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Wondering if you could offer a bit of advice. My new next door neighbour (adjacent unit) and a committee member has applied for permission to keep a 30kg greyhound.
The committee, of which I am secretary believes there should be a size limit on animals – essentially to counter problems with dogs walking through common property areas.
We suggest guidelines in which permission is granted co ditto all on the animal being carried through CP areas. (I’m joking of course, but what if someone wanted to have a baby elephant?)
We are not having much support from the strata manager, who says we cannot control what pets are allowed.
What is your view? Your knowledge and opinion would be appreciated.
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Stripping the current laws back to their basics, you can’t ban pets unreasonably which means, literally, without good reason.
That means you can’t ban dogs because they might bark all day and night. However, you can get rid of them if they do.
There’s a widely ignored section of the law that deals with animals that have been allowed but later prove to be a nuisance, so there are mechanisms available to remove problem animals, however that tends to reinforce the argument against unreasonable bans.
As for tricky laws to limit the size of dogs, there was a recent case (albeit in Queensland) where a dog owner successfully fought a by-law that required them to carry their dog in common property or walk it up 15 flights of fire stairs, because that effectively prevented them from keeping their dog.
All of which is to say, if you can’t identify a specific issue – such as a resident having a genuine phobia of dogs or a life-threatening allergy – you could be on a sticky wicket.
The size of the dog would be an issue if you had particularly small lift or passageways, so that people wouldn’t be able to avoid close contact.
But I think your best bet is to make the resident aware that if the dog proves to be a nuisance, you have options to have it removed from the building.
If appropriate, you might also give permission on condition that it be muzzled when on common property and that the owner doesn’t take it into the lift if there is someone already in it.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.
The size of the dog would be an issue if you had particularly small lift or passageways,
Passage way is very narrow. Could not avoid touching dog if it was going past. Dog would have to walk past my door.
Some years ago, our committee was looking at some examples of Tribunal cases while considering an update to our animal keeping rules. I recall examples of owners corporations having rules to only allow dogs of less than a certain size. These were tossed out when challenged as arbitrary and unreasonable because of expert testimony that some very large dogs can be very happy and well-behaved lazing about quietly all day in a small apartment needing little exercise while some small dogs need frequent exercise, are prone to be noisy and agitated with the slightest stimulus and are unlikely to be suitable for an apartment.
I think this may settle the size argument. From the shiny new NSW government strata website, in a section on pets, it says:
… by-laws banning all pets are not valid and banning animals based on size, type, or quantity, will not be valid in most circumstances.
There you go.
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.
I think this may settle the size argument. From the shiny new NSW government strata website, in a section on pets, it says:
… by-laws banning all pets are not valid and banning animals based on size, type, or quantity, will not be valid in most circumstances.
There you go.
There would however still be the limits that apply to any household, strata or not. In the ACT at least, there are limits on the number of dogs or cats that anyone can have and there are a few dog breeds that are not permitted. If someone had 15 dogs or cats, an OC could at least use the by-law on complying with any applicable legislation to reduce such numbers.