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Reply from Vic
In my old strata scheme (luckily escaped it now), there was a public car park with each space owned individually. Nation-wide Parking Company X decided to overquote so the car park owners decided to dump Nation-wide Parking Company X (silly decision) and nobody else wanted a bar of it – just too difficult to manage. Over 100 individual car parks owned by mum-and-dads. Now the $20,000 car parks are worthless and the owners refuse to pay levies. Because they are so small in $ and so many in number, it is next to impossible to get them to VCAT. A couple do pay their levies and I think that is just so they can cause hassle at AGMs and in general be disruptive. They had the gall to try and sack the committee a few years ago. Impossible to solve I think. The debt is almost a write-off.
Hello from over east. I am no expert in WA rules (no expert full stop!) but I don’t think there is much you can do if the ute is parked on their lot, you can’t choose your neighbours and they can largely do whatever they want within reason (eyesore or otherwise). Consider some ‘neighbours be gone’ type fast growth trees to block the view or something like that?
The noise amenity issues may be addressable through environmental protection type enforcement as unsociable noise may be considered excessive. Maybe explore that avenue, but remember you will need to be neighbours and so it is best to try and work out an amicable solution rather than go the legal route. There may be no turning back if you go that way and you will have to deal with the consequences.
Sorry I can’t think of anything helpful.
Reply from Victoria. It seems to be the same down here too re: new owner takes on any special levies declared after the date of sale as detailed on the contract of sale. The seller is liable for normal levies up to the date of settlement, and the seller is also liable for their backdated portion of a declared increase in normal levies if those are declared as ‘smoothed over the year’ as opposed to just a simple increase from a fixed date. A conveyancer or solicitor will sort it out for the buyers and sellers, and there is absolutely zero need for any other owners to worry.
Agree totally, @Manta. I know of a number of uni students who left share houses during COVID because rents in snazzy inner Melbourne apartment blocks were half of what they were in 2019 with the absence of International students. A 2 bedder 20th floor apartment was $300/week during COVID. Unbelievable value. So-called greedy landlords were hurting. Those in Melbourne lucky to have tenants were giving rent holidays, lowering rent below what was contracted, basically doing anything to keep their tenants happy, in part because the Victorian government’s main line was that landlords were greedy and could afford to give money away and ‘let’s make every single regulation or practice favour tenants over landlords’. And tenants certainly did take advantage. Now the tables have turned.
Unfortunately, the pivot from COVID has been exacerbated by the effect of those who chose to upsize and can no longer downsize (where can that second TV and extra couch go?). The market is distorted, and demand for larger properties is far higher than it should be as a result. This is where we are today. A sad reality for all.
My main suggestion would be find an agent in your area who has a good reputation for managing property e.g. reviews from other landlords. Generally it’s fee for service where I am (in Victoria) and the agents will have a menu of different things you can choose them to do. They generally have an accounting arm that keeps track of your rent book and they will pay expenses directly from that usually. They can do things like pay your council rates and invoices from rent monies, manage all maintenance needs and you can essentially tell them how much you want to be informed or how much consent you give them. I gave mine a lot of leeway to use their judgement and just authorise works where it was in their view essential – I didn’t want needless phone calls. Over time they provided advice on what I could push back on as well e.g. nuisance complaints about a loud oven etc. Don’t skimp on maintenance and things like that, it’s your property after all, and make sure you organise things like annual smoke detector checks and biennial electrical safety and gas safety checks to ensure your tenants are safe. Little things like getting a contractor out to clean the air con split system as well is something that your tenants will definitely appreciate. The better you treat your tenant, the better they will treat your property.
Lastly in selecting your tenant – a good tenant is worth their weight in gold. Make sure you are comfortable that your tenant will be a good fit for your home and for the complex if it’s in strata. e.g. you can’t fit a family of six into a one bedroom apartment comfortably, they will just be unhappy. A good agent can provide all the advice you need to make the best decisions. They charge a lot of fees, so you need to make sure you get something for it after all, so ask them everything!
This proves yet again my long-held mantra – there is no such thing as a bad dog, there are simply bad owners that sadly haven’t a clue. I feel sorry for this dog more than anything – what kind of owner would leave their dog roaming common areas during the day? I am disgusted. Speechless.
Sorry I get very upset when I read about such awful dog owners.
(disclaimer: I am a dog owner, dog lover, dog whisperer (maybe) and consider myself totally responsible for my dog’s actions)
It’s different in Victoria. In NSW and, I believe, Queensland, any surface that backs on to common property or an adjoining lot is common property too. Another example of how Victorian strata law is behind the times.
Hey Jimmy, Is it really behind the times though? If I want to replace some tiles inside my property, or paint a wall purple, or anything else in between, I can do as I please without needing to go get approvals. What happens in the apartment is no business of the OC. It seems very messy if suddenly the OC has some say in internal walls. Just my two cents, from the backwaters of Victoria!
Reply from Victoria. I hope you are well and Happy New Year.
Two things that confuse me:
- What do you mean by ‘internal common property wall’? If it is an external wall, then I thought you as the owner were responsible for the internal property-facing side of the wall i.e. the internal wall, plaster, membrane etc. that is shared with the brickwork on the outside (which is the OC). Then if the tiles are internal, aren’t you then responsible for the upkeep and maintenance?
- Did the OC Manager or the OC Committee authorise you to go ahead and get a professional report? If they did not, then I suspect you will not receive any reimbursement as it was entirely your decision to proceed with those investigations ahead of the May 2023 AGM. Keep the invoices in case you can make a clearer case down the track.
12 years is not a new building but is not too old either.
I hope you get some resolution on this. I am just an owner and not an expert or lawyer.
Hey there from Victoria.
Could a $1 per annum (say) licence agreement work here? (i.e. you each pay one another $1 each year). Only cost is drawing it up with the lawyer (shared cost – couple of hundred dollars maybe?) and it might have some notional expiry of xx years and early termination by agreement? Not sure if it can be designed to endure past a change in property owner??
I’m not a lawyer, but I did have a licence agreement when I moved into my place before settlement. That was a pretty simple document and might work here. It wouldn’t involve the strata manager at all, you’d essentially be tenants I would think? I’d talk to a lawyer, maybe one that does property transfers and is familiar with this territory?
Hi there, HNY from Victoria. My old apartment garage was filled with storage solutions from innovative owners!
I would write to your OC and ask permission. I would have thought an email was enough. If you assure the committee that a qualified and insured tradesperson would install the fixtures and that they would be in keeping with the look and quality of the surroundings, perhaps providing them with a picture of the product you have in mind and indicate what would need to happen to the car park e.g. where concrete drilling will be required, and an assurance that the fixture or the kayaks won’t affect any neighbouring car parks, then I can’t see what the problem is. If I were on the committee, I’d agree to that if it were restricted to your car park space and professionally installed. There are some pretty nifty over-bonnet solutions out there that make good use of that space.
Hope this helps encourage you!
Reply from Victoria.
I hear you loud and clear (sorry for the play on words). I battled my OC for 3 years over the nuisance behaviours of three sets of neighbours on common property on the driveway immediately outside my home as related to unreasonable noise that reverberated around my “architecturally designed” (but not acoustically designed) townhouse. The driveway was too narrow and created a canyon for sound to echo.
I got all three sets of neighbours completely off-side and the daily behaviours targeted us and us alone – so much so the neighbours taunted me personally from the drive as they yelled and played basketball games, damaged our car with their basketball bouncing off the bonnet and roof, and littered our car port with paper aeroplanes, tennis balls and anything else kids throw around. They had loud music and the television at 100% volume.
The Victoria Police were no help. The EPA is a weak Act. The manager and the OC were impotent in enforcing the bylaws that clearly addressed this behaviour. These neighbours were schoolyard bullies, plain and simple. I’m not against kids and playing, kids need to play – I’m against bad parenting and people who are simply not nice neighbours.
The OC were weak and so I joined the OC one year in, only to find that the Chair would block everything and the manager seemed to enjoy seeing others miserable.
The bullies did not win. I sold up at the market peak and moved out. Easier than pursuing them through VCAT or the courts. Sorry this is no easy solution. I have moved on, life is too short, and they can just continue to live their lives. I’m so much happier just putting this behind me.
Not a solution for everyone. Best of luck, sincerely, I feel for your predicament and hope you get some resolution.
@TonyTran. I hear you, but I don’t really understand what you are asking of the forum. Have you applied to join the committee/s? It is hard work to be on the committee and to do the job well, but someone has to do it. Of course, the selection of service providers for minor things and maintenance is done by someone – if not the manager putting some names forward of providers they have relationships with, the committee members may do so if it is small enough that it is not a tender. Then it is an agreement of the committee as to how they want to proceed. If you think you can do better, then put your hand up at the next AGM and give it a go. And if the Chair or the committee are really acting against the spirit of the OC Act, then there should be ways for you to seek remedies of that if you have proof of overcharging or bad faith.
I am well experienced in having to deal with this as the aggrieved downstairs neighbour where I used to live…
As such, I am sorry but I don’t have much sympathy for your predicament I’m afraid. I’ve been on the other end of your dilemma, and it is very unpleasant and costly to have property damaged due to an installation mistake or poor workmanship of an upstairs neighbour’s plumbing.
$960 seems very reasonable as payment for a tradesperson to come rectify the damage caused to your neighbour’s property. Your neighbour should get the OC to pay straightaway so as to relieve them of the damage and then they can get back to their lives, and it remains that the OC can then bill you for the additional on your levy notice.
Remember though it will cost you more than that – you will need to rectify the source problem without delay, at your own cost and to the satisfaction of the OC and/or the neighbour downstairs. Ideally you will have your works done prior to your neighbours so that the issue won’t exacerbate after they have had their repairs done.
Not sure about liability of whether you are liable or the OC in terms of NSW law and regulations. It seems reasonable to expect you are liable and the OC is correct in asking you to pay for the damage. But you also must repair the source as well and with urgency.
For those interested – here is my story of five years of putting up with an unreasonable upstairs neighbour and a leak that would not go away – https://www.flatchat.com.au/topic/bathroom-leak/#post-61282
Reply from Victoria. I’m not a lawyer, just experienced as a resident and committee mbr of many years.
From Melbourne.
We had an escalating situation in 2020 from people using their own private carports for impromptu (illegal) gatherings on Friday nights over lockdowns, they would sit in the (near) darkness, drink and talk louder and louder as the evening rolled on sometimes past midnight, disrupting everyone’s sleep in nearby units. It was quite sad really. Given VicPol had other priorities in the middle of COVID lockdown # x (whatever one we were up to at the time), they were not interested.
But it did prompt the question to the Owners Corp Mgr as to what we were allowed to do in our own (privately owned and on title) car ports viz-a-viz as a place for a party. It turned out there was a by law (not sure if it is model or custom) that indicated that a car port or garage is only for the storage of a car, perhaps with the poor acoustics of the common area in mind. An email went out and the parties soon came to a halt, perhaps the threat of the OC reporting the illegal gatherings to the police also helped (admittedly, we were less bothered by the exercise sessions of neighbours as to be fair there was nothing else to do in lockdown…). But it was something we were completely unaware of as a community before this.
Question for you is: Do you have any such rules about car port or garage usage in your complex? Is that something you could explore with your OC Manager?
In answer to your question about quiet enjoyment, I’d say it comes into everything (within reason). And perhaps see if you can invite your neighbour for a coffee and have a chat, or a beer and chat (whatever floats your boats), it might be a simple solution!
Best of luck!
I’m in Vic. I always thought it was almost discretionary for the strata manager to consider interest on overdue levies. The one time I was going to be late I let my SM know in advance and gave her an approximate time of payment – it was due 31 December and I was going to pay on 14 January – she was fine with that approach. I think the key might be to discuss with the strata manager to see if they can work out a payment schedule that suits you and is ok with the committee? (So long as the OC gets the money in full and it’s not too delayed, I don’t see why they would say no).
The other complication for you might be that you are not allowed to vote at the AGM if you are in arrears on the date.