Strata
Push to deliver solar to 2.5m apartment dwellers gains traction
Houses are still 10 times more likely to have rooftop solar panels than apartments, but the financial case for solar on strata buildings is better than ever.
- Caitlin Fitzsimmons
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- Exclusive
- Development
Strata giant unmasked in secret lobbying to save insurance kickbacks
The Age can reveal that the corporate giant PICA Group privately warned the government’s expert panel that outlawing insurance commissions would cause 70 per cent of strata management companies to collapse.
- Rachael Dexter
- Editorial
- Editorial
Strata reform failure leaves apartment owners at the mercy of predators
The Allan government’s weak-kneed response to a damning review of the strata sector kicks crucial consumer protections into the long grass.
- The Age's View
‘Dog’s breakfast’: Strata overhaul splits flat owners and industry
Apartment owner advocates have lashed Victoria’s new strata overhaul as a failure, while corporate managers have welcomed a reprieve on insurance kickbacks.
- Rachael Dexter
- Exclusive
- Development
Crackdown on strata sector will mean new penalties and offences, but Airbnbs slip net
Proposed new laws to be introduced to parliament today are also aimed at giving relief to unit owners suffering hardship.
- Rachael Dexter
Leaked audio: "It’s a benefit to Ace itself"
Listen to the leaked recording of a corporate strata manager explicitly demanding a secret vendor kickback and offering to rig an owners corporation tender.
- Exclusive
- For subscribers
Leaked audio reveals strata giant caught asking contractor for kickbacks
When a strata manager brazenly asked for a kickback to award a contract for work, the contractor was in shock. “I felt like I’d been struck across the face with a fish,” he said.
- Rachael Dexter
- Exclusive
- News
How Jo won a six-year battle to have a dog in an upmarket Sydney building
After a 22-year pet prohibition in the exclusive Horizon apartment block was overturned, blanket bans on animals were outlawed across NSW.
- Sue Williams
- Exclusive
- City life
‘Thumping and crashing’: Pilates studio exposes Melbourne’s strata failings
A noise dispute in a Malvern East apartment building has become the latest flashpoint in what advocates describe as a “state of anarchy” within Victoria’s strata laws.
- Rachael Dexter
- Exclusive
- Property development
This idea would save apartment owners $333m. Strata managers took ‘high offence’
A system of payments that has inflated the cost of apartment living is facing an overhaul, as the NSW government considers a historic ban.
- David Barwell