In this our last Flat Chat Wrap podcast of the year, we kick the tyres of a couple of issues that will have consequences throughout strata. Or will they?And we suggest some holiday viewing aimed solidly at apartment dwellers.Given that half the residents of our strata schemes are renters, recent changes in the law could impact on a lot of people living in and owning apartments and townhouses.The first is the NSW government’s decision to fall into line with Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania and ban rent “auctions”.As of last weekend, real estate agents and landlords will not be allowed to suggest to potential tenants that they offer to increase the requested rent.Will it make any difference to soaring rents? And can tenants still offer to outbid rivals? We take a stab at an answer or two.We also take a look at how much information tenants are expected to give – you will be astonished – just to apply to rent somewhere.With cybersecurity under scrutiny, as exposed in a recent TV report, we wonder is we are giving away too much personal information, and what we can do to limit it without restricting our choices.And finally we talk about three streaming options for your holiday viewing – all with very different strata connections: Only Murders in the Building, The Flat Share on Paramount and High Rise on SBS on Demand.If you don't have the commercial TV services, now would be the time to sign up for their trial periods then binge watch. Don't forget to cancel whn the trial perion is over.And if that’s not enough, you can read the stranger-than-fiction true stories of the “Only Murders…” apartment blocks HERE.Have a great Christmas and we’ll talk to you all again in the New Year.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00Christmas is just around the corner.Sue 00:01Yes!Jimmy 00:02I thought we'd sneak in a quick pod, before we go off for a couple of weeks' holiday.Sue 00:08Okay, great.Jimmy 00:10And part of the reason is that not a lot is happening in strata, or anything else. Everybody's sort of geared-up for the holiday season.Sue 00:19Everything's slowing down, I think.Jimmy 00:21But there's been a couple of things that have come up. New South Wales has introduced no bidding on rental properties and there's a bit of a concern, about the amount of information that tenants have to give out. So that gives us something to chat about. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:44And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for DomainJimmy 00:47And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyThis does not feel like summer in Sydney, does it?Sue 01:06No, the weather's terrible outside. It's really windy and it's been raining, but at least we're almost on holiday.Jimmy 01:13That's true. People might be able to hear the wind outside, depending on how effective this editing software is.Sue 01:21Good luck with that!Jimmy 01:22Yes! The biggest news, well, given that 50% or more of people who live in strata are tenants... Last weekend, the government in New South Wales banned rental bidding. So that's basically where you see an apartment for rent, or a house for rent at a certain figure, and you go along, and the real estate agent say
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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.
