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[Jimmy-T]

QUESTION: I’ve been renting this apartment for about a year now and  recently the lifts in the building have become very noisy, mainly because they’re not well maintained. Also they constantly go between the floors with no one in them, sometimes for hours on end.

It’s got to the point where I can’t sleep due to the incessant screeching noise. The lifts still get you from one floor to the next (with a few random stops) but my apartment is no longer what I signed up for due to the constant noise. – Katkatkat, via Forum.

ANSWER: While you can approach the executive committee or strata manager and ask them to do something, if they refuse, as a renter you really need to get your landlord to put pressure on the EC to get the lifts properly maintained.

The Owners Corporation has an absolute legal duty to repair and maintain common property so your landlord has every right to demand that this be fixed immediately – especially as this constant motion will be costing a fortune in electricity.

If the landlord or their agents are reluctant to take action, call Fair Trading (13 32 20) and ask them to order a rent reduction until such times as the problem is fixed. More on this HERE in the Flat Chat Forum.

 

 

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[Jimmy-T]

Not so much a reply as a correction:  It turns out that tenants can take the Owners Corporation to Fair Trading and the CTTT themselves. My mole in the OFT tells me: ” … a tenant can apply directly against the Owners Corporation for repairs to common property. They are an ‘interested party’ under the Act and can ask for mediation and seek orders.”

That’s interesting – if I ever knew that I had clearly forgotten.

I wondered if most tenants would want to pay the $74 to lodge an application but the Tenants Union of NSW tells me there's a cheaper and probably easier way to do it. 

You spend $36 to apply to the Tenancy division of the CTTT  and they can then order the owner to take the Owners Corporation to the CTTT in the strata division (which costs them the $74). The information is all here if you want to chase it up.

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.

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