Apartment City

When a house inspection is due, Chris is worried about a lot more than cleaning.  The 25-year-old organises a friend to look after his dog, and hides any trace of his four-legged friend: food, water bowl, leashes and toys.  He is worried if his landlord finds out about the pooch, he could be kicked out of the house he shares with three friends in Melbourne’s inner south. Strict pet bans force renters to surrender their animals, RSPCA says." /> Strict pet bans force renters to surrender their animals, RSPCA says. Photo: Robert Peet Chris, who requested anonymity, said he struggled to find a pet-friendly rental. “The rental market is so tight now that even finding a house was hard enough,” he said.  Data suggests his experience is not uncommon. An analysis of rental listings has found just five per cent of properties are marketed as pet-friendly, despite more than 60 per cent of Australian households owning a pet.  Experts say the rental sector’s hardline stance towards pets...

Ilene Waterstone says Park La Brea is "overpriced projects right now." Photo by Shane Lopes Ilene Waterstone, actor- comedian Steve Martin 's personal assistant, moved into a tower at the Park La Brea Apartments on April Fools' Day in 1992. She wasn't sure what to expect. "I used to think of Park La Brea as being the old people's complex," she recalls. It wasn't long before she fell in love with it. The grounds were lush and well-maintained, her neighbors respectful and neat. Then about two years ago, things went to hell. Elevators in her high- rise building repeatedly broke down, forcing Waterstone , 64 and saddled with chronic orthopedic problems , to trudge up and down floor after floor in a dimly lit stairwell to her eighth-floor apartment. She once made the climb wet and embarrassed after coming home from a water aerobics class to yet another grounded elevator . Rats and cockroaches infested what she says was an increasingly filthy buil...