Renoman,
Like most that have responded on this thread I strongly suggest following the requirements of the OC’s by-laws to the t. Keep in mind that your neighbours are your neighbours and your better off keeping good relations as best you can.
Also, it is reasonable to provide good clear plans and information to the EC in relation to your proposed works. I have stopped counting the number of times I have seen an owner request permission to ‘just renovate their kitchen and bathroom’ and next thing you know, they are doing the work without any proper approvals or even exclusive use by-laws, let alone engineers advice on removing the wall between kitchen and lounge room, or even those owners who choose to create an extra bedroom from the study or an area of lounge room, without council approval. A lot of the time these requirements are there to actually protect your interests more so than to make it harder for you. What will you do when the OC is successful in obtaining stop work orders as you haven’t gone through the right process.
I recall when our neighbor decided to renovate their apartment, and they were not even living in it or leasing it for twelve months, they had removed the carpets first, so every pin drop was heard through the common wall, let alone the jack hammering and hammer drilling late at night. I’m sure they weren’t happy about me switching the power off in the main power box, and I don’t encourage this approach, but when neighbours won’t talk or listen about these matters there will be conflict, which is what everyone is trying to avoid in their own home.
Mr S