The Podcast takes a musical twist this week when we discuss the ear-bending plight of residents of four apartment blocks in the Sydney suburb of Meadowbank who have been subject to an opera singer practising his scales for 90 minutes every Sunday.

How bad can it be? The perp is clearly talented and may even think he’s doing his neighbours a favour by standing on his balcony belting out his do-re-mis, but really?

Oddly enough, music-loving Jimmy thinks hitting the high notes for a non-consenting audience is a bit of a low blow while self-confessed tin-ear Sue thinks it’s all in the ear of the beholder.

You can judge for yourself when we play a clip in the podcast or follow the links in the accompanying story HERE – and you can even vote on whether to call “encore” or shout “shut up!”.

Also in the Wrap this week, we look at why apartment rents are rising faster than houses’.

And while everyone else is focussed on the suburbs that are being pressured to allow more apartment blocks to be built, we take a swing through the councils that will be allowed to buck the trend in a review of NSW government policy.

That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

This week’s podcast is mostly devoted to embedded networks, what they are, why they can be good or bad, and what you can do to make them work for your strata scheme.

To that end, we chat to Joseph Arena of Embedded Networks Arena, a company that will analyse your embedded network contracts – e.g. for energy and hot water systems – and tell you how you can get a better deal.

This was recorded via Zoom so the audio may not be up to our usual standards but if you listen to the end of the segment, you will hear about a terrific offer for Flat Chat readers and listeners. You can read all about Embedded Network Arena on its website HERE.

Another link you might want to follow is to Amanda Farmer’s audio summary of the case she discussed in her live podcast last week. It’s an interesting case where the committee in a resort scheme pushed through a special levy and a by-law that would have benefitted a minority of strata owners to the detriment of the majority. You can find out what happened at NCAT, both in audio and print, HERE.

And the Forum is abuzz (sorry) with discussions about a townhouse resident who put a beehive in their garden, conveniently away from their own back door, but annoyingly close to their neighbour’s.

That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.
SPECIAL OFFER: Embedded Network Arena is offering Flat Chat followers a 10% discount off their standard ‘Embedded Network Review Reports’. they provide a comprehensive embedded network contract review & utility cost benchmarking for electricity, hot water, gas & other embedded utilities. To take advantage of this special offer, contact them HERE and use the Discount Code “Flat Chat Offer 2024”.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

The only story in strata in the past week has been the decision by Building Commissioner David Chandler to hang up his hard hat and retire in August.
So we thought the time was right to look at what he has achieved, the challenges he's faced - like being encourage by his then Minister to have a sit-down with a very dodgy developer - and the legacy he leaves behind for his successor.
He says his challenge for the last few months of his tenure is to get the message out there that there are more protections for consumers than there ever have been.
And you can see his point - people who haven't lived in strata before have zero interest in the stuff we discuss here.
But there is a strong message and it's worth spreading. He and we just need more people to listen.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

This second part of Lawyer In The Hotseat opens with an apology for promising a discussion on ebikes in last week's podcast, forgetting that it's actually in this, the second part (promise).
Otherwise our discussion with strata lawyer David Bannerman covers renovation by-laws and the value of by-laws that would stand up if challenged at a Tribunal but send out a signal about what is unacceptable even if it's legal.
We also look at strata managers acting unilaterally, the controversial Building Design Practitioner's Act and how it adds a lot to the cost of home renovations.
We look at who's responsible for repairing and replacing bathrooms in older blocks - especially when they have never been renovated.
And, yes, we discuss eBike and scooter batteries, especially in older less fire-resistant unit blocks.
And finally, for all the questions we couldn't get to, we point listeners to the very slick Bannermans Lawyers website.
That's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap.
,

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

As promised, this is the first part of the recording where JimmyT fires questions at leading strata lawyer David Bannerman.
Topics include:

• Does your strata manager have to give you access to the strata roll (including other owners' email addresses)? And what do you do if they don't.
• What are the new strata laws all about?
• What do you do about do-nothing strata committees.

All this and more in this week's Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

This week’s Flat Chat Wrap covers a lot of ground. including a prison cell in in a studio flat – seriously! – in the same small town in England where our very own Sue Williams cut her journalist teeth.

We take a long, hard and highly suspicious look at how real estate pictures are altered to make us think we’re getting something that just isn’t there. You'll find a link to the video HERE.

We get a preview of Jimmy’s “Lawyer in the Hot Seat” chat with strata lawyer David Bannerman – including whether or not strata managers have to let you see other owners’ email addresses and how the Design and Building Practitioners Act is making renovations a lot more expensive.

We hear about a strata manager who revealed that dubious insurance practices are more widespread than we thought – but then took a pop at Jimmy for writing “clickbait” articles.

And Jimmy wonders if he’s been blacklisted by the Strata Community Association … or is it the other way round? That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

It feels like the dust has settled a little too quickly on the Netsrata Scandal, as exposed by ABC TV. There has been no public statement on it from the state government or their professional body, Strata Community Australia (NSW).
But strata managers are hurting, as even the most cursory skim of LinkedIn posts will attest. The good operators know they are being tarred with the same brushes that have seen the SCA-NSW President resign - and it doesn't feel fair or good.
You could argue that they only have themselves to blame. Did they know what the bad actors in their industry were doing? And if they did, why didn't they ring that alarm bells?
Well, we know the answer to that. Whistleblowers soon find themselves out in the cold and out of work in this country.
That said, it was a senior strata manager who first brough the dodgy dealings of embedded networks to our attention. And an ex-employee of Netstrata contributed to the report that blew the lid off those shenanigans.
With all that in mind, we set out in this week's podcast to find a way forward for the strata management industry - some simple fixes that would restore some pride and confidence in the profession.
However, as we discovered, once you open any can of worms, there's a lot of wriggling going on.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

Are we building the wrong kind of apartments for families? There’s a very interesting report in the Sydney Morning Herald about a survey that suggests that the cookie-cutter apartment designs we see all around us may be fine for singles and couples but are all the wrong shapes and sizes for families with growing kids.

How can this be? For a start, a two-bed units – three-bedders are well outside the price range for most young families – are configured with a main bedroom, maybe with an ensuite (if you’re lucky) and a smaller room as the guest bedroom.

OK, Mum and Dad can give up the big room if they have two kids and let them share it (as they do in the SMH story) but surely it would make sense to have three smaller rooms and call it a family unit, or have more flexible internal configurations. More on that in the podcast.

We discuss the suggestion that we should be building more apartments over railway stations and rail lines.

We hear about Sue’s new book Run For Your Life, the true story about a family fleeing Russian oligarchs by hiding for three years in the Dampier Peninsula in the remote north of WA. What’s the connection with Flat Chat (apart from Sue)? Dad was structural engineer who was an expert in steel and glass (okay, a bit tentative).

If you are interested, the book’s first launch in Sydney (there are others in Perth, New Zealand and London) is on Wednesday April 17 from 7pm-8pm at the Mosman Library. Sorry, apparently you have to book in advance, ie asap, and pay for it too ($11 or concessions $9). Click HERE for more details to book.

The second Sydney launch is on Thursday May 2 from 2pm-3.30pm at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. This event is free but you also have to book asap in advance. Click HERE for details.

And finally our Great Escape this week follows Jimmy to Saigon, Vietnam, where he was “doing the Graham Greene thing” and finishing his new novel.

All that and more in the Flat Chat Wrap.

____________________________________________________


Flat Chat is all about apartment living, especially in Australia.
Find us on Facebook and Twitter and the Flat Chat website.
Send comments and questions to mail@flatchat.com.au.
Register to ask and answer questions about apartment living anonymously on the website.
Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.