Minding Their Business
What do you do when one of your neighbours decides to exploit shared amenities to run a business? Whether it’s personal training in your gym, turning your home into a…
Bring back the clamp
These are really just “edited highlights” from Flatchat readers’ responses. To read the original article and readers responses in full, please click on this link http://www.flatchat.com.au/archives/41 A few weeks ago,…
Defective law dumped
Pardon me while I do a small lap of honour round my office. Following a couple of calls from yours truly, the NSW Office of Fair Trading has promised to…
Power Games
Some are born to greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them … and some become chairman of their Owner’s Corporation. QUESTION: Can you direct me to a source of accessible…
Young and selfish
We groaned last week when we saw the furphy repeated, yet again, that there is a state law to stop people drying their laundry on their balconies. In fact, there…
No worries, mate
HERE’S ANOTHER GOOD NEWS STORY FROM FEBRUARY 2009 Obviously, I think living in apartments is great – otherwise I wouldn’t have lived in one for the past 20 years. But…
Lost in (parking) spaces
Just when we think we’ve covered every possible angle on the vexed issue of parking, along comes another twist in the battle with residents who have more cars than they…
Trampled underfoot by fitness freak
There’s nothing wrong with staying fit; even if your apartment block doesn’t have a gym there’s plenty of home gym equipment you can buy reasonably cheaply. But while you’re doing…
Future looks good … if you can see
Welcome back. This is the first Flat Chat of 2009 and I’d like to buck the doom and gloom and say that this year is going to be GREAT. There…
Pre-2104 columns
These are the raw versions of my Flat Chat columns written for the Sydney Morning Herald’s ‘Domain’ section. Some of the issues are specific to New South Wales, some are…
Is there a sanity clause for Christmas noise?
With Christmas just around the corner, and parties coming along in threes and fours like rush-hour buses, this is when we discover just how much give and take there really…
Are lawyers the worst neighbours?
Several years ago an American developer set out to build a gated community that was open to all ages, religions, races and professions … except lawyers. He argued that lawyers…