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PODCAST

FLAT CHAT WRAP

Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams

All about living in apartments (condos), from dealing with your committee to getting on with neighbours and – a dose of healthy skepticism about dubious developers. Please subscribe by clicking on one of the icons below, to take you to your favourite podcaster.

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All Episodes

22:51

New laws put strata cops on the beat

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/02/20

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 Dodgy contracts that could see off-the-plan sales rescinded might be being rewritten as we speak.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-ba...

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22:26

Secretive strata managers face $110k fines

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/02/13

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 mana...

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21:55

Contract killers - the strata law that's simply ignored

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/02/06

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...

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24:57

Strata pantomime villain takes centre stage

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/01/30

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 ...

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17:31

Economic hogwash, strata dog wash

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/01/16

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...

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16:24

Fast-track for flats puts Nimbys on notice

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2025/01/09

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 t...

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24:09

Plusses and perils of strata in 2025

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/12/19

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...

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24:32

Strata's naughty and nice in 2024

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/12/10

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 tribu...

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26:43

Sins of commission - why Minns has quit

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/12/05

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...

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24:39

Strata law changes, sliced and diced

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/11/27

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...

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25:03

Triple threat: Guide gaps, dodgy contracts and...

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/11/20

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 HE...

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22:13

Noise annoys as city wakes up to 24-hour bars and gyms

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/11/13

We’ve been catching up with all the strata stories that emerged while we were away – and there’s a lot of them, covering just about every aspect of apartment living.The plan to boost Sydney’s night time economy with 24/7 bar openings has alarmed well-heeled resident so Circular Quay (according to this video on the Sydney Morning Herald website).And there’s more angst over noisy gyms which we first highlighted in this podcast and Sue’s SMH story before we left for Europe.We discuss why strata ...

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13:13

Talk about unaffordable - the $30k-a-night apartment

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/11/07

Can you imagine paying $30,000 a night for a pad in London? Yes, that’s thirty thousand dollars, in case you thought it was a misprint.And this is in a city that has its share of homelessness and has had to introduce a 90-night limit on short-term holiday lets to combat the drain on residential properties caused by platforms like Airbnb and their ilk.Also in Britain, a government survey has revealed how many previously unidentified apartment blocks still have potentially fatal flammable cladd...

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23:32

London calling with renters' advice, unit prices and...

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/10/30

Your intrepid Flat Chat team’s travels take them to London this week but that doesn’t mean they have lost touch with what’s happening in Australia.For a start a boost to funding for tenants’ supports agencies has been announced by the NSW state government. That will no doubt be very useful when the inevitable confusion arises from the raft of changes to tenancy laws, passed by state parliament last week, come into effect in the new year.That doesn’t just help tenants. As Jimmy says, if ...

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22:58

New commissioner named, Netstrata dodge exposed

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/10/24

This week’s podcast comes to you from less-than-sunny Glasgow, which may explain the slightly different sound quality.But the chat is up to its usual standards as we speculate on what new Building Commissioner James Sherrard will bring to the job as he fills the substantial shoes recently vacated by the redoubtable David Chandler.Then we have a look at the recent revelations about Netstrata allegedly slipping old receipts and invoices into their strata schemes’ portals. This has led to s...

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28:14

Pumping irony - Airbnb on defensive, pro gym offensive

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/10/16

There are so many issues it strata that are “he said, she said” - or “they said, they said”, to put it in a more contemporary context – that the temptation to not take sides is sometimes overwhelming.But consider the plight of an owner on the first floor of a block who has a noisy commercial gym operating from 6am until after 7pm every weekday.Then add in the fact that most of her strata committee’s members live several floors away from the noise are undisturbed and therefore unperturbe...

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30:42

Buyers locked out of flawed strata gem

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/10/10

There’s a lot of anger and frustration behind this week’s edition of the Flat Chat Wrap.The fury on display on a recent episode of A Current Affair on Nine is both clear and understandable.Prospective owners in the Sapphire apartments in Gosford on the Central Coast of NSW had been told to be ready to move in, only to discover that work has stopped on the near-complete block and there is no occupancy certificate.The developer has long ago gone into receivership and the Receiver says they don’...

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20:01

Scary smart: Could AI kill Flat Chat?

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/10/03

When it comes to getting your attention, there’s nothing quite like being warned that the latest innovation could put you out of business.Okay, we’ve heard it all before, but imagine if a friend was able to access a reliable response to a strata question instantly, wherever you happen to be. And we’re not talking technical, jargon-ridden geeky stuff. If you everyone was able to get an instant answer to a normal question, like what to do about an annoying but scary neighbour, that could p...

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30:41

Conflabs not conflict the answer says top SM

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/09/25

It’s been a tough few months for strata managers, especially the good ones – and there are many of them – who have been trying to do the best they can for their customers while the industry as a whole has been exposed to strident and mostly valid criticism.The irony for the honest and decent players is that they have been copping the additional scrutiny and suspicions directed at the whole industry without reaping the financial benefits of their vertically integrated, conflicted and less scru...

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30:27

Another strata trap sprung - dealing with defects

FLAT CHAT WRAP ·

2024/09/19

We start this week’s podcast by looking back at the previous episode which has broken all our records for regular downloads.It’s not surprising really, given that it was a chat with ABC TV Four Corners investigative reporter Linton Besser about how and why he pulled together the Strata Trap report.At more than 450 downloads after only a week, this one will run and run, as they say in showbiz.This week we look at another of strata’s big problems – defects – through the eyes of Acting Building ...

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