NSW Stops Short of Paying for Cladding Rectification
18 NOVEMBER 2020 Owners of buildings with flammable cladding in NSW will still need to pay tens of thousands of dollars per apartment to rectify their complexes after the NSW Government refused to Victoria’s lead in paying for flammable cladding to be rectified. Whilst the preference would be for the government to pay for the cost of remediation, Karen Stiles, Executive Officer for OCN welcomed both the announcement of the [...]
NSW building reforms to put strata managers under microscope
NOVEMBER 2020 The conspiracy of silence that surrounds apartment buildings and possible defects would be ended in the next round of landmark building reforms. In the wake of the Grenfell, Mascot and Opal tower disasters, Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson is proposing law changes forcing strata schemes to hand over basic maintenance information about their building. OCN executive Karen Stiles said the strata portal would only be the second in [...]
Pets in Strata
13 OCTOBER 2020 Listen to a radio segment recording from ABC Radio Sydney including an interview with Karen Stiles, Executive Officer of OCN, discussing pets in strata. ABC Radio Sydney, Breakfast with Robbie Buck & Wendy Harmer.
Peak Body warns of unintended consequences of pet ban reversal
13 OCTOBER 2020 A legal challenge to overturn a ban on keeping pets in apartments in NSW will have unintended consequences, strata owner advocates warn. The NSW Court of Appeal ruled blanket bans on pets in apartments were unlawful. Owners Corporation Network executive officer Karen Stiles warned the ruling would have far-reaching implications. “Strata is one of the fastest growing forms of housing. “Australians don’t seem to understand that along [...]
Pets Now Allowed in Sydney Apartments
13 OCTOBER 2020 This little doggie in the window’s big court win means pets are now allowed in Sydney apartments. Jo Cooper has won a four-and-a-half-year legal battle to keep her miniature schnauzer Angus in her Darlinghurst Horizon unit block. The pair overcame the building’s blanket pet ban after a unanimous ruling in the NSW Court of Appeal. The Court overturned blanket bans on pets being allowed in any apartment [...]
FlatChat Podcast: Olympics, Emails, Wheel Clamps
29 SEPTEMBER 2020 Karen Stiles, Executive Officer of the Owners Corporation Network, joins Flat Chat Wrap Podcast 93 – Olympics, Emails, Wheel Clamps They discuss the push to keep apartment owners’ email addresses secret, and demands for a return of wheel clamping for rogue parkers. Karen talks to Jimmy Thomson from 12 mins 30 secs into recording. > Listen Here
‘In limbo land’: Apartment owners in bind over flammable cladding fix
17 SEPTEMBER 2020 A drawn out saga over replacing flammable cladding has soured relations between owners of a southern Sydney apartment building and imposed a large financial burden on them. Yet almost 18 months after their local council ordered cladding to be removed, some owners of the Quattro Apartments at Gymea fear the material they plan to use to replace it won't comply in future because the state government is [...]
FlatChat Podcast: Crackdown on dud developers hits home
15 SEPTEMBER 2020 Karen Stiles, Executive Officer of the Owners Corporation Network, joins Jimmy Thomson on Flat Chat Wrap Podcast 91 'First there is the redoubtable Karen Stiles who is the Executive Officer at the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) and, as such, has a seat at the table for some of the most critical discussions being made about NSW strata in decades. Karen has come on to the podcast to [...]
‘Nail in the coffin of democracy’: It’s D-day for Sydney’s prize dog fight
13 SEPTEMBER 2020 It's the dog fight that has captivated Sydney - or at least a small part of it - and this month it will command the attention of the state's peak lawmaking bodies: the Parliament and the Supreme Court. For five years, musician Jo Cooper has battled the strata committee of her apartment block, the Horizon, which stands tall among the terraces of inner-city Darlinghurst. Her quest: to [...]
NSW puts first four developers on notice
2 SEPTEMBER 2020 NSW building commissioner David Chandler has put a first group of four developers on notice under sweeping new powers, telling them his office will audit their apartment projects to make sure they conform with the approved plans and will not allow them to settle if they do not comply. The first audits, to be followed by another six next month, follow passing of new laws in June [...]
Sydney pet owners get shock win in the battle against apartment pet bans
26 AUGUST 2020 It could soon be near-impossible for any apartment building to vote to keep pets out after a last-minute amendment to an unrelated bill scored a shock win in the NSW Legislative Council just before 10pm on Tuesday night. The move by the Animal Justice Party (AJP) means that, if the bill is passed by the Lower House in September, no strata scheme will be allowed to have [...]
‘Signatures for sale’ days are over, warns Sydney’s new building commissioner
24 AUGUST 2020 A week before his new powers come into force, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has issued a blunt warning to certifiers of buildings that the days of a small group of them choosing to act as "signatures for sale" are over. Mr Chandler will have the power from September 1 to enter and inspect building sites, prevent the issuing of occupation certificates, call for documents and order [...]
Puddle sets off epic dog fight
22 AUGUST 2020 The day her miniature schnauzer urinated in the lobby of her luxury Sydney apartment block is one of the most traumatic of Jo Cooper’s 30-plus years. There is never a good time for a dog to wee in a lavish foyer, although Cooper insists it’s not much different to the coffee and salad spillages she has witnessed over five years of living in the award-winning, officially pet-free [...]
Making a Building “Trustworthy” And How to Deliver One
16 AUGUST 2020 “Trustworthy buildings” are a goal the entire construction industry needs to achieve, according to NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler. There are several aspects to this, and major payoffs to be had in terms of productivity, accountability and building your own reputation. Awards, online product reviews and your own marketing might not be the best way to assure buyers you build trustworthy buildings. According to Karen Stiles, Executive [...]
Why some strata services are essentially a rip-off
13 AUGUST 2020 With all the horror stories of what goes wrong when an apartment catches fire, you would never want to skimp on safety. But what if you were paying over the odds for safety inspections that were followed by upgrades that you didn’t really need but were recommended by the same people who did the inspection? Oh, and the inspection was compulsory. A year ago this column exposed [...]
60 Minutes – Buyer Beware Part 1
9 AUGUST 2020 Here's an incredible, not to mention shameful, statistic about Australia's building industry. 85% of new high-rise apartment towers are defective. The rate of shoddy workmanship has increased dramatically as governments around the country have encouraged more developers to build more high-density housing as a way of containing urban sprawl. As a result, many unsuspecting buyers, trying to put a roof over their heads, are learning a painful [...]
Apartment owners win legal victory over combustible cladding
6 AUGUST 2020 A group of apartment owners battling to have combustible cladding replaced on their buildings have won a landmark legal victory – giving hope to the thousands more facing similar dangers. In an Australian first, a major building company which installed timber-PVC Biowood cladding on four multi-storey apartment blocks in Ryde has lost its appeal against being forced to rectify the work. Further, if it doesn’t reach an [...]
Back to the future: unit owners hail return of public certifiers
22 JULY 2020 Unit owners have welcomed moves for the return of public certifiers to improve building quality in the ACT, but say architects and engineers also need to be involved in project delivery from start to finish. Owners Corporation Network ACT president Gary Petherbridge said Mr Ramsay was on the right track with public certifiers for multi-unit developments and developers having to be fit and proper persons to be [...]
2GB – Calls for government to help pay for flammable cladding removal
13 JULY 2020 Michael McLaren, 2GB Overnight Program host, is joined by Karen Stiles, Executive Officer of the Owners Corporation Network, a not-for-profit body representing apartment owners, who claims the federal government’s $25,000 Home Builder grants would have been better spent fixing apartment buildings cloaked in flammable cladding which posed a risk to lives. > Full interview at 2GB.com Michael McLaren
‘They should help’: Sydney cladding crisis leaves big bills for owners
13 JULY 2020 The large yellow cladding on the side of the 19-storey Distillery apartment tower in Pyrmont has made it one of the most recognisable residential high rises in the inner Sydney suburb. Yet the flammable nature of the cladding has also made it an expensive problem for its owners, who are finally nearing the end of a three-year saga to remove it that has cost them more than [...]
The Office of Building Commissioner’s Director, Matt Press is now hiring a program manager and project officer
28 JUNE 2020 The Office of the Building Commissioner (OBC) has just finished the initial appointments to commence the Occupation Certificate Audits from 1 September 2020. The talent pool of applicants was very impressive. Experienced Designers, Contractors and Certifiers with 15-years experience will soon be in the field to work with the Building Commissioner. A powerful new tool is being built inside BRD to provide a single view of all [...]
NSW opens door to thousands of defect claims
15 JUNE 2020 Thousands of apartment owners in NSW now have a way to launch claims over cladding, water proofing and fire safety defects after a new law created a duty of care for builders, consultants and developers to end users in the construction chain, even without a contractual relationship linking them. The Design & Building Practitioners Bill 2020, which came into effect last week, gives the state's apartment owners [...]
Building watchdog warns he will clamp down on ‘shameful’ developers
3 JUNE 2020 The NSW Building Commissioner has warned unscrupulous builders and developers responsible for major defects in apartments that he will not hesitate to use his new powers to bring them to account, after key legislation to clean up the construction industry became law. Heralding it a "red-letter day", David Chandler said his immediate focus would be on developers, builders and certifiers "who have form" in turning out shoddy [...]
Building watchdog’s powers to be bolstered in bid to clean up industry
1 JUNE 2020 The NSW building commissioner is set to gain strong powers to stop builders from forcing off-the-plan sales of apartments with defects after Labor signalled it would support a proposed shake-up of the construction industry. After abandoning attempts late last year to pass key legislation, the Berejiklian government will reintroduce an amended bill to the upper house on Tuesday, and introduce another to the lower house which will, [...]
Sydney apartment buildings win the fight against pets on appeal
27 May 2020 Two of Sydney’s biggest apartment towers have won their battle to ban owners’ pets from their buildings in a verdict that will have far-reaching repercussions for NSW strata residents. The 260-apartment Horizon in Darlinghurst and the 280-unit Elan in Kings Cross had lost the right in previous cases before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to enforce their bylaws to keep their premises animal free. But, [...]
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