This week in the podcast Sue Williams is in Darwin on an assignment, and finds that not only is Darwin the hottest city in Australia temperature-wise (probably … apart from Alice … and maybe Coober Pedy) it has the hottest property market with house prices going up an astonishing amount and apartments not far behind.Then we delve into the woes of the Toplace developers – or maybe their off-the-plan purchasers – as defects are found, repairs that might be fine but look suspiciously like band-aid fixes are revealed, and court cases are publicised.LISTEN HEREIs there a solution to the whole developer and defects conundrum? Sue reminds me that I am going to be MC-ing a Strata Matters owners day for the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) supported by City of Sydney, at which Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson will give the keynote address and Building Commissioner David Chandler and other Fair Trading bigwigs will be in attendance.It should be a terrific day - all I have to do is remember which of them I have insulted over the past couple of years and how deeply I'll need to apologise. There are more details on the seminar here.And finally we reflect on our newsletter piece from last week on lift notices warning against throwing things off balconies, and follow a link sent by a reader to a story from Scotland about what must be the worst case of “things thrown off a building” we’ve encountered.Actually, it’s a bit mad and quite poignant really, and you can read about it HERE. Oh, and FYI, "aufguss" (see notice above) is a kind of herbal infusion they put in saunas to aid relaxation and health.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 0:00 Things are a bit strange in the Flat Chat Wrap makeshift studio today; my usual partner in crime, Sue Williams isn't here. In fact, she's in Darwin and we'll be talking to her later, about why that city in the Northern Territory, is the boomtown of Australia when it comes to property. We're also going to be talking about a developer who is responsible for more than 1000 apartments, either newly built or in the process of being built, who's suddenly come under a very bright spotlight. A microscope, you might say, and people have been complaining about the build quality in their blocks. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review and this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyAs I said just a few moments ago, Sue isn't here with us today in person. She's up in Darwin and I caught up with her before she disappeared into Arnhem Land on her assignment. If there is a deterioration in sound, the fact that we're talking via zoom should explain most of why things sound a little different this week. Here's Sue. Hi, Sue!Sue 1:35 Hi Jimmy!Jimmy 1:36 You're in Darwin?Sue 1:37 Yes, I am. I came up here today. I'm up here doing a story and gosh, it's so hot! It's fantastic!Jimmy 1:46 Alright, so talking about hot, Darwin is the property boomtown of Australia at the moment.Sue 1:53 Yeah, it's kind of like the epicenter really, especially for apartments, which is nice, because I remember a few years ago, apartment prices in Darwin, absolutely crashed through the floor. A friend of ours bought an apartment up here and th
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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.
