[Jimmy-T]

Here’s an interesting case that has come via our chums on the OCN.  The current owner of a property that has illegal works done on it by a previous owner has been ordered to remove the unauthorised works (which were the subject of a council order) at his own expense. Or, at least, that’s what I think this says.

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[Jimmy-T]

The Commissioner is Rod Stowe … and perhaps THIS STORY will answer your question on why you get different names

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[Jimmy-T]

One small problem here – Fair Trading doesn’t adjudicate.  All they can do is provide an opportunity for mediation – an obligatory first step before going to NCAT (formerly the CTTT).

Now, Frans, who are you really angry at?

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[Jimmy-T]

can you clarify what you mean by a “Home Owners Association”.  Do you have a strata committee and owners corporation AGMs? 

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[Jimmy-T]

@Teal said:
To change the use of a Lot through council does the lot owner needs the owners corp approval? If so how is this done – does the owners corp need to sign the DA paperwork? What if the lot owner applies direct with council and mosses out the owners corp completely?

Most councils want an indication that the Owners Corp is OK with any changes before they agree.  Some even give Owners Corps an effective veto because it’s easier to say no to an individual than have the residents of 100+ homes on their case.  Trying to sidestep the strata committee will just turn them against you and make it harder for you to get what you want. Also, you have a legal obligation to inform the Owners Corp about any change of use that might affect the building’s insurances.

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[Jimmy-T]

@scotlandx said:
.. if the new owner says they won’t move in until they get a slice of the common property, that’s fine!

Yes, sounds like a win-win.  You keep the common property and the strata scheme is minus one idiot.

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[Jimmy-T]

We must make a clear distinction between the legally requirement to have a sinking fund PLAN and the lack of any clear obligation to fund it.  That is where the whole things falls apart.  The only benefit of requiring an assessment (rather than a fully-funded budget) is that it allows prospective buyers to ask how the Owners Corp plans to pay for all the maintenance they have identified as being necessary in the future.  Even if they are planning to wait until the work needs to be done, and then either raise a loan or (heaven forbid) a special levy, it should be written down somewhere so that buyers can truly be aware.

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[Jimmy-T]

The answer is that you don’t complain about the floor, you complain about the disturbance.  Let the EC work out with the residents why this is happening.  Your by-laws may not protect you against hard floors specifically but they do protect you against excessive noise.

As for the hard floors three and five storeys up – sound can travel in very strange ways in apartment blocks but I doubt if that’s an issue here.

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[Jimmy-T]

@PeterC said:
Wait for a moment or two after the noise stops and then applaud loudly or play a recording of applause on your hifi gear?

Or how about canned laughter, preferably from a cheesy 60s sitcom?

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[Jimmy-T]

@loretta1 said:
I rent out my studio in Bondi through Air B n B, and I object to being called a parasite. 

Loretta, yours is a perfect example of how strata really works.  If every short-term landlord was like you, there would be no need for any rules or regulations. No complaint from neighbours, then no problems. But that’s just one of the reasons you are not a “parasite”.  It may well be that short-term lets are allowed in your building anyway – the DA and by-laws will reveal that. Even if they don’t, you are considerate of your neighbours and – and here’s the significant difference – it is a place you return to regularly and stay there yourself so you are accountable for the behaviour of your guests.  That makes a world of difference. And, by the way, I too have worked in TV and I know only too well how patchy work can be.

However, take, someone who owns several apartments in one building that IS zoned “permanent residential only” but he weasels his way through every loophole, real and imagined, to rent them out for periods as short as two nights, threatens residents who complain (and they do) then blithely sits on the committee of another building that doesn’t allow short-term lets even though it has exactly the same DA.  What do you call someone like that?

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[Jimmy-T]

Hi

Go to the web page that you want to direct readers to and copy the full address.

Then highlight words in your post like CLICK HERE then click on the the chain link symbols on the command line above.   Make sure the address has https:// at the start or it won’t work.

Please don’t link to inappropriate, commercial or rival websites (i will tell you what they are if you do so).  If you do so once, I will remove the link.  Do it again and I will remove you.

Best of luck with it and thanks for prompting me to explain so others can do it.

Regards

Jimmy

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[Jimmy-T]

This has been touched on before (only just) but it really depends on the nature of the work that you do in your home office and the impact that has on your neighbours and common property.

For instance, if like me you sit in the corner of a spare room and tap away at a keyboard and meet “clients” in a nearby cafe, even occasionally, encouraging them to use visitor parking, it’s a case of no harm, no foul.

But if you have people coming and going both as workers and clients, constant courier delivery and pick-ups and paid staff working in your home office, then you have changed the insurance status of the building – especially in regards to Work Health & Safety-  and, many would argue, the “use” of your flat.

Just as a rule of thumb, I’d say anything that gets the antennae of your building busybody twitching (every block has one) needs to be examined to see if your home office is actually a commercial office in a home, at which point you have to tell the owners corp and see how they respond. 

By the way, generally speaking local authorities encourage people working from home becasue it means fewer cars on the roads and bodies in buses.

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[Jimmy-T]

A polite note asking on what grounds they are charging you for repairs to resolve their problem, would be in order  

However, if the piping on your common property was causing a problem for them, at least in part, you are lialble for some of the cost but you are entitled to know why your OC wasn’t informed or consulted.

But if the work done on your section of the pipe was purely so they could get access to the problem in theirs, I wouldn’t be rushing to pay the bill.

A sit-down and a chat could resolve this but if they are just trying to pass part of the expense for their problem on to you, I would refuse to pay until they come up with something more convincing than a demand for money.

By the way, NCAT has the ability to resolve disputes between adjoining strata so you could always tell them to go there if they aren’t happy.

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[Jimmy-T]

A gentle, humorous (anonymous?) note to all your upstairs neighbours along the lines of:

“I don’t want to spoil your fun and I envy your enthusiasm but if you are the resident whose energetic love-making is banging your bed head off your bedroom wall, you might be interested know the rest of us can all hear.  Share the love and please spare us the sound effects.”

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[Jimmy-T]

@Austman said:

@JimmyT said:
The owners corporation has the right to restrict who comes and goes on common property to people who are registered owners or tenants or their bona fide guests.  Renting a car space to an outsider can be a serious breach of security and safety in a strata building since there is no recourse under law if that unregistered sub-tenant damages common property or behaves in breach of by-laws.

In Victoria there is no automatic requirement to give an OC any tenant information.  The OC need not even be informed if the property is tenanted at all.  

Absolutely right. The law in NSW says you have to inform the OC who tenants are but that is pretty much ignored.  If it wasn’t, we’d find it a lot easier to deal with overcrowding.

The OC can handle security as it sees fit but in doing that can it stop an owner or the owner’s tenant from accessing their lot?   That lot might be just a car space.

The OC can’t stop an owner from accessing their lot but renting it to an outsider may be a very different kettle of fishy business. The very first of the model by-laws says this:

1.1 Health, safety and security of lot owners, occupiers of lots and others

A lot owner or occupier must not use the lot, or permit it to be used, so as to cause a hazard to the health, safety and security of an owner, occupier, or user of another lot.

An owners corp could add a “no outsiders” clause to that rule on the grounds that the safety and security of the building and its residents could be compromised by allowing access to parking to non-residents whose identities are unknown?  

It would be hard to justify, however, of the parking are was open and easily accessible on foot, for instance.

That said, there is a clause in the Act that says OCs are allowed to created rules to manage common property and individual lots provided they don’t contravene other laws.  That’s a lot of wriggle room right there.

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