It’s another big week on the podcast front with a lot of serious – and not so serious – issues to discuss.First up we look at this story about how the radical renovation of unused storage space in a Bondi block has allowed the owners to upgrade the whole 1930s building with new electrics, plumbing, roof, balconies and terraces.This, we learn, is what the other side of the “forced sale” laws allowed – a majority of owners to make the most of their collective assets and give their 90-year-old buil...
Sep 22, 2020•55 min
We have one of our longest ever Flat Chat Wrap podcasts this week, but it’s all good so brace yourselves, pace yourselves and buckle up for some interesting material from our multitude of guests (well, three, to be exact).First there is the redoubtable Karen Stiles who is the Executive Officer at the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) and, as such, has a seat at the table for some of the most critical discussions being made about NSW strata in decades.Karen has come on to the podcast to explain ho...
Sep 15, 2020•53 min
This week’s podcast takes a look at an area of strata life where strata managers could be breaking the law … because apartment-owning clients want them to.We’re talking about email addresses which, if they are part of your strata scheme’s records, should be available for inspection to all owners.But many owners – and a fair few tenants – don’t want their email addresses to be available to their neighbours or other owners.Why? Is it a case of simply not wanting to know what’s going on, so we don’...
Sep 08, 2020•41 min
We have a bumper edition of the Flat Chat Wrap podcast for you this week with a ton of material and some new voices too.You might want to ration your listening - for some people there are two commutes worth of pod in this episode.First off, we catch up with the amendment to the NSW strata Act that we flagged briefly last week, which would ban any apartment block from having a by-law that said pets weren’t allowed.How this came about is detailed in this story but, in a nutshell, there was a propo...
Sep 01, 2020•50 min
It’s a case of too many Ps on the pod this week when we discuss your participation, the Hyperbole Towers podcom, pet petitions and payment for strata committee members.Let’s get to participation first. We want to hear your voices, literally, so send us a question or a suggestion for a discussion topic as an audio file – record it on your smartphone – and we’ll try to include it in the podcast and respond to it too.The format should be something like: “This is Jimmy from Darlinghurst and I was wo...
Aug 25, 2020•28 min
Were going flat out to lift the gloom in this week in the Flat Chat Wrap.First we go behind the scenes of the much heralded and long-awaited (by JimmyT, anyway) Podcom – podcast sitcom – which we are now calling Hyperbole Towers.Why “Hyperbole?” Because every new apartment block has some sort of exaggerated name, although not always creating the image the developers might hope for.For instance, we think The Babylon, for all its gardens, might conjure up slightly sleazier images, especially in th...
Aug 18, 2020•43 min
It’s here! The long-awaited podcom (podcast sitcom) set in a dysfunctional apartment block’s strata committee is live and ready for your ears.The premise of this audio comedy, Hyperbole Towers, is as simple as it’s believable. The strata scheme has, thanks to a stuff-up by the secretary, accidentally changed its by-laws so that they MUST hold their meetings on Zoom (rather than CAN do so).Add in characters who work from home in their underwear, use “you’re breaking up” as their fall-back get-out...
Aug 18, 2020•23 min
We cover a lot of ground in this week’s podcast … and by “a lot of ground” we mean pretty much the whole planet.First, we take a look a the recent 60 Minutes report which examined the progress being made by NSW building commissioner David Chandler in trying to make sure no one in the future suffers the same heart-breaking disasters as the residents of Mascot Tower.It’s a surprisingly well put together report - commercial TV usually doesn’t do too well on complex issue like strata defects.And it ...
Aug 11, 2020•44 min
This week we get tangled up in the wiring as we examine the effect of Zoom meetings and electronic voting on the democratic processes of strata committees ... and the House of Lords.The chat was sparked by this forum post which alleges all sorts of skullduggery – okay, maybe not skullduggery but it suggests that a Zoom-based AGM was used to push through an excessively expensive window replacement contract.And it seems like some people may be taking advantage of the pandemic to sneak things past ...
Aug 04, 2020•40 min
This week’s podcast is inspired by a question on our Forum asking what to do about two office-bearers who have taken bricks out of common property walls so as to install integrated bookshelves … with the predictable effect that has on noise insulation, not to mention fire safety. You can read the original post and responses here. All of which leads to a discussion about the dumb (and inconsiderate) things people do when they haven’t got the message that they don’t own the four walls around their...
Jul 28, 2020•35 min
It’s another showbag of conflict, calm and coronavirus craziness on the Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week.First, inspired by a question from our Forum, we discuss what you can do when someone who shouldn’t even be at a strata committee meeting – his daughter is the lot owner – bullies the other members.Our suggested remedies range from using existing rules – non-members shouldn’t speak unless the committee votes to allow it - to standing orders that empower the secretary to “name” disruptive elem...
Jul 21, 2020•39 min
If you are up to your eyes in paint, tiles and taps – or even better, just looking through the brochures as you prepare the domestic make-over you can’t put off any longer – you could do worse than listen to this week’s podcast.We’ve Zoomed in on interior designer Stephanie Bungard to discover the easiest and most effective way to make your apartment look fresh and inviting.For instance, do you know what colours are popular these days because they are calming?And if you’re looking to freshen up ...
Jul 14, 2020•38 min
In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast we encounter the best and worst in apartment living, from negative equity in off-the plan purchases, to multiple tenants causing parking chaos in a block that simply doesn’t know how to enforce their own by-laws.In between, as some positive relief, we chat to an architect who won four gongs at the recent NSW Architects award, including for a revolutionary high-end high-rises, as well as an equally ground-breaking boarding house.Off-the-plan painBut first the...
Jul 07, 2020•46 min
In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast, in the run-up to the Australian architectural awards, we talk about some of the innovative apartment block designs that made it the short-list.For a start, there’s the Verve towers in Newcastle which offer more corner units because it’s two slim towers rather than one solid one. Judging by the above picture, it’s two slices rather than two fingers (as Jimmy suggests in the podcast), but the fact that it costs more to build is offset by the ability of the de...
Jun 30, 2020•45 min
It’s a bumper edition of the Flat Chat Wrap this week, boosted by an extract from JimmyT’s guest spot on James Valentine’s Afternoons on ABC radio.But first Jimmy and Sue revisit the worst apartments they have ever seen, inspired by stories of the block in Auburn, Sydney, that prompted Building Commissioner David Chandler to seek and get the most comprehensive changes to building and planning laws the state has seen for generations.But for Jimmy and Sue, it all brings back memories of apartments...
Jun 23, 2020•49 min
After what has felt like several weeks of doom and gloom, we are looking on the bright side in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap podcast.First of all we chat about Sue’s story in Domain about a new mixed development where affordable rentals will be mixed in with full-price apartments … and you will never know who’s paying full fare and who isn’t.The apartments will be identical so there will be no discrimination … unlike other efforts where the affordable units had a different front door from the other...
Jun 16, 2020•44 min
There are just two main discussions in this week’s podcast but the topics are both hugely significant in very different ways.In the first we look at the new powers given to NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler to deal with cowboys in the building industry (hence the cowboy music at the top of the podcast).In the second we hear from relationship counsellor and psychologist Amanda Gordon about how to deal with the pressures of being cooped up with your partner in an apartment during this pande...
Jun 09, 2020•37 min
There’s plenty of variety in this week’s forum, from pets to concieges, and from tourism promotions to a survey that suggests lower-income individuals and families do it toughest in apartment blocks.The Podcast opens with an examination of the Tribunal Appeals Panel’s ruling that strata blocks can have “no-pets” by-laws after all.The verdicts issued last week were the results of two appeals against previous decisions by the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal that by-laws banning pets outright wer...
Jun 02, 2020•38 min
We seem to be so caught up in the day-to-day of avoiding or dealing with the coronavirus, so it’s refreshing to know that some people are thinking of a future way beyond that.In this week’s podcast, Sue Williams revisits a story about an ambitious vision for a brand new city planned for the area near the new airport at Badgerys Creek.If the architects and planners have their way, it will be self-sustaining in energy and water and will even grow enough food to export to other areas.Is it a pipe d...
May 26, 2020•44 min
What is a strata lawyer’s job? That’s the question we ask in the Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week.Is it to find a reasonable solution, based on strata law, so that all sides can feel that they have been treated fairly (even if their client has to concede some ground)?Or is it to go in all guns blazing, threatening and bullying the other party, using hypothetical situations where all the “ifs and ands” are lined up to make the target of their intimidation fear they could lose their home, not just...
May 19, 2020•40 min
It’s an extra long Flat Chat Wrap this week, so strap yourselves in.First of all, there’s a discussion about how our pets could be getting stressed from getting too much attention.Apparently dogs and, especially, cats just need to be left alone sometimes, especially when they aren’t used to you hanging around the house all day.Resist the temptation to pat your napping cat on the head every time you walk past, says Sue Williams.And, of course, sleeping dogs should be left to lie.Then we have a ch...
May 12, 2020•48 min
Are you a gym junkie, hanging out for those palaces of pain, sweat and tears to re-open?Or are you just coming to the gradual conclusion that binge-watching TV while binge-eating corn chips and guacamole will come with a reckoning (somewhere around your waistline), some day soon.Well, if you're going to get moving, there's no time like the present - and time may be something of which you have plenty. So this week the podcast looks at the kind of exercise you could and probably should be doing in...
May 05, 2020•38 min
Sometimes 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 syst...
Apr 28, 2020•36 min
In 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 ...
Apr 21, 2020•35 min
This week’s Flat Chat Wrap has just about everything; pets, tradies, TV shows set in apartments and, of course, Airbnb - plenty to keep your spirits up through the Lockdown.Before we get to Jimmy’s rant about Airbnb (Sue says he is “obsessed”), there are other issues you might want to wrap your headphones around.For instance, did you know you can foster a pet, and that’s foster, rather than adopt, which of course you can do too.But it seems there is a need for people who suddenly have the time a...
Apr 14, 2020•38 min
In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap. Jimmy and Sue look at the wealth of good advice about how to get through this crisis without the whole system falling around our ears.We log into a comprehensive newsletter that covers everything from managing facilities to online meeting etiquette for these days of Zoom and Skype.Even if your block is not managed by our sponsors Strata Choice, you can access their Covid-19 Update page which is full of valuable advice and information.Levies lossesAt the same time a...
Apr 07, 2020•36 min
In this week’s extra-long Flat Chat Wrap, obsession with coronavirus is spreading like, well, a virus. Jimmy and Sue discuss how it may be having a crippling effect on that other viral sensation from recent years … Airbnb.Not only are their potential guests staying home, whether or not they want to, there was the decision by Airbnb head office to waive all cancellation fees, plus NSW hosts are about to be hit with another blow … new laws coming in next week mean unit owners will be able to pass ...
Mar 31, 2020•38 min
In this week’s Flat Chat Wrap, Jimmy and Sue discuss Australia's coronavirus lockdown and what it means to people living in apartments.There’s the whole issue of returned travellers settling in to 14 days of self-isolation and whether or not they really will wear masks when they pass through common property, as government health measures demand.We look at lifts and whether or not we should travel in them with strangers. And then there are gyms and pools, with news that some apartment blocks are ...
Mar 24, 2020•36 min
In this week’s Podcast, Jimmy and Sue examine the plusses and minuses in the new NSW rental laws, which tilt things in tenants’ favour but don’t go all the way.For instance, tenants will be able to make changes to their rented properties – subject to approval that can’t reasonably be refused – and they’ll be able to demand minimum standards of habitation.They’ll know what their break fees will be if they choose to end the lease and leave early, and they’ll have to be informed about anything sign...
Mar 17, 2020•35 min
JimmyT and Sue discuss his long chat with the building commissioner, what you can do to avoid coronavirus in your apartment block and how Sue learned about the great Australian toilet roll panic, all over the newspapers ... in India.If you want to get new episodes of the Flat Chat Wrap and as soon as they are posted, just subscribe to one of the links underneath the player at the top of this page … it’s completely free! And if you enjoy the podcasts, please share with a friend, (especially in st...
Mar 10, 2020•28 min
