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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

I would welcome comments on this situation please.

1. OC lets a new owner get away with 2 minor renovations without going through the whole strata process.

2. New owner states he wants to renovate the bathroom – the shower is leaking into my garage beneath so OC agrees to pay for waterproofing/tiling of that area & allow new owner to renovate the rest of the bathroom – he tells us he is installing an additional toilet, basin & shower & wall, so effectively creating another bathroom.

3. When I give new owner’s builder access to my garage to inpsepct the current pipe from the new owner’s unit above that is for basin, shower & bath, he tells me there are 4 floor wastes going in and there will be an additional 8 pipes which will run throught the top/middle of my garage.  As I have mezzanine storage in my garage, I told him this is the first I have heard of this & objected. We ended up agreeing on reducing the floor wastes to 2 & the pipes to 6 with removing the existing single pipe & arranging the pipes flush to the wall & high up so I did not lose too much storage space. I was not happy but compromised.

4. When I inspected the work, I find the builder did not do as we agreed & drilled a hole where I did not want it etc so I had to kick up a fuss (& argue with him) to have it changed back somewhat to what we agreed – it was too late to have it exactly how I wanted it (of course there were excuses why it could not go into the wall & not my garage).  Basically, I had no opportunity to explore other options – I felt it was forced upon me – other members of the OC also not happy in the manner this was conducted.  New owner did not get involved as he kept saying, just tell the builder (who happens to be his son-in-law) what you want.

5. Then I discover common property (laundry & rear patio) have been impacted with work not finished off property & plastic materials used.  All the rest of the OC not happy with this.

6. Now the builder & owner are pretty relaxed, timewise, about repairing my garage (eg painting the new pipes, sealing up holes in the wall, removing the old pipe that was cut off etc) as well as finishing off the work to common property to a better standard (eg fill gas & holes).  I haven’t been able to use my garage for 3 weeks & I work out of there (keep tools, motorbike, etc).

7. On top of all that, builder parks in front of my other garage & NOT in front of the new owner’s garage, has worked late & upset another owner by this, left a nail in the driveway, cigarettes & a small amount of papers/plastics etc are left in the back (common) yard & he brings his dog every day – unleashed & defecates (not picked up) – which another owner has already objected to when a visitor of theirs brought 2 dogs whom jumped on everyone. New owner has been good about not parking in front of my garage before renovations. But during renovations, there can be 3 utes parked in front of my garage, in the driveway – personally, when I am working at strata properties, I might drive down the driveway but only to unload my equipment/materials & then I drive out & park on the street!

8. New owner is not living at the property during the renovation & I am writing to him about another strata matter (basically giving him the agenda & financials for our upcoming AGM with our brand new strata manager) so I have drafted a letter saying I & the other owners were surprised that private & common property were included in his renovation as he did not mention it & his work requires written approval from the OC with a by-law relating to the ownership/responsibilities for repairs etc. I will address the ‘permission’ to build into someone else’s lot in person, at our AGM.

9. My letter also asks that any further renovations please be discussed with the rest of the owners (there are only 4 of us in the strata plan & 1 of us owns 2 lots so he only has to talk to 2 people) in advance with sufficient time to consider all the possible impacts to all of us and agree on details such as: the allocation of responsibility for future maintenance or repairs; the rectification of any damage caused by the renovation (eg filling of holes & painting); how and when the work will be performed (eg materials used on common property areas, working hours, access arrangements, clean up, etc).

10. So, I have suffered a loss (reduced storage space in my garage, not being able to use my garage, having to liaise/argue/keep following up with with his builder & him separately as well as feeling personally offended by the way the whole thing has played out, especially as the OC was trying to be as reasonable as possible with him but now we have to insist on the full strata process all the way no matter how time consuming, difficult or costly.

11. His builder has mentioned 2 more renovation plans (install french doors in the bedroom leading out to the balcony & closing off the front door permanently (there is aonther door at the back) which will signficantly change the appearance of the building & force the person who is living in that unit to walk to their back door down the driveway, right past our bedroom – the new owner is quiet when he does that but there is no guarantee the next owner will be & if he/she doesn’t even have the option of using the front door, as it has been removed, we will have to live with the driveway being the main thoroughfare to that unit.

12. I am confident our new strata manager will be able to assist us at the AGM when this is discussed & will attempt to ‘educate’ the new owner on requirements/obligations but I am interested in any comments from people on this forum. Yes, I know I was stupid to allow anything to be built in my property without the proper approval but I did not want to take such a hard line as mucking up their renovations totally – although perhaps I should have – they do have the option of using the existing pipes in the unit without affecting private or common property but would probably be way more expensive.

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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

Sorry, I made a couple of typos in my last post (one of the references to the “OC” should have read “AGM” & “hawk” should have been “hawks”) – I don’t know how to edit this – I obviously can’t type properly & talk on the phone at the same time, apologies, please forgive.

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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

UPDATE: I informed our new managing agent (from the new company we recently engaged) of the issues that have arisen from this signficant & unauthorised renovation by the new owner in our plan.

She quickly swung into action & postponed our AGM (that was to take place this afternoon) to next week, arranaged to visit the property next week, 2 days prior to the AGM, to inspect the renovations & asked that all owners be present (there’s only 3 of us), contacted the new owner & sent him the forms he should have completed (they are pretty full on & he might be annoyed that I involved her but he invited this on himself – if it ruins the brief relationship I have with him then so be it – I can’t allow myself & the OC to be taken advantage of in this manner).

The MA suspects the work may not meet code & that it may need to be removed – I will be happy if this is the case & that this is the reason for the removal as I really don’t want water under pressure for another lot running through the airspace of my garage (2 water pipes & 5 huges waste pipes) & actually would like it all removed but am not willing to take the extreme measure of insisting it be done – even though I am within my rights to do so).

The MA seems certain that if the work is allowed to stay & the appropriate paperwork is submitted & approved, a suitable by-law can be drafted to protect the OC & myself (in regard to my private property & posessions contained therein in the event of water damage).

I will report the outcome in case anyone is interested.

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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

UPDATE: The MA inspected the renovations on 2 days ago & took photos. She also asked the new owner to consider the issue of ‘encroachment’ as this is what has been done to another lot & she asked me to consider what I would be willing to put up with as a compromise.

We had our AGM today. The new owner handed over the signed document requesting permission for the renovation with plans for the bathroom but not for the new plumbing as apparently these do not exist as the new owner just left it up to the builder to do what he liked. The MA asked the new owner what they are willing to do to find a solution to this issue.  The new owner said he doesn’t really know.

The MA then said that he has encroached upon another lot & space has been lost as a result as well as the risk of leaking/flooding & he will have to contact his plumber to source a different position for the water pipes and possibly the water waste pipes & if it means they encroach upon his lot (instead of mine), then so be it & they will have to be moved.

My partner was in tears when she was explaining how terrible this experience was for us & that we don’t want to go through this again. Also that we have been through so much at this property in the past & we really wanted to have a good relationship with with the new owners.

The new owner & his wife apologised & said it was not their intention to cause any grief (you were right Jimmy) & that it seemed to be the fault of their builder whom must not know the restrictions of strata legislation. It appears the new owner intends to set things right.

Hopefully at least the 2 water pipes can be moved as I was thinking, even if we have the appropriate by-laws in place, if the water under pressure did leak and/or flood into my garage, and if there was another owner or if we had a falling out with the current owner, they could turn around & say, “yes we will have it fixed but we can’t really afford to do it now so just put towels down until we can” – or something ridiculous like that or even “so sue me” – assuming they were willing to put up with the disruption to their lot however, as they have 2 bathrooms now, I assume that if only 1 bathroom was affected, this could be possible. Then I am left with possible damage to my classic car, tools & other items of value as well as not being able to use my garage as I normally do for an extended period of time to go through the strata process (mediation, submissions, etc).

The resolution of this matter still remains to be seen.  If the pipes are moved, it will be interesting to deal with the same builder again – the interaction will be quite different this time as my partner wants to deal with it & she is not nearly as tactful or diplomatic as I am – mind you, she has had to put up with my distress through this whole drama.

There has been no mention of the new owners further renovations, for now anyway – thank goodness.

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[Sir Humphrey]

@Strata Plan of 4 by the beach said:
UPDATE: … & that it seemed to be the fault of their builder whom must not know the restrictions of strata legislation…

Nah. Builders are just gung-ho to get on with the job. They probably do have some idea about strata but don’t want to get involved or raise any concern with anyone. They just do the work the way that is quickest and easiest for them, knowing that most of the time people will just live with it or sort out the mess themselves after they have left. To put myself in their shoes for a moment, they must regret it more often than not if they do ask because the job just gets held up while clients don’t know what to do and they are not paid anything for the time. So, they just bulldoze on. I am sure, in many cases, they have sufficient pride in their work to do it the way that they think is most practical, but  they do leave their blinkers on so they don’t have to think about strata issues.

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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

PeterC – re your comment on builders … SO TRUE! … the surprising thing in this case is that the builder is the new owner’s son-in-law but going by the mess he & his tradies left each day, he seems to have little respect for his father-in-law’s property so I guess it is unrealistic to expect some respect for the rest of us whom share the property (the parts that are common of course).

I will be pointing out to the new owner, as we work through this issue, that the renovations are his responsbiilty rather than the builder.

I actually said something similar to the new onwer yesterday along the lines of “Of course your builder is going to want to do the work in the cheapest, easiest, most logical way for you – but this should not happen at our expense.” – to which they agreed & shoved the blame on the builder saying “I don’t think he has worked in strata before & we had no idea either.” I was tempted to say “Ignorance is no excuse. The obligation lies with you.”

I haven’t checked with our MA yet (whom is very strong & straightforward, thankfully) but I am thinking, iff the new owner wants this builder to work at the property again, the rest of the OC will insist that the conditions of strata legislation be strictly adhered to (our MA has a long list to comply with) & the first time these are breached, we will be informing the new owner, in writing, & if there are 3 breaches, work stops and a mediation session is held between the builder & the OC & if future compliance cannot be assured or if there is a further breach, we will not allow him to continue the work – unless someone else on this forum has a better idea.

Anyway, the rest of the OC are still on speaking terms with the new owner, in fact we had wine, cheese & fruit at our AGM in the new owner’s lot! Let’s hope the goodwill & willingness to “make this right” – the new owner’s wife’s words continue. At least the builder who gave me attitude will be set straight. I may have to give him & his plumber access to my garage again in the future but this time it will be strictly managed & supervised with all interactions either witnessed or reported to the new owner. Big lessons all around.

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[Strata Plan of 4 by the beach]

UPDATE: A compromise was reached. The water pipes that are under pressure were removed from my garage (at the other owner’s cost) & reinstalled in the unit above (which should have originally been done). I agreed to the waste pipes remaining in my garage as there previously were 2 & these were replaced by 6 new pipes to cater for the additional bathroom & reconfiguration of the existing bathroom but the by-law will cover off protecting my property in the event of a pipe failure. Thanks to all who commented.

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