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 the roost. We shall see.

However, one of the more remarkable achievements around this is that the government has managed to announce this without even mentioning one significant and controversial word.

Also we hear about the apartment residents who turned their harbour view flat into a huge, expensive New Years Eve event venue … only it wasn’t their flat.

And we point the fingers at the Sydney residents who have taken Nimbyism to a new low – kicking locals who are already down and permanently out.

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.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

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 Community Australia and the NSW Attorney General’s office – are pretty powerful voices.

And we look at our poll on what Flat Chat readers like most about the proposed changes.

There’s a clear split between laws that affect existing owners and buyers but there’s one proposal that will affect everyone in strata that stands out from the crowd.

That’s all in this week’s and 2024’s final 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.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.

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 tribunal so ill-equipped to deal with strata issues that it is actively undermining Fair Trading's efforts to improve public confidence in apartment living.
And finally, we highlight a new build-to-rent development in the heart of Sydney which will allow long leases and pets, but remove toxic strata committees, rampant rent increases and the threat of Airbnb displacing residential renters.
Ooops! In the podcast we said we were going to mention two ambushes in the Four Corners TV episode that brought Netstrata to book. We talked about Stephen Brell but forgot to mention former Strata Commissioner John Minns. However, we covered him in detail last week, so you're not really missing out.

____________________________________________________


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.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.