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[Ziggy]

Six months ago, a lot owner in our block sold his commercial property to a firm that has industrial strength sewing machines. They make a noise that is well above WHO’s recommendations of safe decibel levels.

The Strata Committee at the time had issues with this company moving in and expressed their concerns concerning noise. They never, to the best of my knowledge, approved of the company.

Suddenly, we find out the company is moving in next week, with no approval. They wish to chop down trees, replace handrails, put up a wall between them and their neighbours, get a crane in to lower the machines into the building, get new intercom systems, and dump their rubbish into our residential bins.

How on earth do we stop this juggernaut?

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[TrulEConcerned]

Have you spoken to your local council about this matter?

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[Ziggy]

Yes, I have, thanks. I’m waiting for a response from a planner.

In the meantime, I rang council and a member of staff said if the new owner is changing the use of the Lot, they will need “consent”. Unfortunately, they did know from whom?

So I rang Planning and Environment and they said the new owner will need to put in a Development Application.

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[TrulEConcerned]

I see. So to me it looks like the issues you raised are local council and not strata matters.

Regarding the noise

What you will need to do is provide evidence to the council that the newbie is breaching the level of noise permitted and/or breaching the days and times noise can be emitted (by say, operating loud machinery). These are set by council.

Regarding the activity proposed in the commercial lot

As long as the newbie conforms to council guidelines eg has his DA approved, all you can do is complain to council if any of those guidelines etc are violated.

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[Jimmy-T]

TrulEConcerned wrote:

it looks like the issues you raised are local council and not strata matters.

Issues of noise and disturbance certainly ARE strata matters. And there is also a question of insurance as strata law allows OCs to charge owners for any increase in insurance premiums brought about by a change of use of a lot.

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[Ziggy]

Thanks TrulE & Jimmy, the council said there was a “glitch” in my email. Mmm! So still waiting.

Meanwhile the new owner still hasn’t answered whether they have been to council and still thinks they can do anything they like regardless of whether it’s common property or not.

Legal advice says if the unit block is zoned “light industry” we can’t stop them moving in with embroidery machines. He said we could stop the DA though. What DA? And can we stop it?

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[Jimmy-T]

Ziggy wrote:

Legal advice says if the unit block is zoned “light industry” we can’t stop them moving in with embroidery machines.

Well, is it designated as “light industry”? This is the first time this has been mentioned, as far as I can see.  The DA referred to would be for a change of use.  But if it’s already designated for light industry, that would hardly be relevant.  However, they may need both council and strata approval for building walls and cutting down trees.

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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[Ziggy]

Hi Jimmy

The council has emailed the following: If the lot “is being used for an industrial use, an appropriate approval would be required. This approval may be an issued by a private certifier not Council.”

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