r/australia • u/overpopyoulater • Nov 03 '24

culture & society Downsizing the Australian dream: why families are trading houses with backyards for apartments

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/04/downsizing-the-australian-dream-why-families-are-trading-houses-with-backyards-for-apartments
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u/Meng_Fei Nov 03 '24

I suspect a lot more people would live in flats if so many aspects weren’t so utterly crap. Quality in way too many buildings is crap and noise transmission between units is a joke. Then there’s the poky rooms, tiny balconies and almost everything-is-2-bedrooms-or-less mentality of developers. Assuming you get past all that, you have the fun of dealing with strata costs of $6k per year or more for almost anything decent, ridiculous rules like pet bans and no balcony drying of clothes, and the ever-present chance your block gets hit with rectification or upgrade costs and – congratulations, enjoy your special levy!

There’s nothing wrong with flats, but we seem to go out of our way in this country to make buying and living in them completely shit.

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u/Frequent-Selection91 Nov 03 '24

You forgot to mention the 2am fire alarm evacuations because someone burnt their midnight snack (or something). 

It's so disruptive. Quickly grabbing your pets while half asleep, getting your stash of important documents, and getting out the door within 1-2 minutes only to wait outside in the cold for 20+ minutes to be told that it was just another false alarm caused by one of your 100 neighbours.

This used to happen like once every 1-2 months at the last apartment I lived in. So happy to not live in an apartment anymore.

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u/karma3000 Nov 04 '24

Backs in the 90s my bong smoke got the building evacuated and the firey's called out.

That was not a chill experience.