lifted a post from the Flat Chat Forum this week to illustrate two issues – one basic common sense, the other highly contentious.

The post explains how a strata manager managed to legitimately charge $17,000 for sending out five emails.  

Obviously, our advice would be to read the small print in your strata management contract with a focus on what the worst-case scenario might be.

The other is the issue of whether the strata committee should have every owner’s email address – something way too many strata managers are not prepared to allow, regardless of what the law says.

And this is a case in point. Had the strata committee sent these five emails out themselves, it would have cost them nothing apart from the time it took to click on “forward”, “group” and “send.”

But you have to have the email addresses first.  You can read the detail on how five emails cost $17,000 HERE.

Also in the pod, we look at the measure spreading across Australia to curb Airbnb and other short-term holiday lets to get homes back into the residential rental market.

We examine, the improved but still “least-worst” deal that will probably be accepted by enough Mascot Towers owners to make it happen.

And there’s a terrific 70 per cent off deal for a posh hotel near marvellous Maloolaba.

That’s all in this week’s packed podcast.

____________________________________________________


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.