Shows
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: BBQs and secret committee meetingsA couple of issues popped on to the Flat Chat radar while we were off being festive.One was all about smoking on balconies which, if that wasn’t serious enough, raised the spectre of barbecues being banned from apartment blocks.Is the threat real and would anyone care? Or could we expect to see Sam Kekovich leading a protest march on state parliaments to deter our politicians from making any such unAustralian decisions.While we’re on the subject of threats to democracy (he says, drawing an extremely long bow) why are owners welcome to attend strata committee meetings in s...
2023-01-0923 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Rent bidding ban and too much informationIn 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 n...
2022-12-2026 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Living the high life and 50,000 listensWhat a relief! With Sue back in the podcast saddle, and now that we are very much in holiday season, we can lighten the mood a little – especially since we have just registered our 50,000th download.But first we talk about a block that has a limit on home swaps, where overseas owners exchange homes for a couple of weeks at a time. The restriction may have been legal a couple of years ago but, under NSW Airbnb laws, probably isn’t now.Will the block change its by-law or wait until someone challenges it? It may be a case of “d...
2022-12-1228 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Trouble with the Hub is TLI – too little infoAre you feeling under-exposed and ill-informed? That may be because the much-vaunted NSW strata data Hub doesn’t tell anyone who doesn’t already know stuff very much about your apartment blocks at all.We take a look at the information available on the Hub to non-residents (not much) and residents (not much more) and what’s in the “coming soon” section (ditto).Which prompts the question – if having strata information on the Hub is a good idea, why isn’t there more of it. What’s so sensitive about some of the info we aren’t getting? Shouldn’t there be an option to...
2022-11-2223 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Flooring flaws exposed in reno bodgeThere’s a little bit of everything in this week’s podcast. We start with a story about how people who either ignore or don't know by-laws and regulations (not to mention common sense and personal responsibility), can get their come-uppance.And then we slide into the second part of the Lawyer in the Hot Seat webinar with David Bannerman.But first we bring you the story of a person who really should have known better, who laid down a timber floor which, in its design, could not have been noisier if it had drums and cymbals attached.Complaints from the d...
2022-11-0837 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Chandler talks about older blocksCo-podder Sue Williams and I took ourselves off to the Owners Corporation Network’s 20th anniversary event last week and it turned out to be a very revealing evening indeed.OK, the plaudits and praise were flowing faster than the free wine – and that’s saying something. I hosted and Sue delivered a fascinating speech about how the OCN was formed in the darkest days of battle against corrupt developers, their sleazy managers, our supine strata committee and our incompetent strata managers.We thought we were suffering a unique confluence of bad luck … until Sue met other strata chairs and discover...
2022-10-2526 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Death threats and no-fault evictionsCan 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 yo...
2022-10-1822 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Rents rise, clubs bet the house on flatsSurprise, surprise! What started off looking like a barren day on the pod-front, right at the end of the school holidays, turned out to give us a lot to talk about.First of all, there was the fact that apartment rents are rising three times faster than house rents, and what that could mean for inner cities with both tourists and overseas students on their way back in droves.We also touch on the implications of that and what our various governments could and should be doing about all that in this column.Then we discuss a Tenants Union report a...
2022-10-1127 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Poor ratings – where’s the stars, Dave?This week on the Flat Chat website we celebrate the launch of Sue's new book about spray-on skin pioneer, Professor Fiona Wood.What's the link with strata? Well, if there ever was a cladding fire and someone was badly burned and ... em ... OK, Sue's the link. Forgive us for indulging in a little self-promotion.Elsewhere on the pod, we take a closer look at the much-vaunted (by us if no one else) iCIRT star ratings for developers and come away a little disappointed.Basically, if a developer gets more than three stars, they’re on the list. Fewer and they’re no...
2022-10-0420 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Chandler’s rating has starring roleThis week’s podcast is mostly (but not entirely) focussed on an announcement we believe is going to change the way we buy apartments in NSW and probably across Australia.Last week NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler announced the first four developers in NSW to achieve more than four out of five gold stars from the state’s revolutionary Independent Construction Industry Rating Tool (iCIRT).And in a speech to the Toga group - recipients of one of the 4.5 ratings – he said that NSW apartment purchaser now no longer have any excuses for buying below-standard apartments from dodgy developers.By the wa...
2022-09-2734 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Is history against build-to-rent plans?OK, it’s our stupid fault for crossing the ditch to New Zealand without taking even our basic recording gear.We could have just about coped and recorded it on our return but our flight was delayed by an hour and a half and that mean that not only would we be later than planned in getting back to Sydney but we’d be tired and grumpy too.Then I discovered my phone has an “interview” setting in its voice recorder app and all we had to do was talk into opposite ends of the Samsung to get a reasonably clear re...
2022-09-2022 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Smears and fears as Commish targettedIf NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has served no other function, he earns our respect and gratitude for being a very useful source of entertaining, informative and occasionally horrifying stories.The latest, from a parliamentary committee meeting, involves an allegation that development company’s executives had tried to smear him with a suggestion that he had demanded a $5million bribe to back off from a development where he’d banned sales until defects were fixed.We pick the bones out of that in the podcast. But Commissioner Chandler isn’t just a fruitful source of juicy tales, and we speculate as to w...
2022-09-1323 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: When crims become dodgy developersIt’s hardly a true crime podcast but this week, inspired by connections made in the press between the relatives of property developers and their friends with police records, we wade into the murky waters of past cases where the Venn diagrams of criminals and property developers have overlapped.It should be no surprise to anyone that the high-risk, high rewards ventures like unregulated property development and criminal activities would have attracted similar kinds of characters.But whatever’s going on nowadays – and we shouldn't assume that there was anything untoward afoot in the reported cases – it would pale into insignific...
2022-09-0624 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: a Perrottet and Petinos poserLook, we know it’s all done and dusted. David Chandler has re-extended his contract as NSW Building Commissioner, John Minns is back as Property Services Commissioner and Victor Dominello has returned as Fair Trading Minister (for now).In short, the band is back together and former Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos - the Yoko Ono of the strata Beatles – has retreated to Miranda where her skills and character are more fully appreciated.However, we can’t let it lie. Premier Perrottet insists, Eleni was not sacked because Big Dave and the “other Minns" resigned. But they definitely would not have perf...
2022-08-3026 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Council to hire a professional nimbyIn this week’s podcast we are going to discuss the local council that’s going to pay someone $100,000 a year to help residents fight high rise developments.It’s the least developed suburb in Sydney, so do they really need someone to take up cudgels against developers? According to this story in the Sydney Morning Herald, the move was triggered by a proposal – approved by the NSW's Eastern City Planning Panel – to knock down four terraces and build two 10-storey residential “towers” at the corner of Syd Einfeld Drive, Oxford Street and York Road in Bondi Junction.We ask, are their nimbys...
2022-08-2327 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Are we heading back to the bad old days?We are in a state of shock here at Flat Chat, wondering if, when David Chandler and Victor Dominello both go, and with dodgy developers already circling the bleeding carcass of Fair Trading like vultures, are we going to be back to the bad old days of seriously defective apartment blocks being the norm?We had no idea when we recorded this podcast that Victor Dominello was about to announce his resignation. NSW Fair Trading is obviously spying on us. We reached this conclusion after weeks of recording the podcast only to find out that, as soon as it was...
2022-08-1826 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: The many sins of commission at Fair TradingIf there is one area of NSW Liberal politics that may be glad that the kerfuffle over the appointment of a trade envoy to New York is drawing so much media attention and political heat, it will be anyone associated with Fair Trading.When we sat down to record this week’s podcast and discuss – among other things – the departure of Property Services Commissioner John Minns, we had no idea how chaotic things had become there.To misquote Oscar Wilde, to lose one commissioner is unfortunate, to lose two looks like carelessness.The departure of Commissioner Minns occurred in the same w...
2022-08-0927 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Petinos, pets and petty squabblesThere we were, all set with a podcast on David Chandler’s resignation in the can, when we heard that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet had invited Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos to leave at her own chosen speed (one for the Dylan fans, there).Now, we could have fudged it with a new intro but Big Dave’s not-very-imminent departure was already old news and the vapour trail from Ms Petinos' expensive fragrance was still lingering from her exit, so it was back in the bunker for a re-take.And, full disclosure, there was another reason: we said in the orig...
2022-08-0224 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Hidden issues, fake news and 40k listensThis week on the podcast we hop into the highly dubious story that appeared in the Sydney Sun-Herald this week about a poor old couple who are facing bankruptcy because of a special levy imposed on their block by a heartless and cruel strata committee …Hang on! Heartless and cruel? Strata committees can’t set special levies. And owners corporations have to maintain and repair common property.The block is 50 years old – has nobody been putting money in the sinking fund? (Rhetorical question – don’t even bother).More to the point, as we explore in depth here, how come the couple paid...
2022-07-1226 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Knives out for Commissioner ChandlerThis week’s Flat Chat Wrap has a look at something we predicted a few weeks ago – that the knives would soon be out for Building Commissioner David Chandler, just as they were all those years ago for Police Commissioner Peter Ryan.Why? Maybe because he's been a bit too successful at doing exactly what he was asked to do - get rid of of a crooks and shonks in the property development industry. Those crooks and shonks didn't get where they are today without having friends in high places ... and the media.We also take a quick squiz at some...
2022-07-0525 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Hope for future in strata melting potHaving braved the wilds of Scotland and the woes of Covid, we are back with a brand new Flat Chat Wrap podcast, with our usual mixture of optimism and, it must be said, the occasional bout of weary skepticism.The optimism stems from the plans for a new high-end apartment block that will bring owners together with key worker in affordable rentals, plus some social housing.And the remarkable thing about this is that the purchasers of apartments costing up to $2.4m actually like the ides of having a broad democratic spread among their neighbours.The skepticism comes from wondering...
2022-06-2825 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Positive property plan and negative gearingThe first thing that happens after a new government is elected is that the Prime Minister and the party divvy up the ministries.The next thing after that is that they look at what they have promised during the election campaign and work out how much of it they can or want to implement.In this week’s podcast we ask if the new Labor government’s commitment to co-owning homes with first-time property buyers is going to take the heat out of the property market … or just make it worse.And will the government grasp the nettle of negative gearin...
2022-05-2327 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Property battle on for young and oldThis week on the Flat Chat Wrap, as we approach the election, we are looking again at the various parties housing policies and wonder what they really mean.We recorded this before the announcement that young people will be able dip into their Super to help fund the purchase of a flat or house if the Coalition holds on to power, and the revelation on ABC radio that they couldn’t find a single economist who thought it was a good idea.I mean, do young people have much in the way of super anyway?Instead we focus on the pr...
2022-05-1729 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Will exposure drive away office-bearers?Imagine you are the chair or secretary of a strata scheme. You can cope with fielding a reasonable number of messages via the strata manager or building manager.It’s a mixed bag, some of the messages are simple and straightforward, some are well-intentioned if occasionally ill-informed, and there’s the odd one that’s abusive and ignorant.It’s all part of the cut and thrust of strata living and one way or another it lets you know what people in the building are thinking.Then one day, you start getting angry phone calls on your personal phone and your priv...
2022-05-1027 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Woman who married her cat – the factsSometimes the fur flies at weddings, and things can certainly get catty between landlords and tenants but, as we explore in this week's podcast, a woman has taken things to a whole new level in an effort to get round restrictions on pets.This story about the woman who married her cat started in Sidcup, just outside London, and has gone around the world and back again. But Jimmy did some digging and discovered that on just about every occasion, it has been misreported.It's not the cat-lady's fault - people just made assumptions (as they do). So, listen in...
2022-05-0328 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Flat-sharing – there’s an app for thatIn this week’s podcast we dive into the exciting world of flat-sharing … something neither of us have done for at least 30 years.How different can it all be in the Third Millennium? Well, for a start, we didn't have the internet, where you can advertise your flat or yourself, including pictures, to see if you may be a better match than just turning up at the door with a deposit.But there’s more than that. There are now all sorts of useful apps to help you function as a group of like-minded residents rather than just a bunch of peopl...
2022-04-2634 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: When what you see is not what you’ll getThis week, we delve into the dark arts employed by real estate agents and property stylists to persuade you that an absolute lemon is, in fact, your dream “forever home.”How come that beautiful tapestry is on the wall of this humble abode? Why are all the lights on and the windows closed?Why are there three real estate agents from the same firm at a viewing of one relatively humble unit? We have some answers that will amaze and appal you.Also in the podcast, we try once again to shed a light on electrical vehicle charging and, more to t...
2022-04-1935 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: EV doc block shock and green backflipIt’s another bumper podcast this week with some topics revisited, some from the Forum and others that are fresh out of the Flat Chat hot cross bunfight oven.First up, we take a deeper dive into the case of the doctor who was denied the opportunity to charge up his electric car from common property power because … good question!You can read the dubious reasons given for sealing off the car park power socket (because that's what the committee did) HERE.You might think he could have made the effort to get his landlord to jump through all the vari...
2022-04-1233 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Will data diving replace tenant checks?A couple of weeks ago we received a press release from a company called Equifax who are a data analysis company that specialises in credit checks, among other things.Those “other things” include being asked by the NSW state government to establish its proposed ratings system for apartment developers which is, we probably all agree, a good thing.The main thrust of the press release was that Equifax’s National Tenancy Database (NTD) could do a lot of the tenant checks that rental agents currently do “manually” i.e. calling up your references, employers and previous landlords or agents.But it goes fu...
2022-04-0534 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Deposit option smashes avocado barrierThis week’s podcast discovers a new way of buying property – or at least putting down a deposit.The problem for many prospective home buyers is that, all the time they are saving for the deposit on a new home, prices keep rising so the amount they need to save gets more and so the property is always just out of reach.But we've heard about a new proposal that's been introduced where you can put down a relatively small deposit on a new flat and that add to it every week so that by the time the unit is read...
2022-03-2932 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: When your fabulous view disappearsWe’ve plundered the Flat Chat Forum for talking points this week, but first we discuss an issue that’s come to Sue from one of her Domain readers.Did you know that if you buy an apartment off the plan and the finished unit varies from the contract design by more than 5%, you can ask for a discount or possibly even rescind the contract?But how about if the plan for the whole scheme has changed considerably? For instance, if the building is much closer to other buildings than you were originally led to believe?What if there isn't as m...
2022-03-2227 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Causing strata strife is not okay, BoomersEntitled, arrogant, ignorant and occasionally abusive – those are some of the accusations that have been levelled at the latest band of baddies to emerge in strata: downsizing Baby Boomers.Obviously, this doesn't apply to all Boomers - because we are members of that ageing club too. But, as we discuss in this week’s podcast, making the adjustment from being kings and queens in their own McMansion castles is only half the story.Finding out that they don’t even own the external walls of their home can come as a shock to some (but not all) downsizers, not to mentio...
2022-03-1535 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Flood fears and by-laws to loathe and loveOne of the problems with preparing a fairly light-hearted podcast like the Flat Chat Wrap is that there are a lot of serious issues around that you just can’t ignore but you don’t want to trivialise.Right now the Eastern states are dealing with the immediate problem of devastating floods or their aftermath. What does this have to do with apartment living?We hear about the smart thinking, fast-moving residents of one block who successfully prevented their two-storey underground car park becoming a watery grave for their cars.Then there’s the issue of what happens in multi-storey blocks...
2022-03-0734 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Builder fails despite home shortageThey say strata is a world of contradictions and never has that been so obvious as this week when one report reveals a shortage of housing, most of which will need to be filled by apartments, yet one of our biggest and most highly regarded apartment complex builders has gone into voluntary administration at a time when apartment prices are rising.Is it because materials have gone up but the availability of skilled workers has gone down, both due to the pandemic? Probably, to some extent. Or is it partly just bad timing?But could it be that the idea...
2022-03-0130 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Strata’s next big challenge – ageing blocksThis week’s podcast is given over to one topic – but it’s a fascinating one: What are we going to do about Australia’s older apartment blocks?Sure, there’s been a lot of attention given to the blocks currently under construction or recently completed, with our special guest this week, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler shaking up the whole industry by demanding work is up to standard or, effectively, the apartments can’t be sold.He has a few horror stories to tell about buildings that seem to be undertaking major reconstruction but on the ground it's strictly amateur hour...
2022-02-2229 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Holiday let free-for-all (except investors)It’s Airbnb (and Stays etc etc) all the way in this week’s podcast (sorry!) as we discuss the implications of Jimmy’s belated discovery that the Sydney-only by-laws banning holiday lets only apply to investor-owned apartments.Yes, resident-owners and even tenants can list their flats on Airbnb and any of the other platforms (preferably those that don’t destroy fond memories with insipid renditions of Beatles songs) with a limit of 180 nights a year.Why would anyone let their own home to holiday guests, ask NSW policymakers?We try to explain that six months is just enough to make it...
2022-02-1532 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Another blow to ‘no-pets’ buildingsThere’s another very mixed bag this week but it’s mostly good news in these trying times.Up in Queensland, the tribunal there is chipping away at restrictive pet by-laws in a building called Trafalgar Towers where one resident was forced to carry her blind dog up 12 storeys to their home.The Body Corporate has now been told in no uncertain terms that the by-law is invalid and to get it off their books.As this story details, this is the same building that not only tried to ban other people’s pets when their caretaker had his own dog in...
2022-02-0836 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: No pets, smoke, airbnb hosts or excusesThis week the pod is lighting up (but not inhaling) the smoking ban placed on a Queensland apartment resident who’s been ordered to take her habit inside and off her balcony because her smoke is a hazard to the neighbour upstairs.There are so many aspects to this, not least that her block has a designated smoking zone and her committee has been rapped gently but firmly on its knuckles for declining to enforce its own by-laws.Why does this mean for Queensland smokers? Are they retreating to the toilets where the fans can deal with their fumes? Or wil...
2022-02-0127 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Two alarms over fire safety in apartmentsThis week the pod takes a deep dive into the murky waters of fire safety, how we ignore it at our considerable peril and how this essential part of our strata lives is ripe for exploitation by unscrupulous contractors.This discussion was prompted partly by the terrible fire in New York a couple of weeks ago when, it seems, doors left open during a relatively small fire allowed smoke to spread through the building, killing 17 people by asphyxiation.And we were also drawn to a Forum discussion about how buildings can pass fire inspections for years, then suddenly find that...
2022-01-2530 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Contract concern as plan nixed in the budThere’s an air of cynicism – or maybe it’s just weary experience – around this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast, but we only have ourselves to blame.Last week we were touting the potential for a mandatory strata management contract – like the residential tenancies lease in that the legal conditions would be fixed, but the financial terms would be variable – and realised we were joining a chorus of support for the idea, notably promoted by the Owners Corporation Network.What we and they didn’t realise is that Fair Trading has already nixed the idea in its review of strata laws that...
2022-01-1824 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Where should strata be in government?This week on the pod we ask the question, if Strata doesn’t belong in Fair Trading, then where should it go?As Jimmy explains in this column (which also appeared as an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald) our brand-new Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos has also been given Small Business on which to attach her training wheels.So now strata isn’t just a part of a huge, rambling and largely unconnected and complex ministry, that department itself is parked in a side street off another ministry, which has been given precedence (if the new minister’s title is any...
2022-01-0434 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Tamarama drama and our new MinisterIt was Monday morning and we had just finished editing the podcast when we got the word that NSW had a new Fair Trading minister.Meetings are cancelled, lunch is postponed, and schedules are re-drawn for the simple reason that this is, in our world, a big deal.Eleni Potinos may have been a media footnote in the cabinet reshuffle instigated by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet this week, but for us she is big news.There are four things that jump out, for those of us who have been close observers of strata politics for the past few years.One, s...
2021-12-2132 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Is this why Dave says he’s no messiah?If there is one person in the strata sphere who’d say Building Commissioner David Chandler is not the Strata Messiah, it would be the commissioner himself.As we discuss on this week‘s podcast, he cringes at every mention of himself as some sort of saviour, constantly deflecting all the abundant praise he gets onto his team.They no doubt deserve all the kudos they can collect, but Jimmy wonders if the BC is, even just subconsciously, trying to avoid a similar fate to another NSW Commish.He means one who went from messiah to pariah – at least in the ey...
2021-12-1429 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Developers’ cosy deals with cronies curbedWith two major chunks of strata legislation landing last week – Victoria’s new laws and NSW’s proposals for a revamp of theirs – we pick the bones out of the plans and read their entrails for signs of what’s in store in the future.As usual, there are a few significant changes plus much tinkering around the edges, in both areas, but it’s what the perceived need for these new laws reveals that’s most interesting.How cosy are the developers and strata managers of Victoria? How many kickbacks and from how many sources do the latter enjoy? And how many lo...
2021-12-0731 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Pets, privacy and penalties in law reviewThis 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 ma...
2021-11-3032 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: What’s not in the strata managers’ codeThis week in the Flat Chat Wrap podcast we take a deep dive into the strata managers’ code of ethics.We touched on the topic in the Forum last week and its worth revisiting as the NSW branch of the Strata Community Association is about to officially launch its state government-approved Professional Standards Scheme.The SCA (NSW) Code of Ethics underpins its professional standards and the built-in disciplinary procedures add some heft to its definitions of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by strata managers.It’s a fairly dense document but the accompanying guide skirts around the issues that we th...
2021-11-2231 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Is it OK to block access to email addresses?In the latest Flat Chat Wrap, listeners (and readers) get a preview of this week’s Fin Review column which will examine the issue of access to other owners’ email addresses.Do secretaries’ and strata managers’ oft-stated desire to maintain owners’ privacy sometimes stem from not wanting ordinary owners to communicate?How do you balance the benefits of open communication with the risk of being bombarded by abusive messages from serial pests.And is it even legal to withhold email addresses that are on the records of strata schemes?Also on the podcast, we look at the drift back to offices fr...
2021-11-1630 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Hit list for new property commissionerIn the same week that we get a new property services commissioner in NSW we hear that the first building construction certifier in NSW has been been sin-binned for a year (at least). What's the connection? With the new commish appointed to do to real estate agents and strata managers what David Chandler has been doing to the building industry, maybe he too will be kicking ass and taking names.Or will he? As we discuss in this week’s podcast, for all their faults (which are many and great), strata managers and RE agents haven’t been destroying people’s hopes...
2021-11-0931 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Strata Hub stats and hottest spot for flatsThis week in the podcast we take a long, hard look at the proposals – well advanced, it must be said – for every strata scheme in NSW to register all their vital statistics on the state’s new Strata Hub.What kind of information will they want and why do they want it? And what happens if old Geoff, the rusted-on secretary in Flat 4b, forgets to fill in the form or just doesn't think it applies to your strata scheme .Are there penalties for failure to comply with this Big Brother-like intrusion into our lives? (Yes.) And how much are they? (A...
2021-11-0230 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: See you soon … on your CCTV screensExactly who gets to view the recording from your strata scheme’s CCTV cameras? That’s a topic that’s been keeping us occupied on the Flat Chat Forum and now gets an additional airing on the podcast.Can your strata scheme limit viewings to the strata manager or committee members? Aren’t there privacy issues involved? And what about those who want to look at the recordings for nefarious purposes.In a podcast in which it sounds like Jimmy is going for a world record in the use of the word “nefarious” we pick the pixels out of the strata laws su...
2021-10-2627 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Freedom for some but at what cost?The Flat Chat Wrap podcast covers a lot of ground this week, from the state-wide easing of covid restrictions in NSW (but not in Victoria) to a little local difficulty with window tinting.NSW’s “Freedom Day” gets a lot of attention, as you’d expect, and we address the issue of whether or not we still need to wear masks on common property.Jimmy compares figures with the UK that suggest, even with 80 percent of the population vaccinated, things could get a lot worse before they get better, if only in terms of infections and hospitalisations.Plus we chat about th...
2021-10-1228 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: No-vax bans and climate denial warningWe cover a lot of ground in this week’s podcast, from local pandemic panics to global warming and the potential "scary" effect of political inaction on your mortgages.First up we look into pro and anti-vaccine passions and the desire in some strata schemes to prevent unvaccinated residents from accessing communal facilities.As this story also discusses, is it fair, legal or even desirable to keep the unvaccinated out of gyms, pools, saunas, spas, communal areas and video theatres?Or, looking at it another way, is it responsible, legally justifiable and safe not to do so?LISTEN HEREAlso we di...
2021-10-0529 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Defects detective Chandler’s candid chatWe 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, fi...
2021-09-2828 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Blockdown roll call carries a $5000 stingAs we edge ever closer to relief from our various lockdowns – and the inevitable spike in infections that will follow before vaccinations fully kick in – the NSW government’s plan for apartment blocks is quietly gelling in the background.And, as detailed in this story, part of the plan to limit the spread as we transition to semi-freedom, will be to blitz any unit blocks where an infection pops up.One major element of that strategy is to allow managers, health workers or even police to knock on apartment doors to find out who’s living there and who is a freque...
2021-09-1429 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Anti-anti-vaxxers and 20,000 listensForgive us for patting ourselves on the back this week but, having surpassed 20,000 downloads and listens to the podcast, I reckon we’ve earned a little self-indulgence. Suffice it to say that the audience for our weekly ramblings is growing steadily, and that has to be good.This week we turn our attention to the extended moratorium on rental evictions and the compensation for landlords who reduce the rents of tenants who are doing it tough. You can read all about that HERE.Then we discuss France’s vaccine passport and how people are taking that up with gusto (or shoul...
2021-09-0733 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Defects detected and pets rejectedIn this week’s podcast we chat about a report which reveals that one-third of 500 unit blocks inspected in a survey had serious defects, from leaking bathrooms, to fire safety issues..And there’s the stomach-churning claim that some units face remediation bills that will cost more than half the purchase price of the apartments.We also look at a small scale developer who has been ordered by a court to pay more than $1million in compensation, plus legal costs, after their attempts to blame everyone else for the problems in their property fell on deaf ears.LISTEN HEREWe touch brie...
2021-08-3124 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Pet regs, kid noise, renos and rantsThere’s a lot to get through in this week’s podcast, not least the new regulations on pets in strata which replace the now defunct blanket bans on pets.Even so, Jimmy finds time to indulge in not one but two full-on rants.But first, we talk about noise, specifically from kids playing in and around strata blocks during lockdown.Is it even reasonable to ask parents to tell their kids to keep the noise down? And should we be bothered if they draw a hopscotch grid on the driveway in chalk?And then there’s the noise from renovat...
2021-08-2436 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Pets to lets – 200 columns and countingHow has apartment living in Australia changed in the past four years? The answer is a lot, but still too little.This week, we celebrate our 200th column in the Australian Financial Review (and our 820th in all media).And at the risk of being accused of self-congratulation, it’s a good opportunity to look back on what has changed and what hasn’t in the past four years and beyond.It has to be said that progress has been slow and occasionally faltering, as we look at all the “hot” issues, such as dodgy building developers, the NSW Building Commissio...
2021-08-1732 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Pets & renters, prices and owner revoltsThis week’s podcast has placed a ban on the C-word … no, not that one, the other one that’s filling our news bulletins on radio and TV and clogging up our newspapers and online reports.Instead, we start off talking about pets and renters, courtesy of a guest spot Jimmy did on James Valentine’s Afternoons on ABC radio.We’ve snipped out his listeners’ contributions but we’ve left in the insights from Tenants-NSW CEO Leo Patterson Ross about what happens to pet-owning renters who have to move house when a lot of landlords are still saying “no pets”.You can her...
2021-08-1036 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Lockdown PHO a strata dog’s breakfastWe had a new PHO out last week – that’s a Public Health Order, not a Vietnamese noodle soup – and as we discuss in the pod, it’s more of a dog’s breakfast from NSW Health.Are we supposed to allow renovations in apartments when people are being told to stay inside and even work from home?Are cleaners essential workers? How about building managers? Does anybody in NSW Health realise that apartments and townhouses are significantly different from each other and, certainly, from free-standing bungalows?When they tell us to pass by-laws to fill the gaps in their legislatio...
2021-08-0334 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Shhh … the future will be a lot quieterOn this weeks’ Podcast Sue Williams and JimmyT explore the differences if any that our current locked down, work-from-home life will make to the way we build and live in apartments in the future.Last week we were taking the mickey out of marketers promoting “zoom rooms” … but then we thought about it and agreed, if they were done properly, they could be great.Then we look at the Australian Building (sub)Standards for noise mitigation in apartments which are close to useless even before builders start cutting corners and trimming costs on all the things we can’t see between wa...
2021-07-2724 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Covid toolkit and the lure of Zoom roomsCovid kicks off the podcast again this week, unfortunately, but with both Sydney and Melbourne shut down it’s the first thing that springs to everyone’s mind.However there are some new talking points – like the surprisingly handy Strata Covid Toolkit produced by the NSW government last weekend, which we highly recommend.Then, just when they’ve final acquired some Flat Chat Brownie points, the NSW government goes and stuffs it up by issuing Public Health Orders about who can work where, completely ignoring strata and the people who run it.LISTEN HEREThe in some non-covid chat (praise be!), we talk a...
2021-07-1929 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: What mixed mask messages really meanThis week’s podcast makes a brave effort to pretend life is going on as normal … and almost pulls it off.We talk about the new DNA for apartment blocks, or the Building Assurance Solution, to give it its proper name, which the NSW government says is going to help track down dodgy developers, just like forensic scientists catching criminals on TV dramas.Then we talk about a development in one of Sydney’s most affluent areas that has seen work halted until problems with the construction are fixed. LISTEN HEREThe developers and some early off-the-plan purchasers are saying “nothing to see he...
2021-07-1336 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Social housing a Sirius miscalculationAs we emerge from our “close contact” self-isolation we are probably going to have to go back into hiding after the selfie we took of ourselves still at work, despite lockdowns, which appeared in the Fin Review last weekend.Responses have ranged from “a picture-perfect combination of domestic bliss and productivity” to “oh, dear … you look like two crazy old people.”Of course, either or both of these may possibly be true.Back to the podcast, on which we discuss how much (or little) the government is getting out of the controversial sale of the Sirius building.LISTEN HEREWe look at the new foc...
2021-07-0524 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Stuck in Darlo with the Covid blues againThere's a saying going around that it's the hope that kills you - and certainly, fans of the Scotland, Sweden, France, Netherlands and German football teams at the European Championships would concur.Of course, it's nonsensense. If anything kills you, it's complacency. You walk around feeling like you're immune and then you find out the person sitting next to you in a cafe definitely wasn't virus-free, and your attitude changes quickly.So in this week’s podcast Sue and I chat about what it’s like to be self-quarantining (we were deemed to have been close contacts with an infected pers...
2021-06-2928 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: What can we do when Covid hits home?Covid-19 is back in the news in new, super-infectious variants, and in the podcast this week we ask the highly relevant question of what do you do if it comes to your apartment block?Do you expect everyone in your block to be told that someone is self-isolating because they have been tested, or were in a certain place at the same time as an infected person, or if they just have a bit of a cough and the sniffles?Would you be annoyed if you were that person and all your neighbours were warned to stay well clear of...
2021-06-2223 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Work cut out for property commissionerWe’re looking at some big news this week on the podcast and wondering what it all means.NSW Fair Trading has announced that they will be appointing a properties commissioner - like building commissioner David Chandler, only maybe without the fear factor – to help regulate all the professions involved in looking after buying, selling, renting and managing properties.What might those professions be? The inaugural appointees of Fair Trading’s Property Services Expert Panel provides a clue. The invitees included strata managers, real estate agents, building facilities managers, real estate trainers and employers, livestock and property agents, business brokers, short-t...
2021-06-1532 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Boom town and band-aids for buildingsThis week in the podcast Sue Williams is in Darwin on an assignment, and finds that not only is Darwin the hottest city in Australia temperature-wise (probably … apart from Alice … and maybe Coober Pedy) it has the hottest property market with house prices going up an astonishing amount and apartments not far behind.Then we delve into the woes of the Toplace developers – or maybe their off-the-plan purchasers – as defects are found, repairs that might be fine but look suspiciously like band-aid fixes are revealed, and court cases are publicised.LISTEN HEREIs there a solution to the whole developer and defects...
2021-06-0720 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: GOMO, strata facts and sea changesThis week on the podcast we look GOMO, specifically grief over missing out on your dream home.It’s the other side of FOMO, where fear of missing out has you plunging headlong into what might be unwise purchases and contracts.When it comes to houses, it can feel more like a seduction and betrayal when you’ve been encouraged to imagine living there for years of domestic bliss, then the faithless vendor goes and sells it to someone else, just because they have more money.You can get a taste of Sue’s original article on GOMO (© Sue Williams) for Dom...
2021-06-0126 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Premiums soar thanks to sins of the pastWe admit we can get a little city-centric here at Flat Chat so last weekend it was good to get out of the urban jungle and find out what’s happening elsewhere.And the news is that Newcastle is booming, beach holiday homes are bouncing back and the roads are almost as crazy as they were pre-covid.Back in what passes for the real world, in this week’s Flat Chat we talk about how construction insurance premiums for low rise buildings and renovations are getting out of control, based on this story.LISTEN HEREAnd we chat about the pretty disa...
2021-05-2523 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Sirius, sunset clawbacks and feral catsThere is no building in Sydney that has polarised opinions more than the Sirius apartments on Circular Quay – unless you include the Opera House, its architectural antithesis across the bay.After years of controversy, plans have been revealed and expressions of interest sought in what will be a revolutionary revamp of the former housing commission apartment block.You can read more about it the multi-million-dollar project here - and see a slideshow of the proposed revanp - but, naturally we also have our two cents worth here in the pod.LISTEN HEREAfter that, we talk about the developer who was th...
2021-05-1828 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Property price panic and dodgy donationsWith property prices soaring but houses outstripping apartments, as detailed in this story, we try to make sense of it all.Why is the gap between the cost of houses and apartments growing, even though apartment prices are coming back up to pre-pandemic levels.And will the current apartment glut in Melbourne – with consequential 11 per cent drops in rents – flip to a shortage, soaring sales prices and runaway rents as soon as our borders reopen and short-term rentals are re-listed?Who knows? But we try to make sense of it all.LISTEN HEREThen we visit the vexed question, raised on the F...
2021-05-1128 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Would you roll the dice on a $22m flat?If you have a hankering for the high life and have a lazy $22 million lying around, you could score an apartment in the huge Crown tower above James Packer’s (currently non-functioning) casino.If that’s too rich for your blood, how much would you expect to pay for a two-bed, two-bath pad on a lower floor? All is revealed in our Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week.But before we get to that, there’s the small matter of how data mining is going to lead to a trebling of the number of apartment blocks under construction that will fall u...
2021-05-0426 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Horror of our $700 million defects holeThere’s a horror story, a happy ending and a bit of housekeeping in this week’s podcasts.The horror is the $714 million owed by Home Building Compensation for all the insurable building defects in Australian homes. And that is money that we, the taxpayers, will eventually have to payIt was all revealed in this story in the Sun-Herald which made us think, if that’s the level of defects in homes than can be insured – anything three storeys or under or any work costing $20,000 or over – how may defects are there in the high-rises that CAN’T be insured?Listen HereTh...
2021-04-2722 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Another U-Turn as Airbnb history repeatsApologies for subjecting you to another short-term letting vent, but after last week's state government schemozzle when the new holiday rental regulations were announced, then shelved, we thought we’d better have a look at what was going on.And it turns out it was a case of history repeating itself. Remember a couple of years ago when the then Planning Minister Anthony Roberts and former Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean were about to announce new NSW short-term letting regulations that would basically have handed the whole box and dice to Airbnb-style hosts on a plate?The microphones were plugged in...
2021-04-2028 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: States’ split is rental as anythingThis week, having survived a computer crisis on the home office front, we delve deeper into the differences between the way renters are treated in Victoria and NSW.In the same week that Victoria’s new rental laws come in, curbing “no reason” evictions of tenants, NSW Fair Trading confirms that they will be reinstated as soon as the post-Covid period is over in September.So why should property owners not have the right to end their tenancy leases when they want to? Why should they need to prove that their reasons are valid, such as showing that they have permiss...
2021-04-0625 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Meditations on a block of WellnessIn what turned out to be a fairly hectic week we hit a very welcome speedbump in the form of enforced rest and relaxation at a new apartment block launch, of all places.The apartment block was Portman on the Park in Sydney’s Green Square where Mirvac launched their latest concept with an evening of meditation, massage and mineral water.You can hear all about that and what’s so different about this project on the podcast where we also caught up with architects Tina Engelen who co-designed another iconic, environmentally conscious block, the Altair in Sydney's Kings Cross.List...
2021-03-3024 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Life savings lost thanks to dodgy dealingIn 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 do...
2021-03-2324 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Virtual commutes are transports of delightAre you over working from home? Does your formerly perfectly adequate apartment now seem tiny. Is your kitchen table too high and your laptop screen too small?Are you one of those people who gets up and dresses as if they were going to the office – then just goes to the spare room?Or do you take personal pride in how much of the day you can spend in your pyjamas?Importantly, and are you missing those moments of splendid isolation on your bike, bus or train that transport you mentally into work mode as your body is moved from home...
2021-03-1621 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Dogs banned but NCAT says OK to catsThere’s a few differences in this week’s podcast from previous editions.For a start, Sue is on the other end of a Zoom call as she takes advantage of easing travel restrictions to get out and promote her new book … and finds herself attacked by birds on the Gold Coast.Having survived that, we discuss the latest twist in the pets saga as celebrity dog owners are told they are living in a cats-only block (maybe that's why they call it NCAT).And the Tribunal Member decrees the recent Court of Appeals ruling that blanket pet bans are invali...
2021-03-0927 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Why we’re turning to ‘new terraces’What do you do when you want the shared responsibility of strata but don’t particularly want to live with people above and below you?You buy or rent a townhouse, which is the fancy-pants modern name for what we used to call terraces.It seems that while pre-sales and construction of apartments are going down, sales of townhouses are on the way up and in this week’s podcast, we discuss why that might be.Listen HereThen we turn our gazes south to Victoria where their new strata laws have just passed. OK, they won’t come into force until D...
2021-03-0221 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Pets (again!) with James ValentineEvery so often – about once a month – I get invited on to James Valentine’s Afternoons on ABC 702.Last week the topic was pets in apartments – partly because that was all anyone was talking about.So we had a couple of people ringing up with their pet questions and complaints, all of which has indirectly added to a pet-heavy Flat Chat website this week.And that was exacerbated by my response to a question about whether or not there was a guide to the best dogs for apartments.Listen Here“Oh, yes,” I blithely replied. “You’ll find it on the website.”I wa...
2021-02-2326 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Bad landlords and skinny buildingsThe Flat Chat wrap this week is taken up with three main topics.The first is a petition to parliament to create a blacklist of bad landlords … launched by someone who is a landlord herself.Victoria is about to get one next month and it seems only fair that, if NSW tenants can be put on a blacklist that makes it harder for them to get rentals, then bad landlords should also be named and shamed in the hope they sharpen up their ideas to get good renters.You can find links to the petition here.Listen HereOur second topic is...
2021-02-0920 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Unit prices stall and ropey reno regsHi, did you miss us? We took a little break last month but we are back with our new, improved Flat Chat Wrap podcast.We – Sue Williams and JimmyT – are now working on the basis that less is more. We are still going to talk about the apartment living issues of the day, large and small, to keep you informed and amused.But we’re going to put a clock on it so while our thoughts may occasionally wander down the odd tangent, our chat will never meander.We’re aiming for somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes per episode which is just long...
2021-02-0122 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: What a great year … for pets and rentersThis week’s podcast may be the first of 2021 but 2020 doesn’t get away that easily.Last year will be remembered in global politics as the year of Brexit, Trump, the Covid-19 Pandemic, and the Trump-rump. Democracy in the USA is hanging by a thread but it will survive.Talking about democracy, on a much more local level, we look back at the battle over “no-pets” by-laws and how it tore apart two apartment blocks, and made NCAT look pretty foolish too.Listen HereInevitably, we examine the entrails of holiday lets like Airbnb. In NSW, in particular, the slow drip feed of...
2021-01-0440 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Want chips with that (plus radio spot)?With Christmas rapidly approaching and Covid-19 closing in on us again, we thought about not doing a full podcast this week.A quick intro and replay of Jimmy’s most recent stint on the James Valentine’s afternoons on ABC Radio 702, and that ws going to be it.But once we got chatting, all sorts of topic came up, such as, what is this obsession with toilet roll every time there’s a hint of trouble on the horizon?Why do some people “need” to have 10 times as much as they could possibly use outside of a combination of the apocalypse...
2020-12-2246 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Reno regrets and free strata legal adviceIt’s very much a tale of two slices of strata in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast. To begin with, you can listen to two over-privileged, entitled professionals (us) whingeing about what went wrong … and right … when we decided to renovate both bathrooms in our flat at once.BOTH bathrooms? “When I was a lad we had a pothole in the road, and used gravel for toilet paper …” says one of Monty Python’s Yorkshiremen.Listen HereRegular readers of this website will have been following our reno (mis)adventures on this website for the past few weeks so we thought it was...
2020-12-1535 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Mascot in court and how to clinch a dealIn this week’s podcast we catch up with what’s happening at Mascot Towers as owners in the ill-starred building prepare for their day in court.Specifically, they will be pursuing legal action against the developers of the apartment block next door, construction of which, they claim, undermined the foundations of their block.Meanwhile they are facing tens of millions of dollars in defect rectification bills to the point where the repairs may cost more than the block is worth.And the people next door say they have pictures of cracks in the Mascot building before they'd so much as t...
2020-12-0844 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast: Crazy questions, architects with answersWe turn back the clock – but just a little – for this week’s podcast when we look at the weirdest and wackiest questions asked and problems presented on the Flat Chat Forum in recent months.And we have a long chat with Kathlyn Loseby, President of the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects as well as COO of Crone Architects.She’ll be talking about the importance of good architecture – and what architects can bring to a building that no other professional can.Listen HereFirst up, though, it’s our cavalcade of chaos starting with a strata manager who won’t le...
2020-12-0152 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast 101: Pets and some post-Covid plussesWith most of the worst of the pandemic behind us here in Australia – or, at least, the first and hopefully the last wave of infections – we thought we’d take a few moments in the podcast to discuss positives that have emerged from the months of lockdown and working from home.Apparently, according to a Zoom conference that Sue sat in on (and that’s a great leap forward, right there), technology has advance by five years in the past five months, including having your apartment block’s or office’s lift knowing you are leaving before you’ve even opened your doo...
2020-11-2446 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast 100: Upside of a stairlift stand-offThere are two major strands to this week’s podcast.The first stems from a question raised in the Flat Chat Forum, about an apartment owner who wants to install a stairlift – one of those seats that trundles up a staircase – in a narrow common property stairwell.It's for his elderly mother, so you have some sympathy, as you'd have for the other owners who had to squeeze past the rail every day.Listen HereNow the plusses and (many) minuses of this proposal are thrashed out in the Forum but here in the podcast, we have come up with a cunnin...
2020-11-1737 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast 71 – Redesigning flats for work and a legal view of solo meetingsSometimes the way we want to live influences architecture, sometimes architecture influences the way we live.There are still older blocks dotted around Sydney’s harbour suburbs where someone who wanted a penthouse with a view, constructed several floors of units for rent to support (in so many ways) the fabulous pad on the roof.Some original apartment blocks in our inner-cities have tiny kitchens because they originally had restaurants and dining rooms on their roofs (and dumb waiter pulley systems to deliver meals to those who didn’t want to leave their apartments).In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap...
2020-04-2835 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPodcast 70 – renos and what to wear when working from homeIn this week’s Flat Chat Wrap, Jimmy and Sue discuss the competing and often conflicting needs of those who are working from home and those who are working on their homes.On the one hand, there’s never been a better time to catch up on those little jobs – and some big ones – around the flat.People who live in houses are doing it, getting to project manage their own renovations. For apartment dwellers, it’s not so easy.And for people who are genuinely working from home, having their thoughts and Zoom conference calls interrupted by drilling, sawing and hammeri...
2020-04-2134 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPODCAST 57: Developer database – why bank computers could say “no”Sue Williams is back in the Flat Chat Wrap co-chair this week as we discuss the proposed Dodgy Developer Database announced by the NSW government last week.Sue reckons it can only be a good thing to get all that information but is concerned that it might all be too complicated for ordinary owners to understand.Jimmy points out that he doesn’t think it will ever see the light of day, and even if it does, ordinary people won’t have access to it to begin with, and will eventually only get to see it if they pay.“Outrageous!” says Sue...
2020-01-2927 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPFlat Chat Wrap #47 – Terror threats, buying big and a baffling raffleThis week, JimmyT and Sue Williams tackle subjects that range from the sinister to the sublimely ridiculous … with some practical advice for investors in between.Why won’t the government release the lists of the 444 buildings that have flammable cladding on them?Is it the risk of terrorism, as they say … or is it just potential vandalism … or the effect on property prices?Jimmy has his own conspiracy theory … and it sounds all too plausible.Then Sue explains why, when you are buying an investment, you should go for somewhere better than the place you live in.What!?! How does that work? ...
2019-11-0524 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPFlat Chat Wrap #31 – Tip of the defects iceberg and why it’s such a massive problemIn this week’s episode of the Flat Chat Wrap we look at the revelation that the Opal and Mascot towers “disasters” are just the tip of a very large apartment block defects iceberg.Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams have been writing about apartment block defects – and other, happier apartment-related issues – for more than 15 years.In this episode of the Flat Chat Wrap, Sue recalls the time more than a decade ago that a feature on defects almost cost her job, when a property writer with a close personal relationship with a developer, saw her expose on apartment block defects and called...
2019-07-0919 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPODCAST: When defect disaster warnings were covered upIn this week’s episode of the Flat Chat Wrap we look at the claims that the Opal and Mascot towers “disasters” are just the tip of a very large apartment block defects iceberg.This comes as no surprise to JimmyT and Sue Williams, who have been writing about apartment block defects – and other, happier apartment-related issues – for almost two decades, meeting a response that ranged from complete lack of interest to virtual censorship.In this episode of the Flat Chat Wrap, Sue recalls the time 15 years ago that a hard news feature on defects almost cost her job, when a (then) p...
2019-07-0919 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPPODCAST: Mascot Tower crisis brings defects closer to homeFor obvious reasons, our podcast this week is about the Mascot Tower crisis. We recorded the podcast before we were aware of the story in today's Financial Review revealing that the developer and builder of the property next door, as well as the local council, were already facing legal action because of disturbance caused by the construction of another residential tower in the adjoining lot.Anyway, our podcast explores a number of other issues, including what we can do to prevent this from happening again, and what we should do when it inevitably does.You can listen to the podcast jus...
2019-06-1819 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPJimmy and James discuss the new bans on no-pets by-lawsWe're back in the ABC studios to discuss 'no-pet' by-laws, among other things, and to take your calls.You can listen to the episode HERE.____________________________________________________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...
2018-10-2922 min
FLAT CHAT WRAPJimmy and James on kids playing, window rebels … and barbecuesIn JimmyT's (almost) regular spot on James Valentine's Afternoons on ABC 702, they field questions from listeners ... and have a quick chat about Jimmy's new book.____________________________________________________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 o...
2018-08-0924 min