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In Episode 41 of the Town Manager Download, Kevin and Taylor are joined by Patty Sheehan, the Town's Building Commissioner, to talk about the Office of the Building Inspector, changes to the building code, AI, and more!
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New South Wales' building watchdog - charged with cracking down on shoddy builds and improving productivity - says an Auckland apartment complex is the "most shocking example of a failed residential apartment building" he's ever seen.
When newspaper reports presented the story about the defects in the Lachlan's Line apartment block in Macquarie Park, as if it was another Mascot Towers, Building Commissioner scolded journalists, assuring everyone that there was no need to panic.There would be no evacuations, he said, but admitted his department might need to consider the language it uses when alerting the public to problems in apartment blocks.Meanwhile a fire that gutted a unit in Bondi has alarm bells ringing over eBike batteries. Should we panic over this? Or is just the combination of flats shared by delivery riders that need closer scrutiny. A webinar hosted by the OCN in a couple of weeks promises to get to the bottom of it (and provide a model by-law for members). And finally, our Lock Up and Leave this week features the foodie tour with celebrity chefs that you have without the celebrity chefs ... or the eye-watering price tag. That's all in the 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; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
Last week we discussed the new report from the NSW Office of the Building Commissioner – they're calling it a case study – titled “Broken Promises, Blame Games and Balconies”.It's a big document but essential reading for anyone in an apartment block that's about to pursue a claim for defects or is concerned about the way the whole housing industry is going (or not).The case study follows, in granular detail, the trail of disastrous attempts at defect rectification at the Otto 2 building in Roseberry, Sydney, where residents have been denied access to their balconies after four years and $2.5 million in legal fees. This week, as promised, Building Commissioner David Chandler hooked up with the Flat Chat Wrap podcast and fleshed out some of the major points of the report.Our chat covered issues from why he decided to commission the study in the first place to investing in the fight rather than the fix and other expensive legal follies.This longer-than-usual podcast also touched on how the additional costs of more thorough certification checks pay for themselves many times over, driving “cowboys” out of the industry and, as we try to get more homes built, not allowing quality to be sacrificed in favour of quality.Commissioner Chandler also revealed that Fair Trading is preparing a defects kit for strata committees – not individual owners – to take them step-by-step through identifying defects and getting them fixed by the developers without needing to embark on expensive and emotionally destructive litigation.It's a long chat and we've broken it up into chunks for your listening convenience. If you don't pod, have a look at the transcript (right here) when it's been tidied up. And you can read Broken Promises, Blame Games and Balconies on this link.____________________________________________________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; Transcription tidied up and sensified by Raphie.Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
Is it possible to minimise the risks associated with buying off the plan and make it a profitable investment? Welcome to the Australian Property Investment Podcast. In each episode, we ask a guest expert to share their key insights for aspiring investors to make confident property choices.In this week's episode, Mitchell Meier, Sales and Operations Manager at Boston Projects, debunks some common myths people have when buying off-the-plan properties.He also shares his insights about how to pick qualified and experienced developers, how off-the-plans were being sold, how to sort the good potential projects from the bad, smart questions you should ask before engaging in a project, and more. Time Stamps:00:00 - Intro01:38 - Mitchell's 3Ps (Personal, Professional and Property Journey)04:01 - Why Off-the-Plan Properties Got Bad Reputations 06:39 - Valuations Of Off-the-Plan Properties07:57 - Navigating the Financing Side of Things09:54 - Mitchell's Insights on How Off-the-Plans Were Sold12:02 - Sorting the Good, the Great and Ugly Product13:41 - Building Commissioner in New South Wales17:37 - Smart Questions Potential Buyer Should Ask19:31 - Community-Focused Property Projects 23:26 - How to Pick Great Developers 25:02 - Final Messages25:51 - OutroAbout Our Host:Aaron-Christie David is the founder of Atelier Wealth and a Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) approved Mortgage Broker. Aaron's focus is clear – supporting property investors make confident decisions to build their property portfolio. He has been recognised in the MPA Top 100 Broker rankings for the last three years. With over 10 years in financial services experience, with a career spanning Wizard Home Loans and Commonwealth Bank, Aaron's decision to become a broker was to help more Australians fearlessly buy investment properties to achieve intergenerational wealth.Connect with Aaron:Visit the website: https://atelierwealth.com.au/ Follow Aaron on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaronchristiedavid Follow Aaron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-christie-david-a7482a21/ Subscribe to Atelier Wealth's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKdm2ssEHel1kyQLAHGvNPQConnect with Mitchell: Follow Mitchell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-meier-44980b108/ Visit Boston Projects' website: https://www.bostonprojects.com.au/ Follow Boston Projects on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bostonprojects/ Follow Boston Projects on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bostonprojectsaustralia Follow Boston Projects on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Bostonprojects/
Co-podder Sue Williams and I took ourselves off to the Owners Corporation Network's 20th anniversary event last week and it turned out to be a very revealing evening indeed. OK, the plaudits and praise were flowing faster than the free wine – and that's saying something. I hosted and Sue delivered a fascinating speech about how the OCN was formed in the darkest days of battle against corrupt developers, their sleazy managers, our supine strata committee and our incompetent strata managers. We thought we were suffering a unique confluence of bad luck … until Sue met other strata chairs and discovered we were far from alone. The big event, however, was Building Commissioner David Chandler's speech. In it he revealed the next phase of his revolution, which will gladden the hearts of owners in older buildings. He also flagged an interest in carbon neutral buildings in the future and had a none too subtle sideswipe at yours truly for my ongoing campaign to get strata out of Fair Trading. But it was generally agreed that the work OCN and especially its executive officer Karen Stiles has done laid the groundwork for David Chandler's appointment as building commissioner. You can hear David's speech in this podcast, but OCN members will be able to stream the entire event — including Sue, strata lawyer Stephen Goddard, OCN chair Fred Tuckwell, stalwart Gerry Chia and Karen (Brokovich) Stiles – on their website ocn.org.au. There were also messages from Fair Trading Minister Victor Dominello and City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. If you're not a member, there's a simple remedy for that. Check it out … but only after you have listened to this week's Flat Chat Wrap. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 So as we mentioned last week, we went to the OCN's (the Owners Corporation Network's) 20th anniversary event on Wednesday. There were quite a lot of high-powered people there. Sue 00:12 Yes, the room was packed. It was a fabulous occasion. Jimmy 00:16 The Building Commissioner, David Chandler, was there and the Property Services Commissioner was there. Sue 00:21 John Minns... Jimmy 00:22 And we got a video message from Victor Dominello and Clover Moore. It was very exciting and interesting. So today, we're going to take a listen to what David Chandler said in his speech. He said a couple of really interesting things about new innovations. We'll have a chat about that. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I wrote the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:46 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 00:48 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. David Chandler seems to be a very popular man? Sue 01:07 Absolutely. He's a great speaker, isn't he? I mean, he's very colourful and interesting, and very accessible. Jimmy 01:12 Yes. We're going to take a listen to his speech and then we'll have a chat about that... "Now, without OCN, we might never have been blessed with a Building Commissioner at all. And without this particular Building Commissioner, we might never have witnessed the profound and meaningful change in the building industry. Please welcome your Building Commissioner, David Chandler." David Chandler 01:37 Well, it's a privilege to be here today, because we've been on a long journey together. But today's story is really about OCN and I was talking earlier with a few folk here, that I see this is a bit like a graduation ceremony, where I've seen an organisation over 10 or so years (where I've been observing it), go from what was essentially about victims, to an organisation that's about advocacy. And you get a much more coherent engagement with people who have a clear advocacy perspective, rather than just simply being bogged down with their experience as victims. Now, that's not in any way to devalue the hell that I have seen people going through and it's been really... The motivator for me,
David Chandler OAM was appointed NSW Building Commissioner in 2019 after an impressive forty-year career in the Australian construction industry. David is improving the quality of construction and restoring trust in the industry through leading the delivery of Construct NSW Reform Strategy in collaboration with the sector. The NSW Reform Strategy has involved in modernising the Building Regulator, shifting focus from reactive to proactive, with a core reliance on digital capability.We talk to David on a number if issues including where are we now in relation to flammable cladding in NSW and where do we need to be, what are some of the areas that building owners may rethink to address their cladding replacement and why, what are some of the biggest challenges facing the building sector when it comes to both cladding issues as well as quality of final build and how are residential apartments being inspected using the NSW Residential Apartment Buildings Act powers showing up the issues identified in the recent inspections on residential apartment buildings in the Wollongong, and what results have they yielded to date?
If NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler has served no other function, he earns our respect and gratitude for being a very useful source of entertaining, informative and occasionally horrifying stories. The latest, from a parliamentary committee meeting, involves an allegation that development company's executives had tried to smear him with a suggestion that he had demanded a $5million bribe to back off from a development where he'd banned sales until defects were fixed. We pick the bones out of that in the podcast. But Commissioner Chandler isn't just a fruitful source of juicy tales, and we speculate as to where the next phase of his property development revolution is going. We have heard suggestions that he is now going to turn his fearsome gaze towards buildings that have defects and are still under warranty. Why? Because recognising you have defects in your building and knowing your rights is no guarantee that the developer and builder will fix them. Far from it, in many cases. And we also take a look at how Sydney's lower north shore seems destined to be the next hot spot for apartments and the shops and services that people want and need in a modern city. All that and more in this week's Flat Chat Wrap. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 We always seem to be just one step ahead of the news on this podcast. Sue 00:05 Yes! Jimmy 00:05 Last week, we were talking about dodgy developers and them having the same DNA as criminals and this week, we find out that David Chandler has said that a developer (who has been described as 'dodgy' in parliament), tried to implicate him in demanding bribes. So, we'll be talking about that. We'll be talking about the next phase of David Chandler's work, which is remediation of buildings that are less than six years old and have defects. And you're going to tell us about things that are happening on the lower North Shore of Sydney? Sue 00:46 Yes, about revitalising CBD's. Jimmy 00:48 Okay. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:54 And I'm Sue Williams, and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 00:56 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. That was a stunning piece of news that came out last week... Sue 01:16 It was, wasn't it? Jimmy 01:17 Yes, I mean, according to the Sydney Morning Herald and according to David Chandler; at a Parliamentary Estimates Committee meeting, he was talking about the Toplace Group, whom he has identified in the past as being (or they have been named in Parliament), as dodgy developers. They have this very flamboyant CEO, Jean Nassif, who is typical of that kind of person; you know, he was famous for giving his wife, a bright yellow Lamborghini, and of course, that appeared all over social media. They've got a development called Skyview (I think it's in Castle Hill), which David Chandler had slapped an order on, saying, they should not sell any more apartments, until they had fixed defects in the building. According to his testimony at the parliamentary committee, he was at a meeting with them to discuss this, and one of the Toplace executives (who he has not named), read out an email saying 'put $5 million into a trust account, and we can make the Skyview problem go away.' Sue 01:25 Wow! Jimmy 01:26 You know, there's a couple of things that occured. He told them 'oh, well, just take that straight to the police, because that's extortion.' They declined to do that, but then he heard that a journalist had been briefed by somebody saying 'did you know David Chandler is corrupt, and he's asked for $5 million as a bribe?' And even then, Fair Trading minister, Kevin Anderson, had somebody come up to him in a meeting, saying 'how do you feel about your Building Commissioner being corrupt?' Sue 03:11 That's incredible, isn't it? My god! Jimmy 03:14 So obviously,
The Building Commissioner has alleged that he was falsely accused of attempting to bribe a developer, which in part led to his resignation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler will remain in his role. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of the Build Hatch Podcast, we had the opportunity to hear from NSW Building Commissioner, Mr David Chandler OAM. In this episode we talk about: David was born in New Guinea and shares some valuable experiences from his childhood. Travelling between attending boarding school and heading home which was near the Kokoda Trail. The beginnings of David's career in construction in multiple industry areas. His involvement in the construction of Parliament house and being appointed Construction Director at the young age of 34. We discuss Vocational Education vs University. Some of the missing practical skills David is now seeing emerge in the construction industry. How David came to be the NSW Building Commissioner, and his openness and honesty on his LinkedIn posts. The benchmarks which need to be met so everyone can go home safe. David says, ‘Safety is always paramount and the first priority.' The strong correlation between an unsafe site and non-compliant construction. David's advice for new builders entering the market. Receiving the Order of Australia Medal. Outside of work, David enjoys golf, cooking, fishing, wine and spending time with his 6 x Grandchildren. The biggest changes David would like to see during his time as NSW Building Commissioner. David's perspective on the remediation of contracts required to fit our current climate. David's predictions for job sites in the future. The global eco-system in construction, with Australia capturing only 2% of the 12 trillion dollars spent per year. Buildings are getting smarter and, how these aspects are being embedded into construction. Advances in technology including electric cranes and smart lifts. David shares a success story when dealing with ‘Bob' the Building Certifier. The transformation David has seen when quality and assurance is reached. Sit back and enjoy this helpful interview with NSW Building Commissioner, Mr David Chandler OAM Links: Build Hatch Follow @buildhatch on Instagram NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler on LinkedIn Credits: Podcast Produced by Pretty Podcasts Build Hatch Podcast Soundtrack Title: “Ride It Like You Mean It”. Artist Name: Kristian Leo. Written By: Evert Zeevalkink. Published by Soundstripe Productions.
Sometimes the fur flies at weddings, and things can certainly get catty between landlords and tenants but, as we explore in this week's podcast, a woman has taken things to a whole new level in an effort to get round restrictions on pets. This story about the woman who married her cat started in Sidcup, just outside London, and has gone around the world and back again. But Jimmy did some digging and discovered that on just about every occasion, it has been misreported. It's not the cat-lady's fault - people just made assumptions (as they do). So, listen in for the truth behind reports that this was to avoid eviction for having a pet where one wasn't allowed. There's more to this than meets the (cat's) eye, including the revelation that Debora Hodge isn't the first cat lover to marry her pet. Then there's the certifier of the building next to Mascot Towers who was discovered to have been in China when he was supposedly approving the building works. We ask why Building Commissioner David Chandler didn't want journalists at a developers' seminar he addressed recently. We examine why councillors and council officials in a Sydney Local Government Area now have to register every meeting they have with developers. (We use the word “record” in the podcast but we mean make a written record, not an audio recording.) And we speculate on what interest rate rises and political posturing is likely to do to apartment prices and rental availability. That's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap … and here's a video of the cat lady, as a little bonus. https://youtu.be/8YEYJy_nIFI TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 Every week we sit down to do this podcast, and we start off thinking we don't have anything to talk about. By the time we are sat down, we're thinking "we don't have enough time, to talk about everything." This week, we have a woman who married her cat, so that she could stay in her rented accommodation. Although, there's more to that than it sounds. We've got the certifier... Sue 00:26 Did the cat own the apartment or something? Jimmy 00:28 No. Sue 00:29 Pets weren't allowed in the apartment; that's why she married her pet? Jimmy 00:32 Not even that. Sue 00:32 Oh, okay. I'll be interested to hear about that! Jimmy 00:35 And, there's a certifier who's been struck off, for life. We've got all sorts of other things with developers, including David Chandler... Big news about David Chandler; the Building Commissioner and what the various parties are promising to do about housing. The Greens have got some pretty exciting ideas. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Sue 01:21 So, what's this about the woman marrying her cat? Jimmy 01:23 Oh, this is a story that's bouncing around social media at the moment. Basically, the story is that Deborah Hodge from Sidcup in southeast London, has married her cat India, to avoid... Well, according to the stories, it's to avoid being evicted from her apartment and then you dig into the story and you discover that she is not in danger of being evicted because she has a cat, she's in danger of being evicted, because she hasn't paid her rent. Sue 01:54 Oh! So why has she married her cat? Jimmy 01:57 To make it clear to prospective landlords, that she and the cat come as a unit. Twice in the past she has "had to give up her beloved pets, because landlords didn't allow pets in the rented property." Okay, I know exactly what you're thinking; you're thinking well, find another property that does allow pets. Two Huskies were the first ones that she had to give up and another cat, which apparently broke her heart. So Deborah; poor Deborah, she's (dare I use the word 'failed'?), no longer employed as a 'life coach.' Sue 02:37
Mike Yanovitch is the former Deputy Building Commissioner of Brookline. This was a fascinating interview and Mike gives it to us straight, pulling the curtain back on how permitting and zoning work. Topics discussed include: - Why is Brookline zoning so complex? Does that inhibit building? - We ask about how the building department works. What's the best way to get feedback on plans, for example to build an addition? - Where is the institutional knowledge when there is turnover in the building inspectors? - How much of the code is open to interpretation? - Is it harder to receive permits now than in the past? Why are codes being interpreted more stringently now? - How does the town meeting style of government contribute to the complexity and difficulty of zoning? - What are some of the unintended consequences of this complexity? - How could we make it easier to build? In addition to having worked in the Brookline Building Department, Mike has also served in similar roles in Boston, Newton and Walpole. Now he is now in the private sector with Mass Construction Consultants (https://massconstruction.org/), a community where professionals in the construction industry can learn, share, and become better at what they do. Mass Construction Consultants provide corporate education, code consulting, permitting services, marketing consultations, and NFPA 241 Construction Fire Safety Plans & Audits. ***************** FEEDBACK OR QUESTIONS? Email us! info@accentbrookline.com ** Accent Realty, 617-396-3206, www.accentbrookline.com ** AVI KAUFMAN, avi@avirealestate.com, 617-751-1040, www.avirealestate.com RON SCHARF, ronscharf.re@gmail.com, 617-221-3122
This week's podcast is given over to one topic – but it's a fascinating one: What are we going to do about Australia's older apartment blocks? Sure, there's been a lot of attention given to the blocks currently under construction or recently completed, with our special guest this week, NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler shaking up the whole industry by demanding work is up to standard or, effectively, the apartments can't be sold. He has a few horror stories to tell about buildings that seem to be undertaking major reconstruction but on the ground it's strictly amateur hour stuff. And, in a considered personal response to a question asked at the Owners Corporation Network seminar last November, which is definitely not an official state government position, he is worried about the 50,000 unit blocks over 25 years old in NSW. The problem is that for many, repair and maintenance issues over the years have led to patchworks of surface repairs while the infrastructures of the blocks have deteriorated. The nightmare scenario - admittedly one that's extreme - is the Miami Beach apartment block collapse back in June last year in which 97 people died. There, the condo board (strata committee) was quibbling about the expense of fixing serious structural problems So what's the answer when even collective sales to developers to knock down and rebuild might not be an acceptable solution for home owners? Although quick to confirm this is only his personal view of the situation, David Chandler outlines the extent of the problem and explores one potential solution. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 I caught up with Building Commissioner, David Chandler, the other day. Sue 00:05 Fantastic! Jimmy 00:06 And as usual, he has a lot to say about the state of apartment blocks in New South Wales. But, his focus is changing a little bit to older apartments, so we had a long chat about that and he's got a lot to say, so I think we'd better just get on with things. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I wrote the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:27 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 00:30 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. Anybody who's been reading Flat Chat, or listening to this podcast for the past year or so, will know that David Chandler, the Building Commissioner for New South Wales, has been shaking up the new apartment developers, dropping in on sites and near-completed buildings, and forcing them to fix things, or face the prospect of not getting occupancy certificates. But late last year, at a conference organised by the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), someone asked him what he was planning to do about older buildings. So, I contacted David and asked him the same question, now that he's had a chance to consider it. First of all, he wanted to outline the extent of the problem and I have to warn you, that the audio at the beginning of this recording is a bit rough, because of the circumstances under which we recorded it. But it gets better; a lot better, pretty quickly, so hang in there. Here's David Chandler. David Chandler 01:39 It was a great question and it's time to start fleshing out what's the scope of the conversation, because we can now see an increasing number of buildings that are over 25 years of age, and that number is growing and so while we're adding stock, we're also growing the older stuff. While it's okay to say that nearly 40% of strata apartment buildings were completed in the six years prior to the survey conducted by us last year, that still means that 60% were constructed prior to that, and we're starting to now put some numbers on the number of schemes. There's nearly 50,000 over 25 years old. It was those concerns that people at that OCN meeting, were starting to become exercised about. Jimmy 02:23 David then went on to say that a lot of the maintenance of older buildings has been carried out w...
It was Monday morning and we had just finished editing the podcast when we got the word that NSW had a new Fair Trading minister. Meetings are cancelled, lunch is postponed, and schedules are re-drawn for the simple reason that this is, in our world, a big deal. Eleni Potinos may have been a media footnote in the cabinet reshuffle instigated by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet this week, but for us she is big news. There are four things that jump out, for those of us who have been close observers of strata politics for the past few years. One, she is a woman; after six men in a row, the first female ever to serve as Fair Trading Minister for the Liberals. Two, at 35, she is relatively young, confirming Fair Trading as being a training-wheels ministry. Three, she comes from Miranda, an area with a lot of high-rises. But it's the fourth thing that's the clincher – she has also been given the Small Business portfolio. At a time when there is clear evidence that strata is too big an issue to be lumped in with broken toys, faulty toasters, dodgy mechanics and sneaky real estate agents, our newly minted Fair Trading Minister gets a whole other portfolio to look after as well. Forget sexting and Barfgate – this is the real scandal. The government clearly thinks that with the Building Commissioner on the warpath, and 139 proposals on the table, they have fixed strata. They clearly don't realise they are just at the beginning, not the end. Meanwhile we also look at the dramas at Tamarama where a bid to rescue a huge block that really shouldn't be where it is has hit the Building Commission buffers. We examine the major trends in the real estate in the past year. And we have a non-Christmas poem that might bring a smile to your face. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 Exciting times, in strata land. We're leading up to Christmas and then all of a sudden, Santa Claus drops in our laps, a brand new Fair Trading Minister! Sue 00:10 Wow, yet another one! Jimmy 00:12 This will be the Liberal Party's 7th Fair Trading minister, since they came to power. Sue 00:18 And how many years is that? Jimmy 00:20 It's like, one a year. Sue 00:21 Oh my gosh! Jimmy 00:23 Yes and it's a woman, which is their first female Fair Trading Minister. Sue 00:28 Yes, because Labor usually has female Fair Trading Ministers, don't they? Jimmy 00:31 The last three were, and they seem to have changed the name of the Ministry back to Fair Trading. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about trends in property. We'll talk about what's going on in the Tamarama apartment block. And, we might even have a Christmas poem. Sue 00:49 Oh, excellent! Jimmy 00:50 So that's all coming up. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:56 And I'm Sue Williams and I write property for Domain. Jimmy 00:59 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. So, as I said at the top of the podcast, we have a new Fair Trading Minister. Sue 01:19 Yes. Tell us about her; I don't really know anything about her, really. Jimmy 01:23 Her name is Eleni Patinos. She is the member for Miranda, down in the Shire. I was hoping to dig through Google and find out stuff about her political beliefs and whatever. What I hit first of all, was a couple of scandals... In 2018, Matt Kean, the former Fair Trading Minister (or Better Regulation Minister, as he was called then); his ex -girlfriend (or his soon to be ex-girlfriend), sent screenshots of fairly racy sexting texts. Sue 02:04 Wow, so that was happening back then, too. Jimmy 02:07 It sounded like they had something going on and it all got a bit ugly, but Gladys said "look, you know, it's a personal matter." As we discovered recently, she has her line in the sand on these things and it's pretty easy to stay inside. She didn't sack Matt, but the previous year,
If there is one person in the strata sphere who'd say Building Commissioner David Chandler is not the Strata Messiah, it would be the commissioner himself. As we discuss on this week‘s podcast, he cringes at every mention of himself as some sort of saviour, constantly deflecting all the abundant praise he gets onto his team. They no doubt deserve all the kudos they can collect, but Jimmy wonders if the BC is, even just subconsciously, trying to avoid a similar fate to another NSW Commish. He means one who went from messiah to pariah – at least in the eyes of the media – Police Commissioner Peter Ryan. Sue was Peter Ryan's biographer and saw at close hand how he was adored by the public while vested interests and viciously hostile media figures brought him down. You can't help but wonder if David Chandler might face similar challenges if his enemies in the building industry -dodgy developers and shoddy certifiers - find a compliant shock jock, some internet trolls and a tiny chink in his armour, real or imagined. Before that, we unpack what we learned from the OCN ‘Strata Matters' Seminar. The fact that there's a lot of angry people out there is only part of it. Later, Sue digs into the story she wrote about the strata scheme that's planning to impose pet behaviour bonds of $2000 per animal – something a senior Fair Trading official described as a clear attempt to get round strata laws allowing pets. And she recalls the harrowing story of the mother, grandparents and baby who were forced to move back into a dangerously mouldy flat because of NCAT delays and bungling. There's all that and more in the Flat Chat Wrap. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 It's been a big week for us here, at Flat Chat. Sue 00:02 It certainly has! Jimmy 00:03 We had the OCN seminar, which I emceed, and there was a couple of stories that came out of that, that appeared in the papers. You've had a couple of stories; you've had a pet story? Sue 00:13 That's right, and an NCAT story. Jimmy 00:17 An NCAT defects story. Lots to get through; we'd better get on with it. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:25 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 00:28 And the Sydney Morning Herald. Sue 00:29 And the Sydney Morning Herald, yes! Jimmy 00:31 Increasingly. Sue 00:32 Yes. I don't know what has happened, but I think the Sydney Morning Herald has taken over a lot of the Domain stuff, so I think a lot of property stories are now appearing in print and the Sydney Morning Herald first, before they appear in Domain. Jimmy 00:45 So, you're back in the Herald? That's great! Alright, this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Jimmy There's a lot to get through, from the seminar. It was four hours of (often), heated discussion. The Building Commissioner was there; he and a big crew from Fair Trading, some interested strata owners, some angry strata owners, and even you turned up and did a piece about the media. But even your question session got hijacked by people, who are just angry; just very, very, very angry and, you can understand why. Sue 01:36 Yes, there's a lot to be angry about, with the situation with defects in apartments. As David Chandler was talking... He was talking about the measures he's going to ensure that apartments being built now, won't have defects in the future. But also, a lot of people there were from apartments that are more than 10 years old and that were having real problems. He did say at one point, didn't he, that when the new apartments are done, he's going to be looking at Legacy apartments, after that. Jimmy 02:04 Yes, but in a very different way and I wonder if for the people in those (so-called), 'Legacy apartments,' it makes it feel even worse, that something is being done, now, but it's too late for them.
This week in the Flat Chat Wrap podcast we take a deep dive into the strata managers' code of ethics. We touched on the topic in the Forum last week and its worth revisiting as the NSW branch of the Strata Community Association is about to officially launch its state government-approved Professional Standards Scheme. The SCA (NSW) Code of Ethics underpins its professional standards and the built-in disciplinary procedures add some heft to its definitions of what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by strata managers. It's a fairly dense document but the accompanying guide skirts around the issues that we think are most important. These include strata managers enabling incompetent and possibly even corrupt committees, while aiding and abetting developers who are intent on ripping off apartment buyers with embedded networks and pre-sold management rights contracts. Also on the pod, we ask why the building commissioner is taking such a keen interest in developments on the north coast of NSW. Property prices are booming up there – does that mean the developer sharks are circling? And, on the eve of the Owners' Corporation Network's annual Strata Matters conference, we ask who is looking after apartment owners in other states. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 We've been invited to a big function next week. Sue 00:02 We have! Jimmy 00:03 The Strata Community Association, previously Strata Community Australia, before they included New Zealand. Sue 00:12 Oh really! Is that.. Jimmy 00:13 That's why they changed their name. Sue 00:15 I always have to look it up, every time I write about anybody from there and I always think "why can I just never remember, whether it's Australia or Association?" Jimmy 00:24 Well, that's why, because it was, once. Sue 00:26 Oh, right, so I'm not quite going mad. Jimmy 00:29 So, the New South Wales branch has its AGM next week, but they're also doing the big launch of their professional standards system (whatever you call it). It's almost like they're becoming like accountants, where the government recognises that they provide professional standards. Presumably, at some point in the future they will be able to say "if you're going to have input from a strata manager, they must be members of SCA New South Wales," so it's a big deal. But, part of that process was to create a Code of Ethics, which we touched upon last week on the website (in the forum), and it actually bears a bit of exploration and examination, so we'll be doing that. We're talking about property up in northern New South Wales, which has been visited by the Building Commissioner and, we'll have a chat about what kind of organisations there are for owners, in other states in Australia. Hi, I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 01:39 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 01:42 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Jimmy The Strata Community Association New South Wales' Code of Ethics is an interesting document. Not only does it have rules about how strata managers are expected to behave, but it lays out the principles for complaints and if you download their Code of Ethics, you will find a whole complaints form (which runs to about three pages), at the back of the document. It's a process where you complain about a strata manager, or an SCA service provider (because there are people who are not strata managers, but they provide services and they're members of SCA), or even owners who are members of SCA; you can put in a complaint about them. Sue 02:48 What percentage of strata management companies are in the SCA? Jimmy 02:53 I think it's the majority. I've always wondered why strata managers weren't in the SCA. I mean, obviously, you have to pay fees to join. I don't think it's that hard to become a member there. But,
This week in the podcast we take a long, hard look at the proposals – well advanced, it must be said – for every strata scheme in NSW to register all their vital statistics on the state's new Strata Hub. What kind of information will they want and why do they want it? And what happens if old Geoff, the rusted-on secretary in Flat 4b, forgets to fill in the form or just doesn't think it applies to your strata scheme . Are there penalties for failure to comply with this Big Brother-like intrusion into our lives? (Yes.) And how much are they? (A lot … plus GST.) NB: By “Big Brother” I mean the state snooping in the novel ‘1984' by George Orwell, not the imprisonment of wannabe celebrities for our voyeuristic pleasure. And if you think this only applies to NSW, just wait. If it works it'll be coming your way before you know it. Anyway, a couple of minor corrections: You will find all the links to the various portals where you can post your observations and fill in your surveys here in this story on this website. And the fine for not updating your information will be up to $2200 not $2500 as only slightly mis-stated in the podcast. LISTEN HERE Meanwhile, as we emerge from our Covid cloud, it seems we can get back to Australia's other favourite topic of conversation – apart from the weather – and that's property prices. And to get your water-cooler chats going (are we allowed to have them yet?) Sue has discovered a city where apartment prices have gone up 25 per cent in the past year. Want to take a guess which one? And finally, we discuss the measures in the new NSW short-term letting registry that should put paid to sneaky tenants sub-letting their apartments without their owners' knowledge or permission. That's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 Something big is happening in strata, in New South Wales. Sue 00:03 Good! Is that a 'good' big, or 'bad' big? Jimmy 00:07 That remains to be seen. Fair Trading is creating what they call a 'strata hub,' where they are putting together all the information they can gather about apartment blocks in the state and they're making it compulsory that every strata scheme has to provide a certain amount of information. Sue 00:29 Is this coming from the Building Commissioner's office? Jimmy 00:31 No, it's coming from, I think, Victor Dominello, who is a bit of a... Sue 00:38 Champion of apartments. Jimmy 00:40 I was going to say, a data geek. Sue 00:44 Maybe, the two coincide, sometimes. Jimmy 00:46 We'll be talking about that and we're going to be talking about some strange movements in apartment prices. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:57 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 01:00 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Jimmy Out of the blue last Friday (as often happens, just before the weekend), Fair Trading dropped a bombshell, which is that they are going to be conducting, initially, discussions leading to legislation... New regulations in strata, requiring strata schemes to, basically file all their details. Sue 01:43 Is this out of the blue? I've never heard of this before. Jimmy 01:46 Well, apparently, it's phase two of a three phase process. Sue 01:51 What was phase one? Jimmy 01:52 Phase one was the bond's thing, you know, the building bond. Sue 01:58 What's phase three? Jimmy 01:59 Phase three is; I'll just have a look! Phase three will expand Owners Corporation reporting to include further building compliance information, like the annual fire safety documents, being uploaded onto the web. Sue 02:19 Wow, this is pretty immense. Jimmy 02:21 Oh, there's phase four, in which we'll see the strata hub continuing to evolve, branching out to include information and community precinc...
Exactly who gets to view the recording from your strata scheme's CCTV cameras? That's a topic that's been keeping us occupied on the Flat Chat Forum and now gets an additional airing on the podcast. Can your strata scheme limit viewings to the strata manager or committee members? Aren't there privacy issues involved? And what about those who want to look at the recordings for nefarious purposes. In a podcast in which it sounds like Jimmy is going for a world record in the use of the word “nefarious” we pick the pixels out of the strata laws surrounding CCTV and come up with a conclusion that many apartment residents may find alarming. LISTEN HERE But before that, we look at the potential benefits of the creation of a new high-powered committee to come up with a plan to reintroduce construction insurance for new apartment blocks. And we look at the impact on apartments of NSW opening up to tourism just when a new registry of short-term rental accommodation – like Airbnb and Stayz - comes into force. In the discussion we speculate about what defines a “principal place of residence” and whether that would allow savvy owners and tenants to by-pass by-laws by only renting their flats at weekends. At first, Planning NSW defined “principal place of residence” as “the place where a person usually lives, and so most of their possessions and clothes would be there and usually their mail would be sent there also." We see that as a loophole through which you could drive a luggage trolley but since we recorded the podcast, NSW Planning has revised its view, as you can read in this story. We still think anti-STRA strata schemes will struggle with chancers who will break the rules until such times as they are caught. Maybe they should install CCTV. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 We've got a real mixture of topics this week. We've got the pretty major breakthrough on insurance; construction insurance for apartment blocks. We've got the Airbnb register, that you've got to be on, if you want to rent property on Airbnb. Sue 00:20 Wow, is that finally coming in? Jimmy 00:23 November 1st; people have got to be registered on it by. I don't know what happens if they're not on it after that; maybe, somebody comes around and... Sue 00:31 That's incredible, because I never thought it was actually going to finally happen. It seemed to be kind of shelved, so many times. Jimmy 00:38 But then, you know, Airbnb or short-term letting, kind of ceased to exist for a while, because of COVID. And then, there's a weird story that's come up through the forum, about CCTV, and who gets to view strata CCTV. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 01:05 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 01:08 This is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Jimmy So, the big news; there is a panel being set up, to establish a basis for insurance on apartment block construction. Sue 01:34 This is fantastic! I mean, this is really big news, because it's been 18 years since any building over three storeys high, has been able to get home insurance...Home warranty insurance. Jimmy 01:49 Yeah. Because they kept falling down. Sue 01:51 Well, that's right. Jimmy 01:51 They had so many defects and we've just had a survey out, that said just about half the new apartment blocks in New South Wales have defects. At least half, because it's become apparent that people are discovering defects in their buildings and just hide them; just don't want to report them, because they end up having to pay for them, because the developers just disappear. So, all that's going to change. Sue 02:20 It is. I mean, this is the result of the government. Give them their due; appointing the Building Commissioner two years ago and he's been working quite hard to try and clean up the industry.
In this week's podcast we hear the voice of defect rectification in NSW as David Chandler takes to the airwaves to explain why two different surveys have revealed that about half of the apartment blocks built in the past 15 years in NSW have serious defects. And, in extracts from a session he shared with JimmyT on the James Valentine Afternoons show on ABC 702, we hear what he's already doing to fix the situation. It's a slightly different format this time as we dip into David's comments then discuss them topic by topic. We're not just running the chat in full, end to end. But one of the problems, we discover, is the very low percentage of blocks that report problems when they discover them We also get a sense of David's frustration at the way NSW's progress in removing and replacing flammable cladding is being compared unfavourably and, he says, unfairly with Victoria's very different approach. And he answers the multi-million-dollar question ... should you even think about buying an apartment off-the-plan? Moving on, we examine a very real example of a building with defects issues, leading to it almost being evacuated last week. And we hear how apartment rents are starting to rise again as tenants take advantage of the inner-city slump to trade up to larger apartments in better areas. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 So, we're in the last stage of the road to freedom. Sue 00:05 Yes, it's fantastic. We both have haircuts... I've been to the cinema. Jimmy 00:10 Been double vaccinated, like 80% of people in New South Wales. Sue 00:15 And Victoria is almost on the same trajectory as well. Just a bit behind us. Jimmy 00:20 So, they've loosened some of the restrictions in New South Wales. Guess what difference that makes to living in strata? Sue 00:27 You tell me, Jimmy! Jimmy 00:29 Absolutely nothing. You still have to mask up on common property; you still have to wear a mask in the lifts. We're going to get more infections, because people are mingling more. I mean, 80% means that one person in every five, isn't double -vaccinated, which is two members of a football team. So, there's going to be a spike in infections, for sure, so we still have to take sensible precautions. Wearing masks; whatever your building manager, or strata manager, or committee, or next door neighbor tells you... You should still be wearing masks on common property, in apartment buildings. Sue 01:09 And especially in confined spaces like lifts, I guess. Jimmy 01:12 Yes, indeed. Moving on... Last week, I was invited onto the James Valentine afternoon show (on ABC 702), at the same time as David Chandler, the Building Commissioner for New South Wales, to talk about defects and a report by the Strata Community Association that has revealed that four out of every 10 apartments in our apartment blocks, over the last six years, has serious defects. So, he came on; James had a chat with him and I have cherry-picked some of the stuff that David Chandler says, so we'll be listening to that. We're going to hear about an apartment block, which might be one of those (may very well be one of those), which is teetering on the brink of evacuation. And, you're going to tell us some news, which is good news for property investors and possibly not such good news for tenants in apartments, because rents are going up. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 01:17 And I'm Sue Williams, I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 02:00 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Jimmy As I said before that inspiring music, I was on the James Valentine show last week and David Chandler was there, talking about defects and the Strata Community Association report that said 4 out of 10 new apartment buildings in New South Wales, have been found to have serious defects. So, James chatted to him and chatted to me,
Town Administrator Jason Silva discusses the appointment of a new Building Commissioner, partnership with CZM, historic properties survey, Marblehead Speaks Out Against Hate event, and a review of ARPA funds.
How has apartment living in Australia changed in the past four years? The answer is a lot, but still too little. This week, we celebrate our 200th column in the Australian Financial Review (and our 820th in all media). And at the risk of being accused of self-congratulation, it's a good opportunity to look back on what has changed and what hasn't in the past four years and beyond. It has to be said that progress has been slow and occasionally faltering, as we look at all the “hot” issues, such as dodgy building developers, the NSW Building Commissioner, pet by-laws, flammable cladding, short-term lets, sunset “clawbacks” and anything else that's made headlines here and elsewhere in the recent past. LISTEN HERE We also dive into the question of what represents a higher risk to apartment residents – allowing cleaners from West and South-West Sydney Covid-19 hotspots to travel, or not having the touch points in apartment block common areas professionally cleaned? With more than 70 per cent of Sydney's cleaners living in the “hard lock-down” areas, this is a dilemma that faces a lot of apartment blocks. Needless to say, we both have solutions that will infuriate some and amuse others. It's all in this week's Flat Chat Wrap. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 00:00 It's a bit of a landmark for Flat Chat, this weekend. Sue 00:03 Yeah? Jimmy 00:04 I just published the 200th edition of the column, in the Fin review. Sue 00:11 Oh wow! Well done! Jimmy 00:12 Thank you. So, we'll be talking about that and the changes that have happened in the past four years. And, we'll be talking about the dilemma over cleaners from the lockdown hotspot LGA's in the west and southwest of Sydney. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:34 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 00:37 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] Sue 00:52 Well, happy anniversary, Jimmy. Gosh, that's gone quickly; four years! Jimmy 00:56 Four years, 200 columns. But, that's only 200 in the Fin Review. Sue 01:02 That's right. Before that you were in the Sydney Morning Herald. How many years were you doing that? Jimmy 01:07 Well, 620 columns. Sue 01:12 Wow! Jimmy 01:14 That breaks down to what; about 12/13 years? Sue 01:17 Goodness me and you still don't seem to run out of things to write about. Jimmy 01:21 No. I haven't repeated myself that often. I mean, we do go back and update certain topics, obviously, because things do change. Sue 01:29 And all your columns, are they all on the Flat Chat website? Jimmy 01:32 Most of them are. That's why we in fact, we started the Flat Chat website, to have a kind of repository for all the columns. And you know, I wouldn't dig too far back, if you're looking for information, because the laws have changed. But, I was amazed to find that all my previous columns are still online, for the Fin Review. Sue 01:56 Oh, fantastic. And tell me, have things changed enormously in the last four years? Jimmy 02:02 Some things have changed enormously; some things have not changed at all. Sue 02:06 Okay, shall we look at the good news first? Jimmy 02:09 Well, I think the biggest news (certainly in New South Wales), is the appointment of the Building Commissioner, David Chandler. He was appointed because things weren't changing. Dodgy builders were building dodgy buildings, and then 'phoenixing' into other entities. You know, just shutting down shop, before the unfortunate purchasers of of their apartments could claim for the defects. And even if they did claim for the defects, they'd just shut down, and then disappear, with a slightly different name, but with exactly the same business address and exactly the same phone numbers. Sue 02:45 And has the Building Commissioner changed an awful lot,
We're looking at some big news this week on the podcast and wondering what it all means. NSW Fair Trading has announced that they will be appointing a properties commissioner - like building commissioner David Chandler, only maybe without the fear factor – to help regulate all the professions involved in looking after buying, selling, renting and managing properties. What might those professions be? The inaugural appointees of Fair Trading's Property Services Expert Panel provides a clue. The invitees included strata managers, real estate agents, building facilities managers, real estate trainers and employers, livestock and property agents, business brokers, short-term rental managers, someone from the Wool And Pastoral Agency and a representative of private landlords. LISTEN HERE Everybody and his or her brother or sister – except apartment owners and tenants. But hey, what would we know about buying and selling, let alone letting and renting property? You can see the full list, with the lucky participants named, if not shamed, here. By the way, a couple of times in the podcast we refer to the strata managers' organisation SCA as Strata Community Australia. That's their old name. The A now stands for Association, and has ever since they pulled New Zealand into their orbit. Anyway, the big questions are, what is this new Property Commissioner going to do and how are they going to do it? Will they be kicking butt and taking names, a la David Chandler? Or will they follow the established Fair Trading protocol of a light tap on the wrist and a quiet word with miscreants? Will they be looking at under-quoting, misrepresentation of properties, excessively long contracts, systematically waived cooling-off periods, gazumping, embedded networks, endemic dishonesty and general incompetence? Having kicked those topics around, we turn to security in strata buildings and a free webinar scheduled for June 30 (not this week, as I briefly thought). There's a lot in this week's podcast so it runs a little longer. Enjoy. TRANSCRIPT IN FULL Jimmy 0:00So, you're back from Arnhem Land? Sue 0:02I am. It was so nice and warm up there. It's freezing down here again. Jimmy 0:07Yeah, we had a really cold day during the week. We've got a lot to talk about, because last week, there were a couple of big announcements from Fair Trading New South Wales and, the property market seems to have gone completely nuts. Sue 0:21Oh, it really is mad. I mean, it may not be hot weather, but it's certainly a hot market. Jimmy 0:28I'm Jimmy Thomson. I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 0:33And I'm Sue Williams. I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 0:36And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. So, for the past year, we've been talking about the Building Commissioner, David Chandler, and the difference he seems to be making in apartment buildings; getting them built. But, last week, the Fair Trading minister (or whatever they call themselves now; the Better Regulation and Shorter Titles. I think that's what the ministry is called). They announced there's going to be a properties commissioner. Sue 1:20This is something that the Real Estate Institute was really pushing for, wasn't it? Jimmy 1:24Well, they were. I wonder if that's one of these 'be careful what you wish for' things, because if this guy turns out to be anything like David Chandler… I'm saying it's a guy; it could very easily be a woman. I wonder if they're going to shake things up more than the real estate industry suspects. I mean, why would they be keen to have a commissioner? Sue 1:45Well, I think in the same way that SCA, the Strata Community Australia, are really keen to have tighter regulations for strata managers. They want to clean up their industry. To make sure it's really respected and operates well and it has no charlatans in there. Jimmy 2:02This kind of goes back about a month or...
If you have a hankering for the high life and have a lazy $22 million lying around, you could score an apartment in the huge Crown tower above James Packer’s (currently non-functioning) casino. If that’s too rich for your blood, how much would you expect to pay for a two-bed, two-bath pad on a lower floor? All is revealed in our Flat Chat Wrap podcast this week. But before we get to that, there’s the small matter of how data mining is going to lead to a trebling of the number of apartment blocks under construction that will fall under the critical glare of NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler. Listen Here As this story explains, Fair Trading is planning to dig into its accumulated data to find out which certifiers have historically signed off on the most problematic buildings, then reverse engineer that to find out which buildings under construction those certifiers are now connected with. That will trigger a visit from someone from the Building Commissioner’s office who will start tapping tiles and probing plaster to see how well or badly this building has been constructed. Then we get to the issue of the high cost of buying into Sydney’s tallest apartment block, the Crown Tower at Barangaroo. Yes, an apartment changed hands for $22m recently but there are others there that are a lot cheaper … okay, a bit cheaper. The we look at the new 899-unit apartment complex proposed for Campbelltown and discuss the issues confronting owners in separate strata schemes that are also part of a larger scheme sharing some facilities. And finally, Jimmy answers a question asked by Sue last week – will the big insurers ever come back and cover the construction of apartment block over three storeys high. That’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap. Transcript In Full Jimmy 0:00Big news on the defects front, Sue? Sue 0:02Yes, absolutely. The New South Wales Government is acting to start auditing a lot more buildings than they usually do (and they have been doing over the last six months). Jimmy 0:11Okay, because we saw that report last week about how a huge percentage of defective buildings were certified by like, six different certifiers. Sue 0:23That's right; about a third of risky buildings, by the same six repeat-offending certifiers. Jimmy 0:30We're going to be talking about that; we're going to be talking about a big new development and I'm going to be answering a question that Sue asked last week (and I went off-track, and answered a completely different one). I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 0:50And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 1:09And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC] JimmyJust as we were about to sit down and record this podcast, a press release came in from New South Wales Fair Trading, Sue, and it's big news. Sue 1:20That's right. Kevin Anderson, the Minister for Better Regulation, has launched a data-led audit regime to target the state's high-risk building certifiers and triple the number of buildings to come under scrutiny by the building regulator. Jimmy 1:34What sort of numbers are we talking about? Sue 1:36Well, at the moment, there's a pre-occupational certificate audit regime, and they target around 50 site-based audits every six months. But, with this new regime of audits, they're expecting to be able to audit an additional 100 to 150 buildings every six months, which more than triples the regulator's compliance and enforcement efforts on residential apartments. Jimmy 2:00Wow. Sue 2:01So, that's a big jump. Jimmy 2:02It's huge. So, they're basing this on certain new data or analyzing data they already have? Sue 2:11Well, they've got apparently, new digital tools, where they can analyze the data really effectively, because apparently, they've got so much data coming in; they've got something like 170 million lines of data to look at certifi...
This week, having survived a computer crisis on the home office front, we delve deeper into the differences between the way renters are treated in Victoria and NSW. In the same week that Victoria’s new rental laws come in, curbing “no reason” evictions of tenants, NSW Fair Trading confirms that they will be reinstated as soon as the post-Covid period is over in September. So why should property owners not have the right to end their tenancy leases when they want to? Why should they need to prove that their reasons are valid, such as showing that they have permission to undertake renovations, or that they have signed a contract to sell the property? Jimmy puts up a strong argument that many landlords in Australia owe a debt to the community as a whole and that involves treating tenants fairly and decently. You can find the details of the NSW transitional measures for renters and landlords HERE and the Victorian regulations HERE. Listen Here Then we move on to the “brave” developer who, according to a story in a recent Sunday Telegraph, complained about building commissioner David Chandler closing down one of his apartment block building sites because of defects that were being built into the structure – faults that the eventual purchasers would probably end up paying to fix. According to a story in the Sunday Telegraph last week, Omar Abdul-Rahman, director of OandE Developments, had a litany of building defect complaints raised against him, or companies of which he was a director, dating back to 2017. He complained that he had never been on a building site where Australian Building Standards were resolutely adhered to. Maybe so, but if he wasn’t on David Chandler’s radar before, he certainly will be now Finally, we move on to an idea being floated – not for the first time – that voting at strata AGMs should be compulsory, as it is at every other level of the democratic process. Jimmy argues that if strata really is the fourth level of government, then it should have the same compulsion to vote as in national, state and council elections. Sue argues that it’s up to strata schemes to engage their owners more effectively and if they can’t do that, then why should owners turn out for dreary nights at AGMs when either nothing happens or nasty personal disputes are played out in public. That’s all (and more) in this week’s podcast. Transcript In Full Jimmy 00:00 Computers, eh?! Sue 00:01 Yes! Jimmy 00:02 They're great when they work, and they're bloody useless when they don't. Sue 00:07 Well, I had a problem with my computer and you tried to fix it (which I was very grateful for), but apparently you 'bricked' the computer. Jimmy 00:16 You've never heard that phrase before? Sue 00:17 No, I havent. Jimmy 00:18 Which means literally, you have turned the computer into something that is as useful as a brick. Sue 00:25 Yes. Well, thank you very much for that, Jimmy! Jimmy 00:28 I went and helped you get a new set up and almost stuffed that up, because I used the wrong dongle. Sue 00:37 A complete nightmare. I hate computers! Jimmy 00:40 I think they're great. Okay, today we're going to be talking about different attitudes to renters, between New South Wales and Victoria. We're going to be talking about the brave but possibly foolish man who decided to take on Building Commissioner, David Chandler. And, we're going to discuss whether it would be a good idea to have compulsory voting at AGM's in strata buildings. I'm Jimmy Thomson. I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 01:10 I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain. Jimmy 01:13 This is the Flat Chat Wrap. So, it was a very interesting coincidence regarding two political changes in Victoria and New South Wales the other week, concerning rentals. In New South Wales,
In this week’s podcast we give the NSW Parliament’s deliberations on it’s new strata pet laws a kick along. As reported here, the Lower House has taken a good six months to deal with a procedural Bill that would have promoted sustainability and tidied up several odd loopholes in strata law. However, it was tagged with an amendment that would have meant pets could only be excluded from apartments if it was detrimental to the animal. Listen Here The amended Bill, which was approved by the Upper House with its Animal Justice Party alteration, had zero chance of being approved by the Legislative Assembly. Right or wrong, the majority Coalition government was simply not going to approve open slather for pet owners in strata. So Sydney MP Alex Greenwich stepped in and wrangled a compromise that basically says pets could not “unreasonably” be refused domicile in apartment blocks while getting a commitment to a parliamentary report on what “reasonable” actually means. And that’s where we hop in with our ten cents worth on the podcast. Rental as anything Elsewhere in the pod, in light of the tax and planning breaks now on offer from the NSW government, we discuss the rise and rise of build-to-rent apartment blocks – there are 40 “in the pipeline” according to real estate marketing giant CBRE. But will they be snazzy upmarket facilities-filled developments like Mirvac’s Liv Indigo? Or will they be cheap and cheerless, renters-only versions of the cram-em-in, stack-em-high chicken coops beloved of some well-known developers? Time will tell. Commish kicks butt Finally Sue chats about her recent conversation with Building Commissioner David Chandler. Six months into his much-hyped crackdown on dodgy developers, is he making a difference, especially with regard to confidence in our high-rise buildings? We dig around for evidence. Zany Zoom calls And keeping things upbeat, Jimmy points us to these two videos. The first, is balm to the soul of any strata chair or secretary who’s had to deal with unruly members at an online committee meeting. If you are one of the few people on the planet who hasn't already seen this, it made a global viral video heroine of Council Clerk Jackie Weaver and her ruthless handling of obstreperous members of Handforth Parish Council in England. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB3P_0GAi0I And on a lighter note, there’s the lawyer who appeared on a Zoom video as a cute little talking kitten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcnnI6HD6DU Almost as amusing in the video from Texas is the warning in the top left corner that recording the meeting was an offence. Well, that really worked. But maybe if we all had to adopt animal alter egos, online strata meetings would be a lot less fractious and a lot more fun. Enjoy the podcast and let us know what you think of the new format on mail@flat-chat.com.au. Transcript In Full Jimmy 00:00 Big news on the pet front this week in strata. Sue 00:04 Yes! it's all happening, isn’t it? Jimmy 00:04 We've got ‘build to rent’ to talk about and you've been chatting to Building Commissioner, David Chandler? Sue 00:14 Yes, that's right. Jimmy 00:15 Is he making a difference; let's find out, later on. I'm Jimmy Thomson. I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review. Sue 00:24 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain with the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age. Jimmy 00:29 This is the Flat Chat Wrap. Well, let's get straight into it. The New South Wales lower house (which is actually the most important bit of Parliament), last week debated an amendment to their sustainability strata bill. Sue 01:01 That was the one where there was an amendment put on by the Animal Justice Party, wasn't it? Jimmy 01:05 Yes. This was originally a bill that was all about fixing up loose ends.
Ed Lippmann joins Sylvia for a new series of Sydney By Design for 2020 and the focus will be on events of the last year. We commence on Arts Wednesday 25 November with Part 1 on building codes. Following disasters in buildings like Opal Towers, a Building Commissioner has been appointed. How will this impact [...]Read More... from Sydney By Design 2020 Part 1: Building Codes with Ed Lippmann
FM #343 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 343 in the series. This session shares a key segment of the Franklin, MA Town Council meeting held on Wednesday, Sep 2, 2020. The meeting was conducted via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period. Chair Tom Mercer opened the meeting on schedule at 7:00 PM. After - A statement on the election results of Sep 2 - Two citizens comments - Approval of minutes of 7/29/20 meeting - Public hearing for lot line changes Gus Brown, Building Commissioner, presents an update on the work his department conducts in coordination with Inspections, Zoning Board of Appeals and others. The segment includes the Council comments and questions following the presentation. The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda and to the presentation document. This meeting segment runs just about 56 minutes, so let’s listen to the presentation and discussion on the Building Department -------------- Town Council agenda https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/08/franklin-ma-town-council-agenda-sep-2.html Building Dept presentation https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/09/important-meetings-today-wednesday-sep-2.html My notes from the meeting https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/09/town-council-recap-sep-2-2020-building.html -------------- We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help. How can you help? - If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors - If you don't like something here, please let me know Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening. For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission. I hope you enjoy! ------------------ You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"
In this week’s episode of the Flat Chat Wrap we look at the claims that the Opal and Mascot towers “disasters” are just the tip of a very large apartment block defects iceberg. This comes as no surprise to JimmyT and Sue Williams, who have been writing about apartment block defects – and other, happier apartment-related issues – for almost two decades, meeting a response that ranged from complete lack of interest to virtual censorship. In this episode of the Flat Chat Wrap, Sue recalls the time 15 years ago that a hard news feature on defects almost cost her job, when a (then) property writer saw her newspaper expose on apartment block defects and called a developer mate to warn him. The developer called the editor and threatened to pull all the company's advertising if the story went ahead. The editor caved in. Sue offered her resignation but it was turned down (she is now a freelance writer and author, mostly working for another publication). That’s just part of the reason that the whole grubby business of building defects, government lack of interest (to the point almost of collusion) and corporate cover-ups have led to the situation we are in now where ordinary people live with the fear that their apartment is going to have serious building problems at some point. This podcast looks at two of the root causes of the problem – phoenixing and lack of “duty of care” and how they can, together, leave apartment owners with little or no consumer protection. Phoenixing is when a development company builds an apartment block and then goes into liquidation when the claims for defect rectification come in (if not before). However, a similar company with similar or identical directors can then rise from the ashes of the previous entity and do the same thing over and over again. “Duty of care” or the lack of it relates to a legal precedent established last year that said builders only have a responsibility to apartment block developers, not to the people who bought the apartments. One of the legal arguments was that they couldn’t have contract responsibility to the apartment owners through their owners’ corporation (body corporate) since that body didn’t exist when the contracts were signed. So you can see, remove the developer (who has gone into voluntary liquidation), and the apartment owner is left high and dry. NSW is planning to create the position of Building Commissioner to deal with these and other problems, including the certification of engineers and developers. We’ll be watching with interest to see how that pans out. On a happier note, Sue has also been looking at the winners of the NSW Architecture Awards and some of the innovative designs that caught the judges’ eyes. That's all in theis week's Flat Chat Wrap: https://episodes.castos.com/flatchatpod/Flat-Chat-31-Tip-of-the-iceberg.mp3 And on Youtube HERE: OTHER LINKS: SMH feature on defects Sue Williams on Architecture awards Jimmy Thomson’s website Sue Williams website Jimmy’s Australian Financial Review columns
In this week’s episode of the Flat Chat Wrap we look at the revelation that the Opal and Mascot towers “disasters” are just the tip of a very large apartment block defects iceberg. Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams have been writing about apartment block defects – and other, happier apartment-related issues – for more than 15 years. In this episode of the Flat Chat Wrap, Sue recalls the time more than a decade ago that a feature on defects almost cost her job, when a property writer with a close personal relationship with a developer, saw her expose on apartment block defects and called her friend. The developer called the editor and threatened to pull all their advertising if the story went ahead. The editor caved in. Sue offered her resignation but it was turned down (although she is now a freelance working mostly for other publications). That’s just part of the reason that the whole grubby business of building defects, government lack of interest (to the point almost of collusion) and corporate cover-ups have led to the point we are at now where ordinary people don’t know for sure whether or not their apartment is going to have serious building problems at some point. This episode looks at two of the root causes of the problem – phoenixing and lack of “duty of care” and how they can, together, leave apartment owners with little or no consumer protection. Phoenixing is when a development company builds an apartment block and then goes into liquidation when the claims for defect rectification come in. However, a similar company with similar or identical directors can then rise from the ashes of the previous entity and do the same thing over and over again. “Duty of care” or the lack of it relates to a legal precedent established last year that said builders only have a responsibility to apartment block developers, not to the people who bought the apartments. One of the legal arguments was that they couldn’t have contract responsibility to the apartment owners through their owners’ corporation (body corporate) since that body didn’t exist when the contracts were signed. So you can see, remove the developer (who has gone into voluntary liquidation), and the apartment owner is left high and dry. NSW is planning to create the position of Building Commissioner to deal with these and other problems, including the certification of engineers and developers. We’ll be watching with interest to see how that pans out. On a happier note, Sue has also been looking at the winners of the NSW Architecture Awards and some of the innovative designs that caught the judges’ eyes. LINKS: SMH feature on defects Sue Williams on Architecture awards Flat Chat Website Jimmy Thomson’s website Sue Williams website Jimmy’s Australian Financial Review columns
Fred Schilling, former Navy plumber, current business owner of Pipeline Plumbing, Building Commissioner for the state of Florida and Vice President of the organization "Plumbers Without Borders", an organization created to connect volunteer plumbing and mechanical tradespersons with organizations committed to increasing access to safe water and sanitation, joins Richard on today's Potty Talk LIVE. For more information about "Plumbers Without Borders", check out their website here: http://www.plumberswithoutborders.org
In this episode we talk code, zoning, 40B, code changes in the 9th edition and upcoming work in Brookline. Enjoy the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/joekelly/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/joekelly/support
Alumni in profile: Tony Arnel is Victorian Building and Plumbing Commissioner , Chair of the Green Building Council of Australia, and the Chair of the World Green Building Council. He is also a Deakin graduate of Architecture (1979).
Alumni in profile: Tony Arnel is Victorian Building and Plumbing Commissioner , Chair of the Green Building Council of Australia, and the Chair of the World Green Building Council. He is also a Deakin graduate of Architecture (1979).
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