OK, it’s our stupid fault for crossing the ditch to New Zealand without taking even our basic recording gear.We could have just about coped and recorded it on our return but our flight was delayed by an hour and a half and that mean that not only would we be later than planned in getting back to Sydney but we’d be tired and grumpy too.Then I discovered my phone has an “interview” setting in its voice recorder app and all we had to do was talk into opposite ends of the Samsung to get a reasonably clear recording.So, we recorded this week’s podcast in Auckland Airport’s departure lounge and, with most of the airport sounds edited out, and living with the occasional “plosive” pop and puff from using this basic equipment, we present it for your enjoyment.In it we discuss the new build-to-rent development controversially planned for an historic area of Sydney.And we chat about the dramatic drop in apartment approvals – down 40-plus per cent according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures – and ask if David Chandler is doing too good a job of driving away dodgy developers (as if such a thing were possible).Finally we dip into the Forum to ask if you can pass a by-law forcing landlords to evict bad tenants who constantly breach by-laws.That’s all in this week’s podcast and if you can’t bear to listen to a recording that’s not up to your usual high standards, you can read the transcript right here.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy  00:00If you can hear strange background noises in this recording, it's because we're doing our podcast in Auckland Airport, where Sue and I are about to get on a plane (we hope), back to Sydney. But there's a lot to talk about. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue  00:19And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy  00:21And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyOkay Sue, there was some alarming news in the papers last week?Sue  00:42That's right. There's been a bit of controversy about this. Over in Harris Park, in the west of Sydney, there's been an application for 483 apartments. A series of five blocks, I think, of four, six and eight storeys high and they're all going to be build-to-rent apartments and I think a lot of people feel that it shouldn't really happen, because it's in a very historic part of Harris Park, which is very close to Elizabeth Farm, where Elizabeth MacArthur and her husband, John MacArthur, started the Australian wool industry.Jimmy  01:14That you wrote all about in your book, 'Elizabeth & Elizabeth.'Sue  01:18Yes, absolutely. I went over there quite a bit. It's a beautiful place. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, in lots of ways.  I haven't looked very closely at the plans for this development, but if you actually built nice -looking, affordable build-to-rent housing in the area and linked in  Elizabeth Farm, with the other historic places nearby... It's very close to Experiment Farm as well, which was the first European colonial farm that was set up in about 1834. Then there's also Dumbledore Cottage just nearby.Jimmy  01:57Dumbledore, isn't that from Harry Potter?Sue  02:00Same name!Jim

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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.