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This one of those grey areas where you may have a by-law that prevents short-term rentals but there is that over-arching clause in Strata Law (referred to by Scotlandx) that prevents the Owners Corp for interfering with the “dealing” of a lot.
So he is right, the answer lies with your local council. Look at the development approval and zoning for your building and make your complaints that way. Short-term rentals are commercial, not residential.
Some councils (like City of Sydney) come down hard on illegal short term rentals, calling them ‘rezoning by stealth’.
By the way, your caretaker is an employee of the Owners Corporation so it can order them to stop handling bookings
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The idea that ECs have to deal with owner to owner bullying seems to go way beyond anything allowed for in the strata act. There are plenty of options available to individuals who want to protect themselves against bullying, not least of which is an Apprehended Violence Order.
However, if the bullying is by the EC or actively condoned by the EC, they may find that their EC Members’ Insurance coverage has just sailed out of the window – in which case they could be liable individually for any damages that might be awarded by a court.
But to answer the original question, the answer to being bullied is to collect evidence, get sworn supporting statements from friends and neighbours then threaten legal action (such as an AVO). But only make that threat if you are prepared to follow it through – the world is full of people threatening to sue each other when both sides know that’s not going to happen.
By the way, the EC should get involved if the bullying involves any breaches of by-laws such as the playing of loud music or abusive behaviour on common property. And perhaps that’s where the duty of care comes in. But it’s primarily about the by-law breach, not the intent.
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What is A PDS? Please see previous comments about overuse to abbreviations.
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I believe in the old Spanish Inquisition technique of showing the recalcitrant the instruments of torture and, if that doesn’t get them motivated, proceed with the torture as advertised. I’m giving exactly the same advice to the person who reference Catch-22 HERE.
Write to your strata manager and EC secretary and tell them that the Owners Corporation (not the EC or the SM) is neglecting its legally binding duty to maintain and repair common property under the Strata Schemes Management Act and to observe its responsibilities under the Work Health Safety Act, detailing what you believe these lapses to be.
You should then tell them that you will give them 30 days to present a plan of action. Failure to do so will lead you to take action at the CTTT to compel them to fulfill their legal responsibilities.
If they fail to accede to order issued by the CTTT, you will then take action to have the Owners Corporation replaced by the statutory appointment of a strata manager until such times as all necessary work is done.
Tell them that they can do this the easy and cheap way – just make the required decisions – or the hard way, which is to waste time and money fighting it, and end up having to do it anyway (probably even more expensively, given that a Statutory Manager will err on the expensive side of caution when it comes to paying for the work).
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That’s a Hell of a catch, that number 22.
I believe in the old Spanish Inquisition technique of showing the recalcitrant the instruments of torture and, if that doesn’t get them motivated, proceed with the torture as advertised. I’m giving exactly the same advice HERE.
Write to your strata manager and EC secretary and tell them that the Owners Corporation (not the EC or the SM) is neglecting its legally binding duty to maintain and repair common property under the Strata Schemes Management Act and to observe its responsibilities under the Work Health Safety Act, detailing what you believe these lapses to be.
You should then tell them that you will give them 30 days to present a plan of action. Failure to do so will lead you to take action at the CTTT to compel them to fulfill their legal responsibilities.
If they fail to accede to order issued by the CTTT, you will then take action to have the Owners Corporation replaced by the statutory appointment of a strata manager until such times as all necessary work is done.
Tell them that they can do this the easy and cheap way – just make the required decisions – or the hard way, which is to waste time and money fighting it, and end up having to do it anyway (probably even more expensively, given that a Statutory Manager will err on the expensive side of caution when it comes to paying for the work).
Yossarian’s problem in Catch-22 was that he wanted to be sent home – the trick would have been to make them want to send him home.
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KP, the question was about an EGM – Extraordinary General Meeting – which has the same powers as an AGM to alter or revoke previous decisions of the Owners Corp. Maybe you misread it as ECM, an abbreviation for Executive Committee Meeting (in which case you are right – they can’t legitimately overturn decisions by the Owners Corp). Now you know why I hate abbreviations.
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Whale said:
… it may well have been on the basis that it would arrange and pay for the works and then recoup the costs of that and the ongoing maintenance services from the individual Lot Owners.
Just to be a bit nit-picky, if the OC pays for the same service for all owners, then the cost has already been covered in their levies – no need to send them bills. The only reason to do so would be to transfer ownership to individuals which seems unnecessary since they can be charged for any common property that the owners have damaged (as appears to be what they are trying to do here).
The contractor should be paying for the damage – not the lot owner or the Owners Corp.
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@kiwipaul said:
It seems the adjudicators in NSW aren’t as hard line as those in QLD regarding visitor parking spots …Adjudicators in NSW live in their own little world where the only law is strata law, even though they know it is subject to every other law and is lowest in the pecking order. So a NSW adjudicator could make exactly such a ruling without even considering that, just like in Queensland, renting visitors parking to owners, tenants or the people next door is a breach of their planning approval. At the end of the day, a CTTT ruling is just a step on the road to a proper ruling by a proper court – in other words, a waste of time and money.
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@struggler said:
That guy who has been here 10 years only has one car, why should he be allowed to park there! Well, why shouldn’t he?And, as you know, the reason really is because they are visitor spots.
It amazes and amuses me that some people (not you, Struggs) can’t grasp the concept of “visitor”. The reason the spaces are empty a lot of the time is so that people who need them can use them. They aren’t spares or optional extras. They are there for doctors, plumbers, electricians, pizza delivery people, relatives, friends, police officers, interior designers, lift mechanics, couriers, strata managers and anyone else who needs a safe place to park for a few minutes or a couple of hours. One selfish resident can stop all those people from finding somewhere to park. I reckon the current rewrite of strata laws is going to allow illegally parked cars to be towed and/or owners to fine by-law breachers directly for obvious things like illegal parking. Bring it on, say I.
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You need the support of 75 percent of all owners voting at a general meeting to change a by-law – it’s really not that easy. ECs can’t enact or change by-laws.
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Your building’s DA would have stipulated a number of visitor parking spots as conditions of it’s approval – Council may not like you turning them into extra spots for tenants, especially since there may have been deliberate decisions to limit the number of car spaces available to residents in strata (to get us to use public transport more).
Owners Corps can rent out common property and the money goes into the admin fund. However, I believe the tax office views that as an earning by the individual owners who have to declare their share of the income in their annual tax returns.
A better way to solve the problem and make some money would be to padss a by-law allowing the Owners Corp to impose an administration charge for the pursuit of Notices To Comply. You can’t fine owners directly for breaches – but you can get owners to agree to cover the cost of taking action agains owners when breaches have been notified.
I hasten to add, the legalities of this are pretty dodgy but it is a wonderful scare tactic if you want your visitor spaces to be kept for visitors. Even without that, tenants should be reminded that by breaching by-laws they are breaching their tenancy agreement and could then be evicted.
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The first thing to do is to start making your complaints in writing and gathering evidence of this selfish behaviour. If you can get other neighbours to corroborate your claims, so much the better.
The next time the noise starts continues after 10 pm weeknights or midnight at weekends, call the police again and make a not of the names of the officers who attend..
Finally, you should seriously think about taking out a Noise Abatement Order at your local court, and you can find out all about how to do that HERE.
The thing about a NAO is that if they continue to behave like this in defiance of an order, it becomes a criminal matter as they are in contempt of court. The next time you have to call the police they could be arrested.
If you do apply for one, it would help if you could get some confirmation from the police that they have visited the neighbour on a number of occasions and have told him to turn the noise down.
You might also think about raising this with your landlord. They are supposed to provide you with a safe and peaceful home in exchange for your rent. They should also be demanding tht the EC takes action.
Otherwise I wouldn’t count on the EC doing anything for you as this guy is a member and they probably see you as a temporary problem.
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And in NSW the Act says pretty much the same thing but adds that in any conflict between decisions of the EC and those of the Owners Corporation, the Owners Corp prevails.
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