Not sure about apartment pet laws? Find out your rights for you and your pet
Well, for a long time, this was a widely held belief. And there are still plenty of people who think that flats and Fido don’t mix.Read More
Category: News
Annoyed by your noisy neighbours? Do something about it!
I have to listen to my neighbour’s music and I don’t have a choice. Is this you? And not so into their music?Read More
What Do I Own in my Strata Scheme and What is Common Property?
For any unit owner as part of a strata scheme, body corporate or owners corporation, the critical question is what is your unit (or lot) and what is common property. This will determined who is responsible for what and who pays. General Rule (subject to exceptions) The general rule applicable to the majority of strata schemes registered after 1 July 1974 is: The structures located on the solid thick line, such as, that shown above at the registration of the strata plan are common property. The ceiling , the structure of the floor including fixed tiles or floorboards, the electrical […]Read More
Website creates Vertical Communities
A website for buildings that creates vertical communities sounds like techno, tree hugging, mumbo-jumbo. Indeed ‘community building’ is one of those slogans you hear chanted by the left; people who want to save forests and shut down brown-coal fired power stations. But community building is now starting to gain the interest of property developers, a group not generally associated with left-leaning do-gooders! It’s good for developers to use the language, but are they really delivering housing that promotes genuine community building? Large scale residential towers along Australia’s eastern coast are enjoying a boom, as one in four Aussies now live […]Read More
Improve Property Value in a Strata Scheme
To improve property value in a strata scheme, owners must work together to achieve results. This can be a difficult undertaking as people have different ideas about what renovations are required to add property value in a strata scheme. Sometimes people make the mistake of taking the cheap option of simply patching a structural problem or existing defect. This is like wallpapering a cracked wall. Any building inspection from a new purchaser will reveal the underlaying cause of the problem and thus devalue the whole property. This can also cause the impression that there may be other major issues you […]Read More
How to Add Value to your Apartment Building
How do you add value to your apartment? Most likely you’d install a timber floor or update the kitchen. The cost – tens of thousands of dollars – and with a rising property market and a bit of luck you’d see the money back. Even if you don’t want to spend that sort of money on your apartment, you can still add value to it by making sure it’s part of an appealing and well kept building. With thousands of new apartments being built making improvements to your own building may not just be an option, it may be a […]Read More
15 Fantastically Organised Spaces
With sales in Australian apartments going gangbusters, the secret to living in these apartments is fanastically organised spaces. Australians have much to learn from apartment dwellers accustomed to the confined spaces of New York or Tokyo. Organised thinking and discipline is what’s needed when you don’t have a ‘pool room’ to display your collectables. There are handy little secrets for fantastically organised spaces. There are some great tips from bloggers on sites such as Apartment Therapy. I like this blog with gorgeous photos to admire for their organisation. “Beautifully organised spaces are very inspirational for me. Often, I think, if […]Read More
What approvals do I need to renovate my unit?
Owners living in a strata community, body corporate or owners’ corporation sometimes want to renovate their apartments. But it’s difficult to know your rights and obligations. Do I need permission from my neighbours to renovate? What if I don’t get permission? It’s not really that scary, more common-sense so dream big with your renovations but follow the rules. This article by Bannermans Lawyers is very helpful for navigating the difference between hammering a nail in a wall to enclosing a balcony. What approvals do I need to renovate my unit? While this article is about renovating units in NSW only […]Read More
Self managed strata schemes: does your tradie have the right insurance?
Self-managing your strata scheme it’s important to check that the tradies you engage have the right insurance cover. It’s not hard. Just follow these steps. Make sure that you check that the company the tradie works for has public liability insurance. Simply getting a, “Yes I do!” from the tradesperson is not sufficient. You must ask them to provide you with a Certificate of Currency, which they can obtain from their insurer. Holger Schnabel, from Whitbread Insurance Brokers says, “Best practice is keeping a register of all of the tradespeople used by the Owners Corporation and note that a copy […]Read More
Savvy Strata Owners Get Involved
News Release Coinciding with popular TV shows such as The Block, today’s Strata unit owners are more savvy about their investment, taking control and interest in managing the affairs of the whole building they live in, including the common areas they jointly own. Commenced in the early 1960s as a form of property management devised for people living in unit blocks, townhouses and apartment buildings, today there are an estimated 120,000 Strata, Body or Owners’ Corporations in Australia. Mostly they manage the common areas such as stairs, lifts, gardens, car parks and the like, as well as organising building maintenance funds […]Read More