Life can be tough for students, especially when it comes to finding affordable accommodation near their universities and colleges. However, they eventually move on. But what about the families left behind when one greedy neighbour decides to turn their unit into a multi-room flophouse?
QUESTION: Is it possible to prevent an owner sub-dividing the inside of their unit to create student accommodation? We live in one of nine villas in a block near a university. One owner has erected internal partitions dividing rooms in two, turning a three-bedroom home into a four or possibly five-bedroom de facto hostel. She claims she can do this because she is not damaging common property.
The other eight owners are against this, mostly because they don’t want our block used for student accommodation. Can you suggest a practical solution? – GD, (!suburb to come!)
ANSWER: This has very little to do with common property but there are so many other fronts on which you can prevent this selfish ratbag from ruining your development.
Firstly, they almost certainly need planning approval from council to increase the accommodation (and they probably won’t get it if you object).
They are also probably breaching the initial planning approval for your buildings and there may well be something in the original strata management statement that limits the number of people who can live in each villa.
And finally there could be a by-law on your books (they differ from building to building) that forbids breaking the law – in this case it’s planning law but in by-law terms it’s just as relevant as if they had an amphetamine factory.
Call your local council planning office and let them know what is going on. You might also alert your local Fire Department about the fire safety risk that this unapproved development creates both to the poor students they plan to exploit and to other residents in the complex.
You should also take them to Fair Trading and the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) while you’re at it for all of the above. In other words, hit this modern-day slumlord with everything you’ve got.
Finally you might also think of creating a by-law specifically to prevent this happening now and in the future. A strata lawyer will advise on the best wording.