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[Eden]

How do you force Strata to comply with window screen and/or child safety lock? My son rents an apartment, approximately 8 floors high, the bedroom window has no lock and slides wide open. I contacted the Strata and sent photos asking for it to be addressed. They have refused. Where do I go from here? I do not want to cause trouble for the unit owner as he is a friend of my sons. Is this up to Strata to fix or the unit owner? Thank you.

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[Jimmy-T]

This is what our Flat ChatBot said when, as an experiment,  I ran the question through it:

That’s a serious fall risk. Until it’s made safe, keep the window closed and ensure your son’s child cannot reach it. In NSW, a lock is required when the window’s lowest opening is less than 1.7 m above the inside floor and that floor is at least 2 m above outside ground level; the lock must limit the opening to 12.5 cm. A flyscreen is only an alternative if it can withstand very strong outward pressure—an ordinary flyscreen may not be enough. NSW Government safety guidance

The NSW guidance says the owners corporation generally pays to install or repair required window locks, unless the scheme’s by-laws provide otherwise. As your son is the renter, ask him to write urgently to his landlord or agent, copying the strata manager, and request an inspection and a written response. The landlord or agent can raise it formally with the owners corporation; ask NSW Fair Trading for guidance if it remains unresolved. Flat Chat has an older discussion of compulsory window locks, but it may be out of date, so rely on the current government guidance. Safety rules for strata common property | NSW Government.

This is interesting because it states the law but doesn’t address the social component – your son doesn’t want to upset his landlord.  That’s something he’s going to have to face if he wants his kids to be safe.  Your son should contact his landlord and ask them to contact the strata committee and strata manager, pointing out that the law requires them to install the window locks.  Failing that, he could go and buy locks that don’t require drilling or screws at a hardware shop or Bunnings for less than $6 per pair.

Goevernment legislation has changed making it obligatory for strata schemes to include window safety in their annual inspections. But that assumes the scheme is fully functional and actually attends to these responsiblities.

The strata manger or committee is probably not responding to your son because they erroneously believe they don’t have to listen to tenants, only owners.  This is out-of-date thinking. Section 226 of the NSW strata Act defines an ‘interested person’ in terms of making an application to the Tribunal as an “occupier of a lot”. Also, section 118 of the Act says this:

“An owners corporation for a strata scheme to which this section applies must ensure that there are complying window safety devices for all windows of each building in the strata scheme that are windows to which this section applies. Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.

An owners corporation is to carry out work related to its functions under this section at its own expense and may, for the purposes of this section, carry out work on any part of the parcel.’

So in theory your son could by-pass the landlord and simply suggest to the strata manager, quoting section 118, that they arrange for locks to be fitted or he will seek the imposition of $550 fines at the Tribunal.  Personally, I would be making a trip to a hardware store, get it done and deal with any unlikely consequences later.

And just for future reference, when you say you wrote to “the strata” did you mean the strata manager or the strata committee?

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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