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Topic
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Would it be wise to get approval before I install plantation shutters in place of blinds or is this unnecessary. Given the expense we would not like to get caught out.
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Generally, what’s inside your unit is treated as your property, so you are free to do with it as you please eg by changing the curtains into shutters.
(Are you in NSW? This page outlines what is common property ie not your property:
And the answer to the question about insurance on this page [“Do I have to insure the contents of my strata unit?]” specifically includes curtains in the list of items that are not common property:
However, if you are attaching the shutters to the wall or the windows, an argument could be made that by so attaching, they become part of the common property, and therefore the responsibility of the Owners Corporation (which DOESN’T want that responsibility!)
Also, does your strata scheme have any rules / bylaws about external appearances of the block, and will the shutters be very plainly not like everyone else’ window coverings?
Best to ask your strata executive or strata manager, as you say, so as not to get caught out.
@Tess McGill said:
… does your strata scheme have any rules / bylaws about external appearances of the block, and will the shutters be very plainly not like everyone else’ window coverings?This is the key question. Our building has a by-law limiting the colour of internal window coverings that can be seen from outside. An owner who had bought very expensive black black-out blinds had to replace them with white blinds to comply.
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Dingo – I am making the assumption that you are planning to install plantation shutters internally in your apartment. Is this correct?
What do your by-laws say about window coverings and the colour of window coverings? If they say nothing then do not ask for approval to put them up.
Just do it.
Take a look around your scheme. Do other owners have slatted blinds or plantation shutters? A plantation shutter is similar in external appearance to a slatted blind so if a slatted blind is OK then so should a plantation shutter be OK.
@dingo said:
Since they have changed the railing from obscure glass to clear glass people can look directly into our unit as we are on the ground floor.I think I would also be asking the Owners Corp to restore the privacy of your unit by applying a partially opaque tint to the balcony glass. They could and should so that for all all ground-floor units, for the sake of uniformity, if nothing else.
But it sounds like you are free to install internals shutters regardless.
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In my block a previous owner installed a pull down blind on their balcony (not observable from the street or anywhere on the block) by attaching it to an external wall.
At some time it broke. Subsequent owner (who didn’t install it) just asked – hey, can I repair it? and kind strata manager pointed out that by the previous owner attaching it to the common property (external wall) it became part of common property and the owners corporation had to pay to fix it.
Great.
So I’m in two minds. If you ask for permission and get a “yes, it’s OK” it’s all well and good (just keep the correspondence) but if you don’t ask and just do it (as Lady P suggests) it might be easier (and it’s sometime easier to ask forgiveness than permission).
But I second the recommendation that the Owners Corporation do something about your privacy – even if that something is allowing plantation shutters to be installed.
If different units have different window coverings as you mention, then it does seem that external appearances aren’t an issue in your block.
@dingo said:
According to this recent NCAT case shutters require a special resolution
https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/593787fbe4b074a7c6e165d3I totally disagree. That is a highly selective reading of that case ruling and if you look at Item 12, it includes the wording of the act which lists non-major renovation with the phrase “not limited to …”.
In other words, just because internal shutters aren’t listed it doesn’t mean they are not allowed.
All the worst, all you have to do is get permission from the committee (delegated powers from a general meeting) which cannot be unreasonably withheld.
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The refusal by the Body Corporate of a request for the installation of plantation shutters has been deemed to be unreasonable by QCAT in QLD. The Body Corporate claim was rejected as being “frivolous, vexatious, misconceived and without substance”.
QLD is clearly more laid back about these types of internal decorating decisions, and rightly so.
@dingo said:
I was reading item 19 shutters.Apologies for accusing you of selective reading. However, let’s look at the case you have quoted. It is an NCAT hearing, not an appeal, so it is the very basic level of ruling which, generally speaking, may not be much more reliable as a guide to good law than the toss of a coin.
Also, NCAT rulings do not create precedents so the next person to come up with an identical argument before a different Member could get an entirely different result.
Finally, there are cases quoted elsewhere where the “external appearance” issue is embodied in a by-law (such as the situation with the black blinds that I mentioned earlier).
Is there a by-law? If there is, then you will need a special resolution. If there isn’t I think all you need is permission as a “non-major renovation”
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