Crackdown: compulsory training for committees
New laws tabled this week will force strata committee members to undergo training, levies in new blocks will have to be realistic and embedded network scams could see sales cancelled.
Podcast: Contracts, advice and rotting blocks
Jimmy and Sue give a qualified welcome to a new strata guide and discuss the criticism of strata management contracts and the claims about rotting blocks in Victoria.
One-sided SM contracts exposed… yet again
JimmyT recalls his first encounters with one-sided strata management contracts as a new ABC expose reveals that nothing much has changed in 20 years of complaints and unkept promises.
Contracts killer: Dodgy SCA deals targetted
Eminent construction lawyer and advisor to various state governments Bronwyn Weir has hit out at standard strata management contracts as "appalling, disgraceful and unfair.'
Hundreds of Vic blocks rotting from inside
Two years ago the ABC and Flat Chat reported that cladding remediation was revealing big problems with apartment blocks in Victoria. Now a government report claims half of the blocks…
Your guide to the new NSW Strata Living Guide
The NSW has released its new guide to strata living. JimmyT says it's good in parts but it's the bits that are missing that are a big concern.
Forum: Spare keys and emergency access
A reader asks, if you don't leave spare keys with someone, are you obstructing access to your flat in an emergency when you're not there?
ABC Radio slot races through listeners’ issues
JimmyT joins Dom Knight on ABC Afternoons to discuss listeners' questions, covering everything from cracking walls to cats in neighbouring flats.
Podcast: Potential noise annoys Toaster nimbys
Jimmy and Sue catch up with all the strata news, including objections to a 24/7 bar on the Harbour, a push to allow laundry drying on balconies and the loss…
Forum: Blindsided by succession flat sale ploy
The Forum has fired up with a vengeance this week with questions about chairs duping the owners and halting meetings. Then there's smoke drift, landscaping, fences, costs concerns and…
Clampdown: cures for strata’s parking disease
Queensland is the only one of the larger states where it is legal to clamp or tow illegal parkers on common property - but it's not the easy answer many…
Podcast: We find a $30k-a-night apartment
Jimmy and Sue's travels take them to a $30k a night apartment, another country's cladding crisis, unaffordability in a Socialist republic and the divisive debate on the housing shortage.