Can you imagine that you simply want to exercise your rights to have your defects fixed and a representative from the developer bails you up in the street and tells you people have been killed for less.Or your chair was in cahoots with the developer and agreed to an $80,000 pay-off for $3million worth of defects?Or your strata manager was so incompetent that he put the strata scheme’s legally binding seal on a contract that had been changed by the developer to say that you would pay the wages of their corrupt and sexist building manager indefinitely if your block forced him out.This week we’re looking back as the Owners Corporation Network celebrates its 20th anniversary, with a glance back at its early days when there was complete lack of government interest in strata … except as a good source of political donations from developers.But first, there’s good chance that if you’re reading this you are either a tenant, have a neighbour who’s a renter, or you’re a landlord (“property provider” in Victoria). After all, more than 50 per cent of strata residents rent their homes.With the Greens announcing that they want to introduce a ban on “no-fault” evictions in NSW, we have something a focus on tenants this week.Similar legislation has been in place in Victoria for over a year, but what does it mean? Can tenants only have their tenancies ended if they behave badly?And if there are valid reasons for ending tenancies - like wanting to move back in, or need to renovate - what if the landlord or agent lies about them?We also look at a survey that shows landlords are three times as likely to take their tenants to a Tribunal than vice versa, and why, surprisingly, social housing organisations taking tenants to NCAT outnumber “civilian” landlords by similar proportions.That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00We're going to be talking a lot about renters this week. There's a report out by the Tenant's Union about who is taking whom to the Tribunal, NCAT. And the Greens have announced that they want the laws changed to something like they have in Victoria, where you cannot have a no-fault eviction.Sue 00:20Yes, look, that's long overdue, I think, really.Jimmy 00:24And we'll also be talking about a big anniversary this year; 20 years of the Owners Corporation Network. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:34And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 00:36And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyOkay, well, look at the Tenant's Union New South Wales; their survey into who is taking who to Tribunal and why. There's some quite surprising figures in there; social housing landlords are three times more likely to take their tenants to the tribunal, than ordinary landlords... Commercial landlords.Sue 00:36Why is that?Jimmy 00:54Well, it seems to be that the reason that they take them is because of non-payment of rent, which is the most common reason for anybody to be taken to the Tribunal.Sue 01:26Sure. I guess it's become more common these days, because rents have gone up so hugely. And also, we've had COVID, and lots of people lost their living.Jimmy 01:36But
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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.
