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Topic
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Hi,
I own and live in an inner city unit (a building of about 50 units). At the moment, my bedroom overlooks a side street and get sunlight from about 8am until about 5pm in winter. The council has sent me a DA proposal for the neighbouring property to be demolished and a large apartment block to be built in its place. This will result in my sunlight being reduced from about 9am until about midday and the new building will block any sunlight that I could have for the rest of the day. The same issue also impacts many other apartment owners in my building.
Is it possible to get the EC involved to lodge an objection to this DA and engage a lawyer. Does an extraordinary general meeting need to be held to discuss the issues and engage a solicitor? Or should I and the other unit owners lodge objections individually? The DA has been lodged and purposefully I suspect to end just after the Christmas break so that it may slip under the radar of neighbouring stakeholders.
Appreciate any advice you can give me.
Many thanks.
Jeff
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Replies
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Jeff – Time is not on your side. To organise an EGM would take too long and the outcome that you want may be uncertain.
I would suggest that you and your Lot owners mount individual challenges to this DA.
The objection from your strata scheme would probably be considered as ONE objection even though there is more than one owner who is impacted. Often it is better to have as many objections lodged as possible … the weight of numbers can be a powerful tool. Many individual objections may be better than one!
Some suggestions on how to mount an objection to a DA (albeit it from Victoria … though still relevant) are here: https://www.coherence.com.au/media/How_to_make_an_effective_objection.pdf
A well put together objection that includes plans, photographs, sun and shade diagrams and well reasoned arguments would not necessarily need the assistance and expense of a lawyer.
For those Lot owners who do not have the time or inclination to mount an objection you may consider creating a pro forma objection submission which you give to the Lot owners and/or Tenants to sign. You may need to collect the completed pro forma submissions yourself to increase your chance of success, and ensure they are delivered within the appropriate time.