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I am on the EC for our block and the EC is concerned about a renovation occurring in our building.
The Owner asked for conditional approval to re-tile bathroom, redo kitchen, re-carpet, paint and new blinds. All seems straight forward so approval was given.
Then walls started to be removed – at this stage we insisted on an engineers report. This report highlighted that beside walls being removed doorways were added and the main bathroom was divided in half creating 2 rooms. A new room is also created off the 2nd bedroom from the old laundry and pantry.
We are concerned. What are these rooms used for? If bathrooms are they waterproofed, correctly ventilated, plumbing/sewerage etc.
We have asked for detailed renovation specifications and Council Approval as his unit is only meant to have 1 bathroom according to our DA approval. No Conditional Approval has been given for these extras renovations. Are we within our rights to ask for these details as he has threatened Fair Trading.
Thanks Slim
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I love it when people threaten to take you to Fair trading. What do they think will happen then? The StrataKops will guard their unit while they tear it apart.
Your owner needs planning approval from council and a set of special resolution by-laws from you before he does anything else. If he is not prepared to provide these, then don’t even bother with Fair Trading. Apply to NCAT for an interim order to stop the work.
If this owner is as ignorant of basic strata laws and procedures as he seems, then I wouldn’t hold out much hope when the work is done, the bathroom leaks and the walls sag. Even worse if he “flips” the unit, the responsibility for alterations to common property will fall back on the owners corp.
Talk to an experienced strata lawyer ASAP.
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We had a similar issue a few years ago. Jimmy is right, the owner needs Council approval for what they are doing.
I suggest that to save a lot of time you contact your Council and tell them what is happening, and they can require the owner to stop the work. That is what we did, the Council came out pretty much straight away, and issued a stop order. Note that undertaking works without Council approval is a breach of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act.
The advantage to that approach is that it is then up to the owner to sort out the mess, which would include applying for Council approval which requires the consent of the Owners Corporation. And at least at this stage you don’t need a lawyer although it would probably be a good idea to use one down the track.