In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap we discuss the awful story about the young woman who put her life savings into a deposit on a flat in a block that’s turned out not only to be riddled with defects, but was certified by an unlicensed tradie and subsequently OK’d by the local council.Now she faces the very real choice between losing her $60k+ deposit or finalising the purchase of a flat she knows is seriously defective and with no legal approvals.Listen hereThen there’s the local council that’s telling developers they can build higher if they don’t install gas but do put solar panels on the roof to supply 40 percent of the block’s electricity needs.This is a clear example of a council taking positive action on climate change – and if you wonder if that’s an over-reach, ask the people being rescued from floods right now.But can electricity ever be as good as gas for cooking? One celebrity chef thinks so.We also hear about government plans to make it harder for developers to build “affordable” new generation boarding houses. Why would they make it harder? Because developers are getting planning concessions and then charging top dollar for the bed-sits.Wow! Developers taking advantage of planning concessions to make some extra dosh? Who’da thunk it?And finally, there’s the couple who were so worried about the potential noise from proposed renovations in the apartment block next to their luxury beach-side home, that they bought the whole block. Is it so they can, if they want, shut the renos down? Or do they just want to be able to choose their neighbours?That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.Transcript In FullJimmy 00:00They say it never rains, but it pours. It's certainly pouring outside at the moment, and it's been raining stories on your computer, Sue Williams?Sue 00:09It sure has.Jimmy 00:10We have a lot to get through today. We've got a story about a woman who's going to lose a deposit on her apartment because somebody certified it, who wasn't entitled to certify it. We've got a story about a developer, building apartments with no gas for cooking. We've got a story about developers wanting to develop… what do you call them?Sue 00:20New generation boarding houses.Jimmy 00:24New generation boarding houses, and the couple who have bought the apartment block next door, so that it doesn't get renovated and disturb their peace and quiet. If only we had that much money! I'm Jimmy Thomson. I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:58And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 01:01And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. Okay, Sue, a terrible story about somebody who put a deposit down on a flat and discovered that the apartment had been certified by somebody who was not in fact, a certifier?Sue 01:33Yeah, I think he was an unlicensed tradie, wasn’t he? He was a bricklayer or something like that, who no longer had a license.Jimmy 01:43So, he just signed off on this certification, and so that meant that the council gave them a certificate of occupancy; is that correct?Sue 01:49That's right, even though they discovered there were considerable non-compliance’s in the building. There were huge faults in the building, b
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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.
