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New Post: Best and only way to contact the Strata Taskforce Readers are contacting us all the time, asking what they can...
12/04/2025

New Post: Best and only way to contact the Strata Taskforce Readers are contacting us all the time, asking what they can do about strata conflicts and, specifically, how they can get in touch with the NSW Strata Taskforce. A couple of weeks ago, in our Forum, we ran a Fair Trading email address that was supposed to give you direct contact with their department devoted to gathering evidence against bad strata actors with a view https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78980

New Post: Forum: When a sticky-beak is a spying mission We are only human. When there’s apartment for sale in your buil...
12/04/2025

New Post: Forum: When a sticky-beak is a spying mission We are only human. When there’s apartment for sale in your building and they have an open viewing, who can’t resist the temptation to see what your soon-to-be-former neighbours have done with a space that’s similar to yours. Of course, this can have more serious connotations than an admiring sticky-beak. It’s an opportunity for a concerned committee member to find out what all the banging https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78966

New Post: Strata managers slam $2.3bn solar energy snub Strata managers are concerned and angry about a Labor Party deci...
11/04/2025

New Post: Strata managers slam $2.3bn solar energy snub Strata managers are concerned and angry about a Labor Party decision to exclude apartment blocks from its proposed $2.3 billion plan to offer 30 per cent discounts on solar (https://www.flatchat.com.au/tag/solar/)-powered electrical batteries. Strata Community Association (SCA) (https://www.strata.community/), the strata managers’ peak body, says it is deeply concerned that the federal government’s energy pledge will not include the five million Australians living in strata-titled properties. Announced https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78927

New Post: Podcast: Defective thinking on three fronts There’s a lot going on in the strata sphere this week, starting wi...
11/04/2025

New Post: Podcast: Defective thinking on three fronts There’s a lot going on in the strata sphere this week, starting with the Sydney Morning Herald’s big expose (https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-building-commissioner-doesn-t-think-sydney-has-defects-crisis-tell-that-to-amanda-20250404-p5lp9a.html)on building defects. It’s well worth reading but it’s funny how every time a new reporter writes about this stuff, it’s treated as if it’s just been discovered. Speaking as people who have been on this beat for two decades, we are just glad that the issues https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78944

New Post: Strata managers slam $2.3bn solar energy snub Strata managers say they are concerned about a Labor Party decis...
10/04/2025

New Post: Strata managers slam $2.3bn solar energy snub Strata managers say they are concerned about a Labor Party decision to exclude apartment blocks from its proposed $2.3 billion plan to offer 30 per cent discounts on solar (https://www.flatchat.com.au/tag/solar/)-powered electrical batteries. Strata Community Association (SCA) (https://www.strata.community/), the strata managers’ peak body, says it is deeply concerned that the federal government’s energy pledge will not include the five million Australians living in strata-titled properties. Announced https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78927

New Post: Stay strong on insurance commission ban – OCN Apartment owner and insurance customer advocates are urging the ...
10/04/2025

New Post: Stay strong on insurance commission ban – OCN Apartment owner and insurance customer advocates are urging the NSW government not to cave in to industry pressure over its proposed ban on strata insurance commissions (https://www.flatchat.com.au/tag/commission/), warning that backtracking now would reward years of unethical behaviour and undermine trust in a sector already under scrutiny. The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) (https://ocn.org.au/), representing apartment owners, and the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby (ACIL) (https://www.acilobby.org.au/) issued a https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78916

New Post: Forum: One-man-band squeezes minority to sell There’s a disturbing story on the Forum this week. One owner in...
04/04/2025

New Post: Forum: One-man-band squeezes minority to sell There’s a disturbing story on the Forum this week. One owner in a small block has been gradually buying up apartments until he has a majority of unit entitlements in the block. He then holds an AGM at which he elects himself – and only himself – to the committee. He then proceeds to neglect the building to the point where it is seriously deteriorating. https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78874

New Post: Strata shock! Why your levies are way too high “Why are my levies so high?’ It’s one of the most common cries ...
04/04/2025

New Post: Strata shock! Why your levies are way too high “Why are my levies so high?’ It’s one of the most common cries in strata. “Where does all the money go? Strata managers are being paid a fortune and we are being ripped off!” There’s nothing new in complaints about levies payments being unfair, unjustified or excessive. But in these days of cost-of-living stress, the complaints are louder and probably more justified. So what do https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78868

New Post: Podcast: Block voting and election home truths We’d love to ignore the election but we can’t, so this week we ...
03/04/2025

New Post: Podcast: Block voting and election home truths We’d love to ignore the election but we can’t, so this week we look at what our nation’s political parties are offering apartment owners as we hurtle towards polling day. Everybody agrees we need more housing – and that means more apartments – but the policies differ, including one that an economist has dubbed “the worst economic policy of the 21st century.” And we look https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78857

New Post: Strata managers demand more defect protections Australia’s Strata managers have called for reform of apartment...
03/04/2025

New Post: Strata managers demand more defect protections Australia’s Strata managers have called for reform of apartment block defects’ rectification laws nationally, saying that unit owners are paying too high a price for fragmented and inadequate regulations. Strata Community Association, the peak body for strata managers nationally – although with highly variable levels of engagement and professionalism in different states – says the country’s strata sector is under growing pressure as building defects https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78859

New Post: What NOT to do about a m**h lab in your block This post was inspired by a friend who said he’d been living hap...
31/03/2025

New Post: What NOT to do about a m**h lab in your block This post was inspired by a friend who said he’d been living happily in this flat in central Sydney for years and whose neighbour is, or was, a nice older man who kept himself to himself but always had a friendly smile if you met in the lift. However, for the past few months he has been hanging out with younger guys who seem to https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78839

New Post: Forum: Irrestible attraction of a local fly tip There used to be a strange concrete construction near us – it ...
28/03/2025

New Post: Forum: Irrestible attraction of a local fly tip There used to be a strange concrete construction near us – it looked like a randomly located, oversized former men’s urinal – on a slightly recessed wall on the corner of a back lane, but out on the main street. For years it seemed to attract all the area’s broken microwaves, collapsed book cases, cracked TV screens and discarded mattresses. Why there, of all places? https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78798

New Post: Forum: The irrestible attraction of a local fly tip There used to be a strange concrete construction near us –...
28/03/2025

New Post: Forum: The irrestible attraction of a local fly tip There used to be a strange concrete construction near us – it looked like a randomly located, oversized former men’s urinal – on a slightly recessed wall on the corner of a back lane, but out on the main street. For years it seemed to attract all the area’s broken microwaves, collapsed book cases, cracked TV screens and discarded mattresses. Why there, of all places? https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78798

New Post: Podcast: Pets unleashed, flat finding for a friend We are getting into two of the topics that cause most angst...
27/03/2025

New Post: Podcast: Pets unleashed, flat finding for a friend We are getting into two of the topics that cause most angst in apartment living, this week: pets and buying property. Firstly, we take a spin around the question of landlords in NSW no longer being able to ban renters’ pets for no good reason – and how that will affect the more than 50 per cent of apartment residents who are tenants. This is https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78778

New Post: $50k victory for renters in background checks rort Renters in New South Wales are receiving refunds after an i...
27/03/2025

New Post: $50k victory for renters in background checks rort Renters in New South Wales are receiving refunds after an investigation into improper charges for rental background checks (https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/nsw-governments-rental-taskforce-intervention-results-almost-50000-refunds-for-renters) has resulted in almost $50,000 being returned. The investigation, conducted by NSW Fair Trading (https://www.flatchat.com.au/tag/nsw-fair-trading/), found that an online rental application platform had erroneously charged over 2,300 applicants a fee of $19.95 for background checks, despite a law prohibiting such charges. These refunds highlight the importance https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78748

New Post: $50k refund for renters in background checks scandal Renters in New South Wales are receiving refunds after an...
26/03/2025

New Post: $50k refund for renters in background checks scandal Renters in New South Wales are receiving refunds after an investigation into improper charges for rental background checks (https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/nsw-governments-rental-taskforce-intervention-results-almost-50000-refunds-for-renters) has resulted in almost $50,000 being returned. The investigation, conducted by NSW Fair Trading (https://www.flatchat.com.au/tag/nsw-fair-trading/), found that an online rental application platform had erroneously charged over 2,300 applicants a fee of $19.95 for background checks, despite a law prohibiting such charges. These refunds highlight the importance https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78748

New Post: Forum: $90k bonus for wrangling block sale There’s an eye-catching example of lucrative self-congratulation re...
22/03/2025

New Post: Forum: $90k bonus for wrangling block sale There’s an eye-catching example of lucrative self-congratulation revealed in the Forum this week. It involves the secretary and chair of an Eastern suburbs apartment block convincing their neighbours to award them in excess of $90,000 each for wrangling the collective sale of their apartment block to developers. On the face of it, the honoraria seem perfectly legal (if morally iffy). There’s an item on the https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78665

New Post: Qld laws and lack of regs stifling strata – Bos Queensland’s outdated strata laws, poor professional standards...
21/03/2025

New Post: Qld laws and lack of regs stifling strata – Bos Queensland’s outdated strata laws, poor professional standards among strata managers, rocketing insurance charges and lack of property rights for apartment owners are all holding back a viable solution to the state’s housing crisis, says one leading light in the industry. And Strata Community Association (Qld) General Manager Laura Bos says the organisation’s StrataWeek, next week, is a pivotal opportunity to showcase strata’s potential while calling https://www.flatchat.com.au/?p=78657

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