Эпизоды
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We’re back. Or at least, one of us is for real, but the other one is fake, thanks to an Artificial Intelligence app.
This week I fed two articles from the Flat Chat website into an AI app called Jellypod. I chose the one about NSW Premier Chris Minns’ visit to the Netstrata offices and the other about the NSW Fair Trading minister’s announcement that the Productivity Commissioner has been tasked with discovering what would happen if insurance commissions were cancelled.
I asked the app to create a conversation between myself and co-podder Sue Williams based on the article and anything else it could find on the topics on the internet. I also gave it samples of our voices so it could create an audio file, and a short guide to our characters and different approaches to strata issues.
The result was frankly terrifying. Now, the cloned voices aren’t terribly close to ours, so that’s good, but the content of the conversation was scarily on point. It is mostly factually correct and reads, as text, in a similar style to the way we speak and write.
It was also strongly opinionated but completely fabricated an anecdote that neither of us can remember having ever said or written. It also had a problem saying “NSW” and “strata” which came out as “straaaaaata”. Have a listen and see what you think.
Meanwhile, where have we been, you ask? Our recent travels through Europe not only made podcasting hard, it left a mountain of work waiting for us when we returned so it was impossible to sit down and do the podcast for a few weeks.
We are a hand-knitted pod and the fact that it can be a logisitical and technical challenge was reconfirmed when I sat down to record this and my software made me sound like a Dalek with a heavy cold. It’s all good now, I hope, and we’ll be back in your podcast feed just as soon as we have something new to talk about.
And rest assured, it really will be us – promise!
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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 [email protected].
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. -
It’s a problem with any bureaucracy, anywhere in the world – and it’s also the reason strong figures in politics prevail – doing the right thing the “right way” takes a lot longer than just getting stuff done when it’s most needed.
The principle of “it’s easier to apologise than it is to get permission” gets things moving but it also leaves the door wide open for knee-jerk, half-baked solutions.
Somewhere in the middle are logical, sensible decisions that can be made quickly and seen through efficiently.
One project that slipped through that net was the plan to turn a former Wesley Mission hostel for the indigent elderly into affordable homes for essential workers.
How that all fell apart, despite a $3m city grant, and why it’s now being sold for commercial development, is our main topic in this week’s podcast.
Meanwhile we leave Poland with fond memories of some fantastic buildings and arrive in Prague disappointed that the only freely accessible paternoster elevator left in the city (the one shown in this video) is out of action for repairs.
And finally, Jimmy has a brilliant plan to solve special levy stress. That’sall in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.
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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 [email protected].
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. -
Пропущенные эпизоды?
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Don’t be put off by a tinkle or two of classical music at the start of this week’s podcast. It’s just a small acknowledgement of the fact that we are in Warsaw, where Polish-born piano master composer Frederic Chopin was raised.
What do Warsaw and Gdansk have to do with apartments? Heaps as it turns out. Having been flattened by the Nazis during the Warsaw uprising of 1944, the city was completely restored to its former glory by Soviet overlords after WWII.
And you can take a guess at what the reward was for outstanding contributions to the project, whether it was as an architect or a bricklayer.
A couple of hours north in Gdansk, the shipyards made famous by union leader and eventually president Lech Walesa are mostly silent now. But there are still cranes sweeping the skyline – only now they are building apartments rather than boats.
Oh, and in out mini-rant about how to keep electric bikes and scooters under control, we should have said they have similar system in Hobart.
Closer to home we examine the result of wayward strata manager Whitney Wang’s appeal against having his licence cancelled.
And we look at the pile of money it took to by Australia’s most expensive property -almost as high as the building in which it sits.
That’s all in this weeks’ Flat Chat Wrap (although Jimmy can’t believe he didn’t describe Warsaw as a Chopin centre). Enjoy.
____________________________________________________
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 [email protected].
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. -
This week we’ve taken the podcast overseas as we’re recording on a cruise ship off the coast of Norway.
But it gives us an opportunity to look at one of the vexed questions of living in strata in Australia.
You may not know this but there is already one city in Australia that has rent controls. Do they work? Do they keep rents low or just set a benchmark for rent hikes at every opportunity.
We take advantage of a stop-over in Amsterdam to find out how rent controls work there – where 45 per cent of the population are tenants – and do they solve the housing problems that it too suffers?
And we take a look at the strangest “hotel” rooms in the world and what our cities might be like if everyone rode bikes. 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 [email protected].
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. -
Last week Sue dropped a bomb into a discussion about new strata laws in NSW, one of which will invalidate by-laws that block sustainability changes because they would alter the look of the building.
Does this mean the end of by-laws that forbid drying laundry on balconies? Surely not using a tumble dryer and instead using the wind and sun is a sustainability issue?
And, if it is, doesn't that mean, at the very least, out-of-date laundry bans can be changed with a simple majority, meaning that a no-laundry minority of 25 per cent can't veto change.
This week we look at the new laws and the current model by-laws and ask if the government hasn't inadvertently started a war between NOOOBs (Not On Our Balconies) and Greenies.
And speaking of wars, we also look at a new book about missing anti-development activist Juanita Nielsen which suggests her campaigns to halt unfettered high-rise developments, and her disappearance 50 years ago next month, may have led to the current housing crisis.
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 [email protected].
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. -
If you've been hiding under your bed - and who isn't tempted these days? - you may not have heard that NSW is about to see a second tranche of strata law reforms become a reality on July 1.
What are the new laws and what do they mean? We invited Robert Anderson, President of SCA-NSW, the state's professional body for strata managers and service providers, on to the podcast to explain some of them.
We discussed the fact that strata contracts will come under Federal consumer protection laws for the first time, and what that means - especially in relation to SCA's much maligned standard contract.
Did you know Fair Trading is planning to issue a standard strata management contract, like the one for rentals? Me neither.
We also touched on estimates for legal services, new processes for minor renovations, embedded networks, common property repair delays, the doubling of fees for seeing strata records, and the behaviour of committee members at meetings.
And Sue thinks she's found a wrinkle that will make it harder for buildings to ban drying laundry on balconies.
That's all in this week's (legal) action-packed 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 [email protected].
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. -
Imagine if you could build apartments in half the time at 15 per cent less cost and a guarantee of no waterproofing, fire safety or structural defects.
‘Tell ’im he must be dreamin’,” say strata’s Darryl Kerrigans. Apartment blocks take longer to build than ever, cost more, and fire and waterproofing are still endemic defects across the industry.
Enter Wayne Larson of PT Blink who is already constructing hundreds of new blocks with the promise that the process will be faster, less costly and with a much, much higher level of quality control.
How do they do it? It’s been described as a cross between Lego and Ikea flat pack furniture.
Quite simply, at the same time as the steel frame is being constructed on-site, the floors, walls, bathrooms, windows and balconies are being manufactured in factories hundreds of kilometres away.
Okay, but doesn’t that mean identical looking chicken coops springing up all around the country?
Far from it, says Wayne. They take architect drawings, pull them apart and create the individual components, which then all come together, ready to occupy the spaces created on the steel frame.
Have a look at this video and it will make even more sense. But first, listen to this week's Flat Chat Wrap. Enjoy.
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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 [email protected].
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. -
As many of you may already know, every second Tuesday, JimmyT goes on ABC Radio with James Valentine on his Afternoon show to chat about apartments.
Last week, Jimmy and James took calls from listeners about what you can and can't put on balconies, compulsory training for strata committees, tradies who block car spaces, and car lifts that break down.
They also heard from one gentleman who hates strata and everything to do with it. As usual, it's a lively segment, so we thought you might like a taste of what you get on the radio.
Jimmy is on with James on Tuesday afternoon, June the 3rd at 2pm. Why not send them a text on 0467 922 702 or call on 1300 222 702 and ask a curly question of your own.
And you can hear more of James (without Jimmy) on ABC Afternoons.
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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 [email protected].
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. -
In this second part of Lawyer in the Hot Seat, recorded last week, strata legal eagle David Bannerman fields questions from Flat Chat's Jimmy Thomson about a range of issues, starting with what is vexatious litigant and how do you deal with them?
Then there's the matter of disputes between neighbours and whether or not the strata committee should get involved - and what they can and should do if they go down that road.
We look at embedded networks, how they are used to rip off apartment buyers, who should be warning strata newbies about them, and the very simple way purchasers can make sure it doesn't happen to them.
And finally there are webinar viewers attendees' questions. That's all (only without the pictures) 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 [email protected].
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. -
In what has become an annual event here on Flat Chat, this week we were invited on to a webinar run by leading strata lawyer (and Flat Chat sponsor) David Bannerman for the Q&A session that we call Lawyer in the Hot Seat.
In it we discuss such diverse issues as Lithium battery safety, a Vegepod balcony plant system that's been banned becasue it's not in keeping with the look of the building, the surprisingly widespread problem of mould and explore the vexed question of underperforming committee members.
This is a long session so we have split it and will run the other half next week. There's a lot in it because, as is the nature of strata, one answer leads to a Jenga stack of other questions.
You can check out the Bannerman's website for a stack of strata-related information
____________________________________________________
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 [email protected].
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. -
The week’s podcast covers a wide array of topics, from your thoughts on strata committee training, and the ups and downs of the property market to common myths about strata managers. And we’ll throw in a reference to photography as well.
We have a look at Amanda Farmer’s survey into strata owners’ thought on training for strata committee members. We won’t do too many spoilers but it’s worth hearing what you, the owners and tenants really want.
Then we look at how volatile the building industry has become, with record number of small builders going out of business while the government’s housing targets seem to be as out of reach as ever.
Then we have a chat about some of the main myths about strata managers, as highlighted by Bobby Lehane, CEO of the Pica Group.
And we give a nod to a photograph that accompanied one of Sue’s stories about boarding house residents being evicted to make way for luxury houses in Sydney’s Paddington.
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 [email protected].
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. -
The Wrap is back with a look at sustainable apartments and the reality of spending a bit more to make a unit cheaper to live in.
The latest message is that even if the average ‘green’ unit costs $11k more, it will save you heaps of money… and salve your conscience too.
We also uncover two worrying trends in one of our states where developers are loading up strata committees with their employees – ignoring any allegations of obvious conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile, apartment owners seem blissfully unaware that there may be any potential problems. “They say they’re going to take care of defects and it’s in their best interests to do so, isn’t it?”
Well, is it? Or are there some developers who are more concerned with profits than their reputations – since they can change their names any time they like?
And finally we look at the conundrum of increased immigration putting pressure on the housing stock versus the need for skilled migrants to build more apartment blocks.
Is temporary accommodation in migrant camps the answer? Make them attractive places to stay – they don’t have to be like prisons. And would it be any worse than migrants having to share a two-bed flat with a dozen other renters?
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 [email protected].
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. -
Did you know that getting on for 4.5 million Australians live in strata? And who do you think comprises the single largest demographic group, from singles and couples through to one-parent families?
Can you even take a wild guess at the total value of strata properties in Oz, or what percentage of strata schemes don’t have strata managers?
This week we take a deep dive into the latest Australasian (it includes NZ) Strata Insights report from UNSW and SCA.
By the way, we got ourselves into a bit of a fankle over the Nepali language, which we mispronounced “nepawlee” rathere than “nepa-ly”, and which we partially correctly said was Nepalese – as in, the official language of Nepal.
In fact, Nepali is spoken by more than up to 20 million people, mostly in Nepal and neighbouring parts of India. Smaller speech communities exist in Bhutan, Brunei, and Myanmar. And in Melbourne too, it seems.
We also take a quick check on what the various political parties are offering by way of tackling the housing crisis and we talk briefly about why it’s such a surprise to see one of our apartment developer giants exposed in the news.
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 [email protected].
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. -
There's a lot going on in the strata sphere this week, starting with the Sydney Morning Herald's big expose on building defects.
It's well worth reading but it's funny how every time a new reporter writes about this stuff, it's treated as if it's just been discovered.
Speaking as people who have been on this beat for two decades, we are just glad that the issues are being aired again.
Meanwhile strata managers nationally want to know why apartment buildings have been excluded from the multi-billion-dollar boost for solar panel battery storage. By the way, in the podcast we erroneously referred to solar panels, not batteries, as a sharp-eared listener has pointed out.
And we dig into the three-way fight over commission payments between owners (in the shape of the Owners Corporation Network) plus the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby (ACIL), strata managers, and strata insurers.
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 [email protected].
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. -
We’d love to ignore the election but we can’t, so this week we look at what our nation’s political parties are offering apartment buyers and renters as we hurtle towards polling day.
Everybody agrees we need more housing – and that means more apartments – but the policies differ, including one that an economist has dubbed “the worst economic policy of the 21st century.”
And we look at Victoria where the state government is pushing through a no-nimby policy to force councils to accept low-rise apartment blocks.
We have a chat about Strata Community Association, the strata managers' peak body's call for national protection for apartment owners from defective buildings.
And we look why rents of apartments are rising faster than rents of houses, and where this is happening, including one holiday letting hotspot that’s been hit by a 60-night a year limit. 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 [email protected].
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. -
We are getting into two of the topics that cause most angst in apartment living, this week: pets and buying property.
Firstly, we take a spin around the question of landlords in NSW no longer being able to ban renters’ pets for no good reason – and how that will affect the more than 50 per cent of apartment residents who are tenants.
This is a question I asked in the Sydney Morning Herald: Will our apartment blocks suddenly be awash with furry friends?
Or will property investors – confronted by the other regulation changes, both recent and impending – decide “stuff this for a game of Monopoly” and sell up or switch to Airbnb and its ilk?
Then we look at a story Sue wrote for Domain (also in the SMH) about how she went looking to find a new flat for a temporarily overseas friend with the instruction to spend up $1million.
What’s it like flat hunting for a friend, knowing that if you have made the wrong suggestion that’s a million bucks worth of misery for them and you?
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 [email protected].
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. -
Last week we said that Strata Community Association NSW - the states' strata managers' professional body - was in disarray. Objecting to that negative characterisation, NSW President Robert Anderson agreed to come on to the podcast and answer a few questions.
We had no shortage of those. For instance, we asked what the changes at SCA-NSW are. Has SCA-NSW been getting it wrong? Is there a new philosophy or culture, following changes on the SCA-NSW board?
Are the changes in the standard agency agreement a recognition that there was something wrong with the previous much maligned version or is it just to comply with changes in legislation?
What does SCA-NSW have to do to regain owners’ trust? What about training for committee members? Who should do it: SCA, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) or Fair Trading?
And finally, will the SCA continue to claim that it represents owners?
It's a slightly longer than usual session and the sound quality is OK but, thanks to the interview being conducted over Zoom, not up to our usual tip-top standards.
Enjoy.
____________________________________________________
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 [email protected].
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. -
This week we look back at what has been described by some lawyers as one of the most significant legal decisions of the 21st Century – right up there with Donald Trump’s court losses.
We are talking about the “Jo Cooper” decision five years ago which said strata schemes couldn’t impose blanket bans on pets.
So many strata schemes have pets these days that it feels like dog and cat ownership is almost compulsory – and no, the sky hasn’t fallen in and so far, no frail or elderly person has been savaged to death by marauding chihuahuas.
We will also be looking at how the state government is claiming that its moves to ban rent bidding have meant rents have gone down. And hearing why they are likely to start rising even faster.
And we will be answering a question that was asked on radio on James Valentines Afternoons on Tuesday (click here and whizz forward to 1h 35mins) – do you need to have a second, separate laundry sink when you move your washing machine and drier into your renovated kitchen?
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 [email protected].
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. -
The long-awaited report into what has become known as the Netstrata Scandal came out last week – too late for the podcast – so we bring it to you in all its glory this week.
Fair Trading NSW have, unusually for them, hopped in with a fairly strident comment and Netstrata has responded with vehement denials of wrong-doing and assurances that anything than needed fixing has been fixed.
You can find our report on the McGrathNicol findings HERE, the McGrathNicol report HERE, Fair Trading’s response HERE, and the Netstrata reaction HERE.
So what’s the truth? We have had the dubious pleasure of owning in a strata scheme managed by Netstrata and seeing the way they work at close hand.
What are they really like? Listen to this week’s Flat Chat Wrap to find 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 [email protected].
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. -
This week’s podcast looks at the renewed concern about the effect of short-term holiday lets on affordable housing, following City of Sydney’s request to the state government to change the laws to curb Airbnb and its ilk.
Last week CoS said about 1000 homes would come back into the residential rental market in central Sydney alone if the government put limits on commercial STHL operators.
And we hear rumours that a Victoria-style tax is being considered, with the proceeds going to build new homes.
And can we trust an Airbnb survey that says people who can let their homes all year would just shutter them, rather than return them to the residential market?
And speaking of new homes, the government has fast-tracked planning approval for a number of high-rise blocks that will house 8000 families.
But are they building communities?
By the way, the news about the Netstrata report came in after we had recorded the podcast so we will definitely pick that up next week.
____________________________________________________
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 [email protected].
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. - Показать больше
