Thanks giggsy – that’s what I thought, because an Owner’s proposal to undertake any renovation that involves a change the appearance of the Lot, or that are structural, or permanent, or that are likely to have a significant impact on the amenity of other residents must be considered at a General Meeting of the Owners Corporation, who in order to properly consider such a proposal would need to be provided with all relevant details, some of which you are at this stage still considering.
I assume by your use of the term “strata” that you’re referring to the Strata Manager, who as I’ve outlined above does not have the authority to be “happy” or otherwise about your proposed renovations, or to state that they “should be OK”.
Without knowing the extent of your renovations and in particular if your “opening up” of the kitchen area involves structural changes to your Lot, the removal of floor tiles already constitutes a change to the Common Property (floor) albeit possibly minor, and your proposed laminated floor certainly has the potential to cause impacts to the amenity of other residents (and you recognise that), so there’s no doubt that your proposal should receive the prior written consent of the Owners Corporation (O/C).
Whether the granting of that consent needs to be considered at Executive Committee level or at a General Meeting is unclear to me right now, but what you need to do is to firmly decide upon what it is you want to do in its entirety (i.e. including with the kitchen), who is is that will be doing it, and re the flooring what materials will be used and the specification and installation method of the acoustic underlay, and then put all of that including the Contractors’ insurance details and before your Executive Committee Secretary (or your Strata Manager if they’ve been delegated the functions of that position).
In that way it’s then up to your Executive Committee to decide upon whether it has sufficient information to make a decision, if it can actually do that under the relevant provisions of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act, and if not whether it will instead refer your proposal to a General Meeting.
Finally, the post-construction installation of timber (floating) floors and particularly noise transmission from cheaper laminated variety has become such an issue that proposed changes to NSW Strata Laws would have placed an O/C’s consideration of those in the same category as renovations involving changes, alterations, and additions to the Common Property, where a vote in favour by a minimum 75% of those present at a General Meeting is required for consent . Similarly, FlatChat has a whole Forum devoted to that topic and to the ramifications arising from Owners getting it wrong; check HERE for just one of those.
Oh… just noticed that you were online while I was typing this, so let me add that, even though you don’t sound like someone who would settle for a written form of that proverbial wink-and-nod from Strata, I’d still urge you not to, as it will come back to bite you if despite your best efforts the near neighbours complain, or if at some future time when your Lot is under a contract of sale, you’re lumbered with a pre-settlement condition to restore everything to its original state. So do your homework, make your choices, give the details to your Sec. and leave the decisions up to your O/C. Whale 1355hrs