13 JULY 2022 An emerging issue is that of smaller telecommunications providers muscling their way into apartment buildings to instal their equipment. Karen Stiles talks to Raf Epstein. Listen:> ABC Drive with Rafael Epstein
3 JULY 2022 Apartment hunters have pulled deposits and are switching to builders and developers who have earned gold star ratings on a new ratings platform, says NSW building commissioner David Chandler. Since the Independent Construction Industry Rating Tool (iCIRT) register was launched in May, including the first 19 companies rated as trustworthy, four families told Chandler they had withdrawn deposits from unrated builders and developers and taken their business to [...]
7 JUNE 2022 OCN made a brief submission opposing contracts entered into by developers which simply shift the cost of core infrastructure to apartment purchasers, lock them into long term contracts, and deprive them of choice. Read submission: > OCN Submission - Embedded Networks June 2022
21 May 2021 According to Karen Stiles, executive director of apartment owners peak group Owners Corporation Network, the long-running case had exposed more than the cracks in the Opal Tower. “It was really the start of the turning point where the government had to admit we had a problem with rampant building defects in residential towers and actually had to do something to address it,” she said. Read more:> HERE
More electric vehicle drivers can soon charge up at home and work, with a step-by-step guide released by the NSW Government, and a pilot site providing proof of concept for EV-ready buildings. The EV Ready Buildings materials and webinar registration details are available on the Drive electric NSW EV ready buildings webinar webpage. Speakers at the webinar include the EV Council Head of Energy and Infrastructure, Ross de Rango, and Owners Corporation [...]
1 MAY 2022 The Owners Corporation Network (OCN) opposes embedded network contracts entered into by the developer of the apartment building. Read Policy:> OCN Policy - Embedded Networks May 2022
A large Sydney developer has been ordered to fix serious defects in a 10-storey apartment building in the city’s southwest for the second time in three months. In the latest orders, the state’s building watchdog has warned of a serious defect in the construction of load-bearing walls in the Canterbury building’s basement car park which it found “did not support a ground floor slab”. Read more:> HERE
16 MARCH 2022 OCN strongly supports the root and branch review of the Home Building Act 1989 and associated legislation, to ensure maximum consumer protections. Read submission: > OCN Submission - Home Building Act Review 2021 220316
A 25-year contract originally sold by developer Meriton for hundreds of thousands of dollars, giving another company exclusive rights for property management and letting services in one of their multi-storey apartment complexes, has been cancelled by a tribunal in a first for NSW. Apartment residents who successfully challenged the contract that earned Meriton an extra $310,000, in a practice that is now outlawed by the NSW Government, and which tied the [...]
23 FEBRUARY 2022 OCN welcomes the NSW Government’s intention to deliver an energy system that puts the customer at the centre of policy and program design, while delivering an affordable and reliable energy future that helps achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Read submission: > OCN Submission - Promoting Innovation for the NSW Energy Sector February 2022
