I know i said i was shutting this down but a friendly strata manager has just informed me about a case decided recently where access was ordered and the obstructing owners was fined the maximum $5,500 for not complying with the order.
In very basic terms, water was flooding from one unit into the unit below. The owner of the upstairs unit refused the Owners Corps fixers access to the unit so the strata manager and OC went to the CTTT and asked for an interim order – a kind of emergency measure – allowing them access, plus a longer-standing order for the same.
The obstructing owner still refused so they went back to the CTTT and got a penalty notice served.
There are two interesting aspects to this. Firstly, the penalty was ordered to be paid to the owners Corp, not the CTTT. Secondly, the case was conducted at minimal cost by the strata manager and the owners corp without a lawyer.
I think this should finally put to bed any nonsense about Owners Corps not being able to demand access to private property in order to fix common property.
You can read the Interim Order HERE and the penalty notice HERE.