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[Jimmy-T]

“I have just bought a unit and I want to renovate,” says a reader. “Is there anything I need to know and permissions I need to get before I proceed.”

Is there ever!

First, if you are planning a DIY reno in your spare time, inspired perhaps by those sexy people on The Block, you are about to become the most hated person in your building.

You may find hammering, sawing and drilling the perfect way to relax, but do it in evenings and at weekends in a strata building and you will drive people nuts.  More to the point, they can and probably will stop you.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  The first thing you need to do is examine your by-laws.  There may well be a set of rules about when you can work and how you have to arrange it.

Ignore these at your peril or you could find lifts being unavailable, skips being towed away and an endless procession to Fair Trading and the Tribunal as your neighbours try to shut you down.

That said, most apartment owners have a level of tolerance for renovations because they may want to do the same sometime.

But even if there are no specific renovation by-laws, you must inform your executive committee if you plan to do anything that might interfere with common property (and most renovations will).

Also, you can’t change common property like floors, ceilings, windows, external walls and balcony tiles, without Owners Corporation written approval. Beware.  Your Owners Corp can force you to reinstate unapproved alterations.

You may also need council approval for major changes like removing internal walls and, if it’s a DIY reno, an Owner-Builder permit if the work requires development approval and will cost more than $5000.

In any case, many buildings have by-laws requiring that any work that affects common property be done by a registered builder.

So, before you lift a hammer, sit down with your strata manager or EC secretary and work out the nuts and bolts of your reno and what you can and can’t do.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

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