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Topic
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Dear all
In our strata we have a designated rubbish bin area where our yellow, red and green bins are located normally. We have all the posters where clearly stated what kind of rubbish is appropriate for each type of bins and overall residents follow the rules.
However sometimes people leave in the rubbish bin area some stuff that cannot fit into the bins like chairs or table tops or mattresses. Especially that happens when new tenants start living in our complex or old ones move out and leave their stuff. as a result I or some other SC members have to deal with the stuff.
Are we allowed to set up security cameras to be able to identify at least those residents who leave the rubbish? If somebody witnessing that some wrong rubbish is being brought into rubbish bin area is it sufficient for identification?
If we are able to identify residents what options do we have in order to ensure that those tenants (or maybe they landlords) to deal with their own rubbish appropriately ?
Thank you!
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@petya said:
Are we allowed to set up security cameras to be able to identify at least those residents who leave the rubbish?Yes, provided you post a permanent notice warning people that they are being filmed
If somebody witnessing that some wrong rubbish is being brought into rubbish bin area is it sufficient for identification?
Not really, unless it is corroborated. Otherwise it’s just a question of “he said, she said”.
If we are able to identify residents what options do we have in order to ensure that those tenants (or maybe they landlords) to deal with their own rubbish appropriately ?
Landlords are responsible for the behaviour of their tenants (up to a point). Pass a by-law saying that residents must not leave oversized rubbish in that area or they will be charged the cost of its removal.
Put up a sign warning residents that leaving oversized garbage is a breach of that by-law.
And put a note on the by-laws given to all tenants warning them that leaving rubbish in that area could affect their bond as the landlord will be charged for its removal.
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Bins are always an issue, esp if you have a range of folks who don’t care or are not aware of local uses. We always have overseas kids unaware of what each colour bin is purposed for. And then when they leave they tend not to be aware of the limits acceptable and don’t know about using a local tip or how they’d even get there or what that may cost. They place stuff there, it disappears, so what’s the problem? Rinse and repeat.
Even if you know the culprit its usually best to send a notice (repeated as regularly as required) to all units saying the same thing, that way you aren’t seen as going hard on anyone particular. And if folks know, and an offender is aware in advance it allows you to remove inappropriate stuff like furniture and remove it back to where it came/place it in/outside their garage which will let them know they need find another avenue.
As for sorting recyclables into the correct bins, good luck with that and you should do it yourself should you want but you can’t really force anyone to do so.
Even in the absence of a specific bylaw, you probably have a general one about not interfering with reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property. Leaving rubbish that cannot be easily disposed can easily be argued to detract from the enjoyment of the common property by other members of the corporation.
I would expect that most jurisdictions hold the owner and a tenant to be separately and jointly responsible for breaches of the bylaws/rules/articles.
@petya said:
So you are saying that potentially with the by-law you’ve mentioned landlords may be charged for the rubbish that is left by tenant who moved out? Just wondering whether the situation is different from the one if an owner sold their house, left rubbish on common property and moved out.
When you sell your house, you are selling the building and its relevant land. There should be a clause in the sale contract that stipulates the condition of the property, and dumping rubbish before moving out could constitute a breech of the contract.
When you sell a strata apartment, there would probably be a similar clause covering the interior condition of same, but it probably couldn’t encompass common property issues. I’m not sure how a SC could recoup any clean up costs in that situation. It would be different to a tenant moving out?
An obligation or responsibility of a past owner of a unit is inherited by the new owner of the unit. If levies are owed, the new owner is liable for them, for example.
In the case of the old owner leaving stuff behind on the common property, it is not fair but probably the only option is for the OC to dispose of the rubbish and wear the cost.
My understanding is that in NSW, at least, usually any outstanding or pre-paid service fees are pro-rataed between the buyer and seller at the time of settlement. Any outstanding levies would be deducted from the sale price, and paid to the SC (or other service provider) or the buyer; levies pre-paid beyond the settlement date would be credited to the buyer.
@Boronia said:
My understanding is that in NSW, at least, usually any outstanding or pre-paid service fees are pro-rataed between the buyer and seller at the time of settlement. Any outstanding levies would be deducted from the sale price, and paid to the SC (or other service provider) or the buyer; levies pre-paid beyond the settlement date would be credited to the buyer.Yes. That is how it should be done. However, the obligations associated with the unit are inherited by the new owner and it is up to the new owner to try to recover costs from the old owner if something went wrong.
When we bought our unit, something did go wrong. The previous owner owed several thousand dollars in both unpaid levies and ACT govt. rates. The correct amounts had been deducted by our conveyancing lawyer from the sale price. The balance had been paid to the previous owner. Title had been transferred to us. The deducted amounts were sitting in the lawyer’s trust account and cheques to pay those amounts to the ACT govt. and our OC were made out and attached to the file with a paperclip. Then, just before the cheques would have been mailed, the ACT law society froze the lawyers trust account while it resolved some alleged poor practice by our lawyer. It had nothing to do with our mundane matter and I don’t know what the outcome for our lawyer was.
What it did mean was that we were responsible for several thousand dollars of debt associated with the unit and facing demands for payments. We were unequivocally responsible to pay and all we could do was plead for leniency and patience since we could not raise that sort of money at the time. After some months, the ACT law society had done what ever it had to do and the money was released and the payments were made. We had been worried for a while there!
Another good example is a special levy agreed upon before the sale of a unit but only imposed after the sale has gone through. The owner who bought the unit also bought the impending levy. Similarly, if you get a common property by-law agreeing to maintain and repair common property for which you have been granted exclusive use, then you are liable for its repairs. Nowhere is the phrase caveat emptor – buyer beware – more relevant than in strata.
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.