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 [email protected] 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.

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