There’s another very mixed bag this week but it’s mostly good news in these trying times.Up in Queensland, the tribunal there is chipping away at restrictive pet by-laws in a building called Trafalgar Towers where one resident was forced to carry her blind dog up 12 storeys to their home.The Body Corporate has now been told in no uncertain terms that the by-law is invalid and to get it off their books.As this story details, this is the same building that not only tried to ban other people’s pets when their caretaker had his own dog in the building, but then tried to force owners to transport their pets across common property in cages.Later in the podcast, we also discuss whether you would ever buy an apartment in Queensland, as part of a much broader chat about a report on rentvesting.As described in detail in this story, the co-authors of a forthcoming book called The Female Investor, have set out to show women how they can secure their financial futures through the ownership of property.And as a side issue, they have identified areas where property prices are relatively low but demand for rental accommodation is high.That makes these areas strong candidates for potential rent-vesting, where you rent a home in an area where you want to live, but invest in an area where you can afford to buy, let the property and take advantage of all the taxation and other benefits that follow.Finally, we discuss how to find a good strata manager – and avoid a bad one. That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00It's all happening up in Queensland.Sue 00:01Yes?Jimmy 00:03It's kind of like they've woken up, up there, to stuff that's happening in strata and they've started going "hang on; we can't keep doing this stuff." The latest thing is a place called Trafalgar Towers, which has been taken by owners for the second time, I think, in five years, in issues over pets.Sue 00:24Oh yes, this is the building that wouldn't allow pets to go into the lift, isn't it?Jimmy 00:28Yes, so we'll talk about that in a minute. We're going to talk about rent-vestmint...Sue 00:33Rentvesting.Jimmy 00:35Rentvesting, and that's where you rent a place you want to live in; buy the place that you can afford and rent that out to other people.Sue 00:43That's right.Jimmy 00:44So it's one way of getting into the property market and, we've had a letter asking how do you choose a good strata manager, so we'll be talking about that, too. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 01:00And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain and the Sydney Morning Herald and the AFR.Jimmy 01:05And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyTrafalgar Towers in Maroochydore has been in the news, again. They have a bylaw about pets and the bylaw says that you cannot take your pets in the lift.Sue 01:34How many lifts have they got?Jimmy 01:37I don't know; doesn't matter.Sue 01:39They would have more than one lift; they'll always have two lifts, at least.Jimmy 01:43So, a couple who owned an apartment there (and I think it was on something like the 15th floor); they were told... When they bought the place, they had two dogs, and they
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Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
