Recent News
RESIDENTS in flats and other strata buildings are demanding the State Government reintroduce clamping and towing of illegally parked cars to stop protracted legal and sometimes physical disputes they say are turning apartment car parks into battle grounds.
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A WOMAN who gardened in the nude and someone who stabled a horse in a townhouse are among hundreds of bizarre strata complaints in NSW.
Other disputes involve an owner breeding trout in an indoor pool and a man who was ordered to urinate on the side of a toilet bowl.
We are blessed with a sunny climate and enough space to enjoy a relaxed lifestyle that is the envy of many. But single-house communities are becoming a threatened species. Attractive suburbs with flowers and foliage are being overrun by concrete and bitumen. Bewildered long-time residents find themselves in the shadows of unit blocks.
High density is a central feature of plans being developed for the land around stations on the future metro lines, but the supporting authorities are unable to prove that high density is better for society or the environment. There is evidence that it makes things worse, not better, in at least six ways.
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A WARNING has been sounded for developers manipulating strata management laws after a ruling in NSW's consumer disputes tribunal involving an exclusive waterfront suburb. Apartment owners in the $1.65 billion, 52-hectare Breakfast Point estate have wrested control of their strata committee from influential developer Rose Group, which designed and built the estate on the foreshores of Parramatta River.
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SYDNEY will be reinvented as a high-density metropolis serviced by mass-transit subways under a transport blueprint being developed by senior state and federal government bureaucrats.
Powerful new legislation underpinning a proposed metro network costing $13 billion will enable transport and planning officials to reshape the inner suburbs of Sydney, paving the way for apartment towers as high as 15 storeys as well as large-scale retail and office blocks.
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THERE are two Sydneys of the future. In one we build on empty paddocks 45 kilometres from the CBD, where workers wake before dawn to spend hours in traffic driving to work. In the other we abandon the McMansions of Kellyville - and our cars - in favour of high-rise apartment living and subway transport.
In the other we abandon the McMansions of Kellyville - and our cars - in favour of high-rise apartment living and subway transport.
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THE COLLAPSE of a harbourside seawall in Neutral Bay has put all owners of Sydney waterfront units on alert that they must be prepared to dip into their pockets to maintain the whole property, or risk those properties dipping in value, if not dipping into the harbour itself.
With many of us intending to spend less at Christmas this year, it seems we can expect more home-grown parties.
Institute of Strata Management president David Ferguson has advised unit dwellers to consider their neighbours when planning Christmas celebrations.
“When you live in an apartment, your neighbours are much closer - across the hall or behind the wall,” he said.
To help you out, here’s five tips to ensure the season is festive and the neighbours don’t get restive.
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The sale of apartments can be hampered by a minefield of legal issues, maintenance problems and management mishaps. In fact, a brand new apartment building can pose as many problems as a well established one.
Changing the way apartment buildings are managed is a complex mission but a network of dedicated apartment owners have been quietly achieving their goal across Australia.
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There are pros and cons in a new legal option. When it comes to irreconcilable differences, strata battles can make the irresistible force meeting the immovable object look like an episode of Dancing With The Stars.
But now the State Government has offered what seems to be a short cut for people trapped in a never-ending cycle of adjudications and appeals at the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal but fear taking their case to the Supreme Court.
Since September, you've had to take your appeals against tribunal adjudications to a District Court to appeal on a point of law - rather than the mere fact you didn't like the result - and that would have to be a good thing, wouldn't it?
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