It’s a problem with any bureaucracy, anywhere in the world – and it’s also the reason strong figures in politics prevail – doing the right thing the “right way” takes a lot longer than just getting stuff done when it’s most needed. The principle of “it’s easier to apologise than it is to get permission” gets things moving but it also leaves the door wide open for knee-jerk, half-baked solutions. Somewhere in the middle are logical, sensible decisions that can be made quickly and seen through eff...
Jul 10, 2025•17 min•Season 8Ep. 25
Don’t be put off by a tinkle or two of classical music at the start of this week’s podcast. It’s just a small acknowledgement of the fact that we are in Warsaw, where Polish-born piano master composer Frederic Chopin was raised. What do Warsaw and Gdansk have to do with apartments? Heaps as it turns out. Having been flattened by the Nazis during the Warsaw uprising of 1944, the city was completely restored to its former glory by Soviet overlords after WWII. And you can take a guess at what the r...
Jul 02, 2025•21 min•Season 8Ep. 24
This week we’ve taken the podcast overseas as we’re recording on a cruise ship off the coast of Norway. But it gives us an opportunity to look at one of the vexed questions of living in strata in Australia. You may not know this but there is already one city in Australia that has rent controls. Do they work? Do they keep rents low or just set a benchmark for rent hikes at every opportunity. We take advantage of a stop-over in Amsterdam to find out how rent controls work there – where 45 per cent...
Jun 25, 2025•13 min•Season 8Ep. 23
Last week Sue dropped a bomb into a discussion about new strata laws in NSW, one of which will invalidate by-laws that block sustainability changes because they would alter the look of the building. Does this mean the end of by-laws that forbid drying laundry on balconies? Surely not using a tumble dryer and instead using the wind and sun is a sustainability issue? And, if it is, doesn't that mean, at the very least, out-of-date laundry bans can be changed with a simple majority, meaning that a ...
Jun 15, 2025•24 min•Season 8Ep. 22
If you've been hiding under your bed - and who isn't tempted these days? - you may not have heard that NSW is about to see a second tranche of strata law reforms become a reality on July 1. What are the new laws and what do they mean? We invited Robert Anderson, President of SCA-NSW, the state's professional body for strata managers and service providers, on to the podcast to explain some of them. We discussed the fact that strata contracts will come under Federal consumer protection laws for th...
Jun 12, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 21
Imagine if you could build apartments in half the time at 15 per cent less cost and a guarantee of no waterproofing, fire safety or structural defects. ‘Tell ’im he must be dreamin’,” say strata’s Darryl Kerrigans. Apartment blocks take longer to build than ever, cost more, and fire and waterproofing are still endemic defects across the industry. Enter Wayne Larson of PT Blink who is already constructing hundreds of new blocks with the promise that the process will be faster, less costly and wit...
Jun 05, 2025•24 min•Season 8Ep. 20
As many of you may already know, every second Tuesday, JimmyT goes on ABC Radio with James Valentine on his Afternoon show to chat about apartments. Last week, Jimmy and James took calls from listeners about what you can and can't put on balconies, compulsory training for strata committees, tradies who block car spaces, and car lifts that break down. They also heard from one gentleman who hates strata and everything to do with it. As usual, it's a lively segment, so we thought you might like a t...
May 29, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 19
In this second part of Lawyer in the Hot Seat, recorded last week, strata legal eagle David Bannerman fields questions from Flat Chat's Jimmy Thomson about a range of issues, starting with what is vexatious litigant and how do you deal with them? Then there's the matter of disputes between neighbours and whether or not the strata committee should get involved - and what they can and should do if they go down that road. We look at embedded networks, how they are used to rip off apartment buyers, ...
May 21, 2025•28 min•Season 8Ep. 18
In what has become an annual event here on Flat Chat, this week we were invited on to a webinar run by leading strata lawyer (and Flat Chat sponsor) David Bannerman for the Q&A session that we call Lawyer in the Hot Seat. In it we discuss such diverse issues as Lithium battery safety, a Vegepod balcony plant system that's been banned becasue it's not in keeping with the look of the building, the surprisingly widespread problem of mould and explore the vexed question of underperforming commit...
May 15, 2025•35 min•Season 8Ep. 17
The week’s podcast covers a wide array of topics, from your thoughts on strata committee training, and the ups and downs of the property market to common myths about strata managers. And we’ll throw in a reference to photography as well. We have a look at Amanda Farmer’s survey into strata owners’ thought on training for strata committee members. We won’t do too many spoilers but it’s worth hearing what you, the owners and tenants really want. Then we look at how volatile the building industry h...
May 08, 2025•27 min•Season 8Ep. 16
The Wrap is back with a look at sustainable apartments and the reality of spending a bit more to make a unit cheaper to live in. The latest message is that even if the average ‘green’ unit costs $11k more, it will save you heaps of money… and salve your conscience too. We also uncover two worrying trends in one of our states where developers are loading up strata committees with their employees – ignoring any allegations of obvious conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, apartment owners seem blissful...
May 01, 2025•26 min•Season 8Ep. 15
Did you know that getting on for 4.5 million Australians live in strata? And who do you think comprises the single largest demographic group, from singles and couples through to one-parent families? Can you even take a wild guess at the total value of strata properties in Oz, or what percentage of strata schemes don’t have strata managers? This week we take a deep dive into the latest Australasian (it includes NZ) Strata Insights report from UNSW and SCA. By the way, we got ourselves into a bit ...
Apr 17, 2025•21 min•Season 8Ep. 14
There's a lot going on in the strata sphere this week, starting with the Sydney Morning Herald's big expose on building defects. It's well worth reading but it's funny how every time a new reporter writes about this stuff, it's treated as if it's just been discovered. Speaking as people who have been on this beat for two decades, we are just glad that the issues are being aired again. Meanwhile strata managers nationally want to know why apartment buildings have been excluded from the multi-bill...
Apr 10, 2025•24 min•Season 8Ep. 13
We’d love to ignore the election but we can’t, so this week we look at what our nation’s political parties are offering apartment buyers and renters as we hurtle towards polling day. Everybody agrees we need more housing – and that means more apartments – but the policies differ, including one that an economist has dubbed “the worst economic policy of the 21st century.” And we look at Victoria where the state government is pushing through a no-nimby policy to force councils to accept low-rise ap...
Apr 03, 2025•26 min•Season 8Ep. 12
We are getting into two of the topics that cause most angst in apartment living, this week: pets and buying property. Firstly, we take a spin around the question of landlords in NSW no longer being able to ban renters’ pets for no good reason – and how that will affect the more than 50 per cent of apartment residents who are tenants. This is a question I asked in the Sydney Morning Herald : Will our apartment blocks suddenly be awash with furry friends? Or will property investors – confronted by...
Mar 27, 2025•23 min•Season 8Ep. 11
Last week we said that Strata Community Association NSW - the states' strata managers' professional body - was in disarray. Objecting to that negative characterisation, NSW President Robert Anderson agreed to come on to the podcast and answer a few questions. We had no shortage of those. For instance, we asked what the changes at SCA-NSW are. Has SCA-NSW been getting it wrong? Is there a new philosophy or culture, following changes on the SCA-NSW board? Are the changes in the standard agency agr...
Mar 20, 2025•30 min•Season 8Ep. 10
This week we look back at what has been described by some lawyers as one of the most significant legal decisions of the 21st Century – right up there with Donald Trump’s court losses. We are talking about the “Jo Cooper” decision five years ago which said strata schemes couldn’t impose blanket bans on pets. So many strata schemes have pets these days that it feels like dog and cat ownership is almost compulsory – and no, the sky hasn’t fallen in and so far, no frail or elderly person has been sa...
Mar 13, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 9
The long-awaited report into what has become known as the Netstrata Scandal came out last week – too late for the podcast – so we bring it to you in all its glory this week. Fair Trading NSW have, unusually for them, hopped in with a fairly strident comment and Netstrata has responded with vehement denials of wrong-doing and assurances that anything than needed fixing has been fixed. You can find our report on the McGrathNicol findings HERE , the McGrathNicol report HERE , Fair Trading’s respons...
Mar 06, 2025•24 min•Season 8Ep. 8
This week’s podcast looks at the renewed concern about the effect of short-term holiday lets on affordable housing, following City of Sydney’s request to the state government to change the laws to curb Airbnb and its ilk. Last week CoS said about 1000 homes would come back into the residential rental market in central Sydney alone if the government put limits on commercial STHL operators. And we hear rumours that a Victoria-style tax is being considered, with the proceeds going to build new home...
Feb 27, 2025•23 min•Season 8Ep. 7
The podcast this week is almost entirely taken up with the new laws that passed the other day in the NSW parliament. We won’t see most of them kick in until later in the year, but the effects could be immediate. Dodgy contracts that could see off-the-plan sales rescinded might be being rewritten as we speak. Building managers and strata committee chairs might well be asking what they have to change to fulfil requirements to act in the best interests of strata schemes. Developers’ low-ball estima...
Feb 20, 2025•23 min•Season 8Ep. 6
In this week’s podcast we wonder whether the announcement of fines for strata managers who don’t reveal the various deals and relationships they have with developers and service providers signals a sea change in how NSW Fair Trading regards strata professionals who play fast and loose with the facts. Quite clearly, this is a response to the revelations last year about how Netstrata allegedly hid insurance commissions from its clients. But is it enough? Netstrata is not the biggest strata managem...
Feb 13, 2025•22 min•Season 8Ep. 5
In this week’s podcast we ask why it is that, while the so-called Arrow decision has established that pre-sale strata contracts are invalid, some developers can get away with signing them. As raised by our friend Francesco Andreone at GoStrata , what needs to be done to the laws to stop this pernicious exploitation of strata owners’ lack of knowledge and experience? And why do we apartment owners have to risk our money in taking developers to court to re-litigate these cases every time they turn...
Feb 06, 2025•22 min•Season 8Ep. 4
It seems strata may have a new pantomime villain (like we need one). This week we look at multi-millionaire developer of fancy pants apartment blocks Tim Gurner. He once shocked an economic conference by saying the country needs 40-50 per cent unemployment. If that wasn’t bad enough it’s alleged he was the first public figure to draw parallels between young people eating smashed avocado and not being able to afford to buy a home. Now this Melbourne developer of luxury apartments, and some of his...
Jan 30, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 3
With half of Australia still in holiday or hangover mode, and half of Sydney stuck on a railway platform somewhere, this is a short and (we hope) sweet Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week. First, we look at a new trend in affordable and comfortable co-living, which already exists in two completed blocks in Sydney, with another one on the way. Then there’s the revelation that the price gap between houses and apartment narrowing dramatically, as houses get a bit cheaper and apartments get dearer. And...
Jan 16, 2025•18 min•Season 8Ep. 2
We are back in the saddle for the new year with the news that the NSW government has come up with a new way of tackling the bureaucracy and red tape that’s holding back housing construction – by adding what looks like another level of bureaucracy and red tape. To be fair, the intentions are good. Maybe more really is less, and the new Housing Delivery Authority will accelerate the construction of “State Significant Developments”, especially in areas ripe for development but where Nimbys rule the...
Jan 09, 2025•16 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Looking forward to 2025 involves a certain amount of looking back. So we wonder this week what will happen, if anything, as a result of the long-delayed outcomes of investigations into Netstrata in particular or strata management in general. And we look at the proposed new strata laws for NSW. Jimmy speculated that the least likely to make it all the way is the plan to bring strata contracts under Australian Consumer law. Why? Because the parties with the most to lose – Strata Community Australi...
Dec 19, 2024•24 min•Season 7Ep. 50
From the scandals around Netstrata - and the harsh scrutiny all strata managers have faced as a consequence - to the departure of Building Commissioner David Chandler, 2024 was a huge year in strata. We look at those events as well as the roller-coaster rides for apartment owner clients of two now notorious strata managers who have found it just too easy to convince NCAT members to do exactly what they want, rather than what apartment owners need. In fact, we ask the question, is the NCAT tribun...
Dec 10, 2024•25 min•Season 7Ep. 49
This week we say farewell to former Strata Commissioner John Minns who has decided to quit, despite a months-long inquiry into allegations of conflict of interest finding nothing untoward. Jimmy had a long chat with him (off air) which he relates in the podcast, covering his frustrations during his tenure and his fears for the future – not least who will take over his role. The we turn our sights on NCAT – the NSW Tribunal which seems to be doing more to undermine efforts to build confidence in ...
Dec 05, 2024•27 min•Season 7Ep. 48
Our deadlines meant we missed the chance to talk about the new strata laws proposed for NSW in last week’s podcast but that has given us time to think about the proposals and what they mean. For instance, is compulsory training of strata committee members a good or bad thing? Will fear of having sales contracts rescinded deter developers from using embedded networks to save money and cheat their apartment buyers? Will heavy fines stop them from underestimating levies to make their apartment sale...
Nov 27, 2024•25 min•Season 7Ep. 47
Three big stories get most of our attention in this week’s podcast. Firstly there’s the publication of the new Guide to Strata Living, which earns some praise, but a few brickbats from JimmyT. You can judge for yourself HERE, where there are also links to the actual guide for you to download. Then there’s the recent attack on unfair strata management contracts by eminent construction lawyer Bronwyn Weir. And, once you’ve listen to the podcast, you might want to read more about it HERE and HERE (...
Nov 20, 2024•25 min•Season 7Ep. 46
