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I am surprised that this issue has not come up before but I could not find a reference in searches here.
I would appreciate some advice as to my rights under strata law re the following situation:
Our unit has about a 7 degrees view of parkland and water when standing on our balcony at the rear of a 6 unit block. Unfortunately this view is seen by looking over part of another units balcony (about a 2 metre wide space) that is located about 20 metres in front and to the side. The rest of our view is occupied by blocks of flats, so the small view that we have is extremely valuable to us, and we have made this known to the owner of the front unit at different times when they have placed large pot plants in this area
However they have now replaced the plants with a large barbecue that blocks out more than half of our small slice of view. To make matters worse (I know, we must have really upset them , but we can’t figure out why) they have now taken to lifting the lid of the barbecue and leaving it up all weekend, thereby blocking our view completely! We have tolerated the barbecue being there up till now out of not wishing to get into an argument but now it seems they have reached a new level of pettiness.
I am now about to write them a letter asking them to remove the barbecue to another part of their large balcony but would appreciate it if anyone on the forum could advise me if I have a case to take this to Fair Trading if my letter gets no results (as I suspect it will.)
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Before you even think about Fair Trading, what do your by-laws say about barbecues (or anything else) on balconies?
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In general, if the neighbour’s balcony forms part of their Lot, or part of their Exclusive Use area, then the ‘box’ of air space within the boundary of the balcony (including the vertical space from the floor of the balcony up to the base of the floor above) also forms part of the Lot.
As such, the owner and/or occupant of the Lot with the balcony can pretty much fill that ‘box’ of air space with whatever they wish to fill it with.
The only caveat is that the objects placed within the ‘box’ of air space must not offend any existing by-laws such as ‘BBQs’ (as JT has mentioned) and/or ‘Appearance of a Lot’.
If BBQs are permitted then your best bet would be to ask that the neighbour move the BBQ to another part of their balcony. Maybe offer them an inducement, such as a bottle of wine! I don’t believe that you would achieve much by taking this matter to OFT.
lefty – Unfortunately you are not in a strong position. Under the circumstances that you have described you cannot own your own view. You can own your own light … but not your view.
Clearly the open BBQ lid is not preventing light from entering your Lot.
Your neighbour has a right to enjoy his/her property too. Perhaps he/she had a valid reason for leaving the lid of the BBQ open …they may have forgotten to close it!
The best idea is to talk to your neighbour.
You may need to consider that if you anger your neighbour then you may find that the neighbour’s plants suddenly ‘reappear’ on their balcony in even greater abundance, in addition to the BBQ.