We have something of a star guest on this week’s podcast. Sue Williams, our regular co-host, has allowed us to dip into her recordings of her interview with Building Commissioner David Chandler so you can hear the voice of the man who is turning strata development in NSW on its head.And it has just occurred to me that some search engines might have brought Friends fans here, attracted by the name Chandler. So if Bing brought you here in search of Chandler Bing, our apologies. But, hey, you're among friends.LISTEN HEREHowever, before we get to the Commish, first we will talk about another consumer-focussed innovation, a plan to get the big insurers back to the table.To be clear, insurance companies are still providing strata insurance for accidental damage etc in completed buildings, but they pulled out of insuring building defects nearly 20 years ago.NSW Fair Trading is hoping the efforts of David Chandler will shore up confidence in a hitherto benighted industry, to the extent that insurers will feel claims for defective work are the exception rather than the rule.Then we hear from the man himself and his plans to go on the front foot and “name and shame” not just sub-par buildings, but the professionals who have allowed them to be built that way.Then as a little light relief, JimmyT looks back at a “Strata of Origin” debate he refereed between strata lawyers in NSW and Queensland, at the end of which he asked which of each other’s laws they wished they had.You’ll hear (or read about) the NSW preferences in the podcast but Jimmy neglected to mention the Queensland strata experts were envious of NSW’s 2 per cent defects bond.Jimmy does, however, mention a couple of quirky strata laws from other states.And finally we look at the new Mirvac development at the former Channel Nine studios at Willoughby (not Chatswood as stated) and recall the night we went to dinner with recently departed newsreader Brian Henderson during which copious amounts of wine were consumed.That’s all in this week’s podcast.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00Bit of a David Chandler fest this week, Sue Williams?Sue 00:03Yes, well, it's been two years since he was appointed, so I sat down and had a chat with him about his term in office and what he's achieved, or what he's not achieved.Jimmy 00:12Okay, we'll be talking about that later. We'll be talking about (maybe), the big insurers coming back in and we'll be talking about a thing I did about the differences between strata law in Queensland and New South Wales. And, what's happening with the Channel 9 studios up in Chatswood (Willoughby)...Sue 00:32In Sydney.Jimmy 00:32That's a lot to get in, so we'd better get on with it. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:41And I'm Sue Williams, I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 00:43And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyOkay Sue, you did a big, big feature for Domain magazine; an interview with David Chandler. We will get into that later, but part of it was a thing about the big insurers coming back in to insure buildings. What's the story there?Sue 01:16I spoke to the Minister, Kevin Anderson. He was saying basically, David Chandler ha
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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.
