This week a massive review of NSW strata laws landed in Parliament and it’s given us a lot to talk about … perhaps a little too much.As you will see from this story, there are proposals about educating committees, defining what their members do and making it easier to sack individual members.There are suggested rewrites for the rules on pets and assistance animals, so that you don’t force vision-impaired residents to carry their guide dogs across common property.There are many much-needed regulations concerning building managers plus plans to allow Fair Trading to run cases at NCAT. That may turn out to be the most radical suggestion of them all, as there is also a proposal to make not maintaining common property a punishable offence with penalties attached.Our comments came as the review was hot off the internet, so they’re fresh, even if we were not quite able to get to all 139 of the proposals. But at least we didn't run out of things to talk about.Also in the podcast, Sue outlines how to find the perfect apartment to rent, or even buy.And we discover how Jimmy was guilty of a classic mistaken identity at the Strata Community Association shindig.And, allowing ourselves a small moment of self-congratulation, our total listener figures just ticked over 25,000 in the past week. I looks like more people are finding the most recent podcasts then tuning in to previous links for more. Thanks for your support.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00So, we didn't get thrown out of the SCA event the other night!Sue 00:03No, that was good, and they actually quite welcomed us, didn't they?Jimmy 00:05They mentioned us.Sue 00:06They did; they welcomed us...Jimmy 00:08By name.Sue 00:09Yes, alongside David Chandler.Jimmy 00:11Yes, I 'booed' our name, just to get some balance. I knew that half the strata managers there wanted to boo.Sue 00:23Well, it was funny, because one of them reminded you of a speech that you made a few years ago. Do you remember that?Jimmy 00:27Yes, the conference.Sue 00:28And he remembered your first line...Jimmy 00:31Which was "I am your worst nightmare. I'm a disgruntled owner, with a newspaper column."Sue 00:38So, you obviously made quite an impression on him, because I think that was about 15 years ago, and he's still hates you today.Jimmy 00:46Probably! We've got a lot to get through today. We have the review of all the suggested changes to the Strata Management Act, that are going to be tabled. Well, by the time you hear this, it will have been tabled.Sue 01:01We've been waiting a long time for this.Jimmy 01:02It's a year. It's a year since they closed submissions.Sue 01:06Wow!Jimmy 01:06I don't know how much longer it will be, before they actually make a decision. Possibly another year.Sue 01:12 Oh, no! Surely not!Jimmy 01:13There are 139 recommendations.Sue 01:16Wow! I wonder how many letters they had from people?Jimmy 01:20I don't know. Maybe, they just had one long one. I think they got a lot of responses, because this is the five-year review of the 2015 Act.Sue 01:32Did they accept any of your suggestions?Jimmy 01:34Not that I could see, but anyway, we'll talk about that later. And, we'll talk about an article you wrote, about h
____________________________________________________
Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
