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, [...]
Owners unite … by Zoom
26 MAY 2020 We talk to Karen Stiles, the energetic executive officer of the Owners Corporation Network about how that key organisation is coping with the challenge of building a community of communities when coronavirus is trying to keep us all at home. The answer lies in technology, she says, and to prove it, they had a very successful seminar on how to keep the short-term letting wolves from the [...]
Debt crisis looms for renters and landlords
24 May 2020 An increasing number of renters are at risk of accruing high levels of debt to landlords if the ACT Government fails to implement a repayment framework for rental arrears, according to a parliamentary committee inquiring into the ACT Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pause on evictions is in place until 27 July and there is no framework or government-provided structure for how accrued rental debts [...]
Get ready for the great Airbnb rebound
13 MAY 2020 There’s no doubt that Airbnb will make a comeback after the pandemic. So where are we at, as a nation, with holiday lets? The online holiday letting agency has apparently suffered an 85 per cent downturn in global business, knocking an estimated $30 billion off its value as it heads for a long-delayed float on the sharemarket. For those who bought or sub-let multiple properties to run [...]
Charting a new course under lockdown in Sydney
8 MAY 2020 New data has offered a snapshot of life in lockdown revealing what isolating Sydneysiders are doing behind closed doors. In a little over six weeks, as public health orders and restrictions have taken hold, the habits of Sydneysiders have become largely unrecognisable. Everyday activities like going to the gym, movies, after-work drinks and the footy have all disappeared. And exclusive data can reveal those pastimes have given [...]
‘We’ve never had it this busy’: Home isolation drives renovation boom
21 APRIL 2020 Builder Paul Rice is accustomed to constructing new houses and restoring old ones. But while some of his bigger projects have dried up due to the coronavirus crisis, demand for small jobs and maintenance - such as repairing dodgy door hinges - from homeowners in isolation has gone through the roof. "I've had a lot of people coming to me wanting to fix all the stuff that's been [...]
ABC 702 Interviews OCN re COVID-19 & Short Term Letting
07 APRIL 2020 Wendy Harmer Interviews OCN Director Jane Hearn on COVID-19 & Strata > Listen to Interview
Airbnbs declared ‘illegal’ as NSW government cracks down on holidaymakers
6 April 2020 It is now illegal for anyone in NSW to stay in an Airbnb or similar short-term letting agency accommodation, a government spokesman has declared. Under the new coronavirus regulations, no one should be staying anywhere other than their own permanent home, and they could be fined or imprisoned if they were found to be breaking emergency rules. “There’s zero reason for someone to stay in an Airbnb,” [...]
Disrupting the disruptors: how COVID-19 will shake up Airbnb
6 April 2020 Airbnb was built on the premise of bringing the world closer together. Tourists could travel like locals, while locals could cash in on their desirable neighbourhood properties by letting those visitors in. Last year the company was estimated to be worth more than US$30bn. It is scheduled to go public in 2020. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Stephen Colman, who was an Airbnb host and ran [...]
Bad news for Airbnb could be blessed relief for renters
4 APRIL 2020 It seems oddly appropriate, if not ironic, that a business that effectively grew virally on the internet should have suffered more than most because of COVID-19. Those who watched with dismay while short-term holiday lets moved into apartment blocks where they weren’t welcome or, in some cases, legally permitted, may have witnessed the current collapse of the holiday-letting industry with a certain grim satisfaction. These days the [...]
Airbnb packages risk creating viral hot-spots in apartments
20 MARCH 2020 Apartment residents across Australia are angry that their buildings could be turned into high-risk viral hot-spots, as Airbnb hosts offer self-isolation packages to returned overseas travellers. Airbnb hosts globally are reeling after a dramatic downturn in visitors due to travel restrictions and an Airbnb decision to waive cancellation fees for stays booked up to April 14 and possibly beyond. As a result, some hosts are compensating by offering [...]
NSW plans ratings tool for developers, builder and certifiers
30 JANUARY 2020 Developers, builders and certifiers will be rated on their record of building failures, finances, complaints, insurance claims and other such factors under a new tool being developed by NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler and data company Equifax. "This will start to join up the players," Mr Chandler told The Australian Financial Review. "When you look into a project that is about to be developed, it’s useful to people [...]
Unit buyers to pay for ratings check on dodgy apartments under reforms
23 January 2020 Having grappled for more than 12 months with the fallout from three evacuated buildings and abandoned apartments that have trashed confidence in the industry, the Berejiklian government announced on Monday new powers for the Building Commissioner to use the rating tool to select sites to audit and halt dodgy apartment projects. In a blog post last week, Building Commissioner David Chandler said: "By 2025, it should be [...]
Risk rating system for builders proposed to prevent defective towers
21 January 2020 A risk-rating system for builders and new powers for the building regulator to stop suspect high-rise apartment towers are among measures the NSW government wants introduced to avoid further incidents like Sydney's cracked Opal and Mascot towers. The government used the release of the measures to renew pressure on Labor and the crossbench to pass its building reform legislation, which stalled in the NSW Upper House late [...]
Cracked towers spark widespread safety fears about high rises: poll
13 JANUARY 2020 Eight in 10 Sydneysiders have safety concerns about the structural soundness of high-rise apartment buildings in the wake of the crisis sparked by the cracked Opal and Mascot towers. An Ipsos poll of residents for advocacy group the Committee for Sydney found the quality of construction and the structural integrity of towers were by far their biggest safety concerns, followed by fears of becoming trapped in [...]
The Elephant in the Room – Top 10 Podcasts
30 DECEMBER 2020 > Listen to The Elephant In The Room Podcast - Episode 68 (How bad things can go with buying strata property) Karen Stiles > Listen to The Elephant in the Room Podcast - Episode 100 (Host favourites from the last 100 episodes) Veronica Morgan & Chris Bates
Unit Dwellers Powerless to Stop Electricity Rip-Off
29 December 2019 People living in apartments are being treated as “second class citizens” by paying more for electricity after the state government abandoned plans for reforms which would have saved people thousands of dollars on power bills. The NSW government is being blasted for allowing developers and electricity providers to continue to run monopolies in new buildings. Owners Corporation Network's Karen Stiles said the government had let down unit [...]
Taxpayers paid $200m last year to prop up government fund against dodgy builders
18 December 2019 Taxpayers forked out more than $200 million last year propping up a NSW government insurance fund that offers consumers protection against dodgy builders in an industry so broken that private insurers have fled the market. And in an effort to bring taxpayer liabilities that have topped $600 million under control, the Government has proposed that compulsory insurance premiums on some new homes and renovations will almost double [...]
One year on, Opal Tower still a construction zone
18 December 2019 On Christmas Eve last year, Jenny (not her real name) carried her baby down to the ground floor after being told to evacuate Opal Tower, moments after she heard a loud bang while she was in her apartment. "They told us all to "back off, back off"," she said. "The police said the building was going to fall down and that we had to walk away from the [...]
‘Six-year nightmare’: Shattered investors left with no one to sue for faulty units
16 December 2019 A "defective" business model that experts say has reached epidemic levels in the NSW building industry is leaving investors financially broken. Aidan Ellis, 75, was stunned when the developer and builder of his apartment block could "walk away scot-free" after his companies went into liquidation midway through a battle over defects estimated to be worth in excess of $2 million. The "six-year nightmare" has forced Mr Ellis [...]
New laws to protect off-the-plan buyers
1 December 2019 NSW home buyers who purchase off-the-plan will be able to terminate contracts or claim compensation if they're materially impacted by changes made to their properties, under proposed changes announced by the state government. Property Minister Victor Dominello on Saturday announced the reforms aimed at creating stronger protections for off-the-plan buyers. "Buying off-the-plan has become increasingly popular. But there are risks involved, and buyers can't just rely on [...]
Apartment buyers holding out for a hero, says MP
13 NOVEMBER 2019 The job of fixing the construction industry is too big for just one person and NSW needs a standalone building commission, not just a single commissioner, to fix the state’s construction industry Greens MP David Shoebridge. And apartment owners have called on the goverment to close the loopholes that allow the developers of sub-standard buildings to shut up shop before they have to repair defects, and even [...]
Trust issues: Can platforms like Airbnb regulate themselves?
9 NOVEMBER 2019 Australian residents' groups have rejected Airbnb's promise to overhaul verification procedures and prevent unauthorised parties at properties booked through the site, saying community trust issues caused by the rise of short-term rentals can only be fixed by independent regulation. "We would like to see a strong, effective public record of everyone participating [in the space]. To let your property, you'd need to be registered," chair of the [...]
NSW building reforms ‘step one of 100’ to restore confidence in sector
24 OCTOBER 2019 The government's latest plan to lift construction standards across NSW is a step in the right direction, but will fail to address a lack of transparency and enforcement in the sector, lawyers say. Amid rising pressure to implement large-scale reform in the home building industry, the government this week introduced the first tranche of its construction sector reforms to Parliament. Owners Corporation Network executive officer Karen Stiles [...]
‘Lifting the standards’: NSW government unveils reforms to construction industry
23 OCTOBER 2019 Homeowners who buy defective apartments will have an easier path to pursue damages under the Berejiklian government's response to widespread problems in high-rise residential buildings. The long-anticipated building reforms, released on Wednesday, will also create a new registration system for the industry, while developers will be forced to comply with "declared" building designs. But the reforms will only apply to buildings yet to be constructed. The Owners [...]
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