Picture this – rogue parkers in the frame
Can cars be camera shy? A question of parking paparazzi comes this week comes from a Flat Chat regular who wonders if he’s been breaking the law in his long-running campaign to drive off rogue parkers....
View ArticleWho does the rental agent work for?
QUESTION: I have a concern with the property agent where I rent. Whilst a nice enough chap, he is terribly unprofessional and it seems like he is only interested in the rental commission. I thought he...
View ArticleBad landlord and a broken family
You don’t hear about squatters much these days but this lengthy saga involves free-range occupants of a unit and the problems caused when a landlord won’t get involved. It concerns a father, his...
View ArticleSize matters for a great dog
We got a message the other day from a reader who has been given permission by her landlord to have a dog and the apartment block she’s renting in has a pet-friendly policy … so far, so good. But there...
View ArticleTenants with pets – UNWS wants YOU!
Hot on the paws of our apartment living great Dane story comes news of a world first survey of pets in rented properties. We love a statistic – did you know 20 percent of pets in rented homes are kept...
View ArticleYes, you CAN clamp
There are many myths around what you can and can’t do about rogue parking in strata schemes, as there are around much of strata life. ‘You can’t put stickers on car windshields in case the driver...
View ArticleUnit block on wrong track
‘Close to transport’ is a big selling point for many homes – but you can be too close. Residents of one block of units in Sydney’s Surry Hills have discovered they are in the way of the proposed light...
View ArticleTenants put out by rubbish rota
Imagine you have settled into your new rented apartment and you get a notice slipped under your door saying you are required to take your turn putting out the communal rubbish bins every, say, six...
View ArticleWindow of opportunity for child safety
There are some very good reasons for the plan to force limiters to be fitted on to strata windows to stop young kids falling out of them. The fact that strata buildings tend to be higher is obvious...
View ArticleSold out by short notice
QUESTION: I want to end my fixed term tenancy agreement because the landlord wants to sell the premises. They did not tell me this before entering into the tenancy agreement. They just told me on the...
View ArticleForgetful residents fined for over use of lifts
Is this energy conservation gone mad? A high-rise building in Sydney has just announced what amounts to fines for residents who forget things in their flats and then have to go back for them. “This is...
View ArticlePet by-laws around Australia
First of all, let’s be clear on this – while there are ‘model’ by-laws that govern all sorts of things, including pets, they differ from state to state and even within one jurisdiction, they can vary...
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Two routes for disputes
If you want to read an editorial piece explaining the ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ ways to pursue complaints and by-law breaches and resolve disputes in strata in NSW. That piece now resides HERE. Having...
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Split bills too hard to swallow
“Let’s just divvy it up,” is the civilised way for friends to pay for a meal. But it doesn’t work so well when it comes to covering the running costs of an apartment block. A Sydney owner has been told...
View ArticleBy-laws not optional for tenants
Do tenants in NSW really have to obey by-laws, wonders Flat Chat website regular KiwiPaul. “In NSW the tenancy agreement only states that tenants have to be given a copy of the bylaws,” he says. “There...
View ArticleShort term pain, long term gain
Our recent story about how the Building Appeals Board in Victoria had decreed that short-term rentals in residential apartment blocks are in contravention of the building codes and are therefore...
View ArticleGrouse over spouses on EC
‘Can a husband and wife both be on the executive committee,’ writes Kenuppa on the Forum. The simple answer is yes in NSW, but no in Victoria and Queensland. However, as with all things in StrataLand,...
View ArticleConfusion reigns in scramble parking
Should parking be less of a scramble for owners than tenants? A Flat Chat reader has written to us about his unit block where he parks his car in an area designated for residents but where the spaces...
View ArticleHeavy levies Vs the loan arrangers
Stories of unit blocks having no money in the bank when they need repairs are legion. There has long been a culture in strata of leaving repairs to “the next guy.” So it’s unusual to come across a...
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