Recent News
26 February 2007: STRATA development has changed greatly since the current laws were drafted in 1996.
Today there are enormous multipurpose single structures such as Meriton's 600-plus-unit World Square - with its mix of residential, short-term rental and commercial properties - and huge staged developments. more
26 February 2007: Almost 2 million NSW residents live in strata units, and buildings for a further 1 million are planned for Sydney. But outdated laws are failing to protect their interests against developers and neighbours from hell, writes Jimmy Thomson. more
Almost 2 million NSW residents live in strata units, and buildings for a further 1 million are planned for Sydney. But outdated laws are failing to protect their interests against developers and neighbours from hell, writes Jimmy Thomson.
IT'S no castle, but it's yours. A home unit. Your little slice of paradise.
Until you realise the developer who built your block has a cluster of proxy votes on the owners' corporation, so has more say than you do.
13 January 2007: Combining apartments can make sense, space and capital gain. Is it an apartment or a house? No, it's part of the latest trend in unit living: knocking two, or even three, into one to create supersized apartments that often end up with more floor space than a freestanding home. more
4 November 2006: The former prime minister Paul Keating unleashed a storm of controversy when he labelled some of Sydney's new high rises "egg crates" and a "disfiguring eczema" on the dewy face of a young city. more
Some tenants lose out when apartment blocks are redeveloped, writes Cathy Sherry.
In Sydney it is obvious many strata apartment blocks are dilapidated and near the end of their lives. Under-maintenance from insufficient sinking and administrative funds is often as much to blame as age.
For a building to be demolished and redeveloped, the strata scheme must first be terminated. This can happen either by application to the Supreme Court or by application to the registrar-general. The latter is the most common, as it is cheaper and easier. However, there is a catch. It is available only if all owners agree. It is impossible if one or two owners hold out, refusing to sell or agree to the termination.
The largest strata scheme in Australia has been declared insolvent and a new strata managing agent appointed, after the owners' corporation effectively put itself into administration.
The move follows the discovery of a $500,000 deficit in the accounts of the 653-unit Regis Towers in Sydney city.
It also follows serious differences between the owners' corporation and the developer-appointed strata manager, over whether to continue litigation against the developers, Meriton.
The ruling before the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal last Thursday is significant because, while owners sometimes seek to have managing agents removed, it is rare for owners corporations to seek to have themselves removed as well.
The owners of apartments in a city building were not told for five months that a fire order had been placed on their units, because the owners' corporation voted against telling them, it was claimed yesterday.
The Regis Towers owners' corporation had voted "to put property values ahead of life and safety", lawyer Stephen Goddard told a parliamentary committee investigating building certification in NSW.