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[kidsdontfly]

We have a 80cm balcony height and have requested that we put up a balustrade extension to a height of 120cm to provide a more secure environment for our child and children visiting the property.

This has been objected against by the strata committee based on that it wouldn’t be in keeping with the look and appearance of the property.

Its an old 1960’s building and our balcony is at the far side (end of driveway) and rear of the building. There are no bylaws to dictate what people hang in their windows and a number of people have enclosed their balconies (glass and aluminium).

We feel that due to the fact that our balcony is hardly visible from the street, the age of the building (its far from new and is far from its original build) and also that there are different coloured blinds and curtains hanging in all windows that the strata committee (read – difficult 2 members) have been unreasonable in declining our request. – surely safety of children should be paramount!!

We have an NCAT hearing next month and have already provided our evidence. Has anyone else had a similar experience or any useful advice?

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[Sir Humphrey]

Usually there is no requirement to bring a building up to current building standards except if new work is being done. Eg. if the balcony rails were being replaced, then the replacements would have to comply with current standards. 

On the face of it, your position is reasonable, and the committee’s position is unreasonable if there are much more major balcony modifications. On the other hand, perhaps those would also not be approved and perhaps never were. Perhaps it is only because you did the right thing by asking for permission that you have found yourself in a position where the committee feels it has to say no.

I would suggest that a reasonable compromise would be to permit the attachment of something temporary and reversible that provides the added safety you want. The committee could give you permission for that with a time limit (when your children reach some particular age, for example). Then, with your immediate concern addressed, you could work on a longer term term solution. What about those enclosed balconies? Were they permitted? Does the OC want to take action on all modified balconies? Alternatively, does it want to have a period of discussion about what modifications should be permissible? Will all the balcony rails need replacing sometime just due to age, wear and tear? If so, what style should the building decide to install everywhere (and of course, compliant with the current standard)?

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[tharra]

This article might be worth a read as well:

https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/balustrades-regulations-strata-liability/

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[artarmonite]

You may be better off netting your balcony. I have a unit where most rooms open with sliding doors to the large balcony which runs the full length of the unit. I wanted my grandchildren to be safe and it is impractical to keep them inside . We moved from Hong Kong where most families installed netting on the balcony with young children and thought this would be easy. My owners corporation had no problem with it as you hardly see it, It is black netting. The hard part was getting it. I eventually ordered it from Hong Kong but I just googled now and there are firms that now do it in Sydney.   

I think there was an NCAT case about safety netting a couple of years ago so there may even be a precedent for you to use on the committee. You can always argue that the net protects people below from  toys and other projectiles from the balcony!

Good luck. It is really annoying that people put obstacles in the way of children’s safety. If it were a work site they would be compelled to do it!!

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[kidsdontfly]

Thanks Sir Humphrey and tharra.

The NCAT hearing should prove an interesting affair. The EC sent the Strata Manager to the Conciliation hearing so that was a waste of time. It will be interesting to see if they make it to the final hearing.

I have proposed that the safety balustrade be temporary (easy to remove) and reduced the height from 130cm to 120cm (same as pool fencing as I don’t think the BCA 100cm really cuts it).

I’ve also stated that if and when the OC can agree on a building wide solution on design and cost that I will be happy to remove my installation the day before the builder starts.

I’ve proposed that via a Special ByLaw that we would be responsible for cost, maintenance and removal.

I think we are being pretty reasonable really but I hear through the grapevine that the owner above (who has a minor sea glimpse view, and who is also the instigator in all the objections) would like a glass balustrade extension and for the owners corp to front up the costs for this – (given that all but 4 balconies out of 9 have been enclosed – this would significantly reduce his costs). However, this has not been officially communicated, isn’t on the 10 year plan and it would wipe out the sinking fund.

Hopefully the NCAT Tribunal Member sees sense and allows our solution to remain until such time a building wide solution is implemented.

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