Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
fictionarchitec – You would need approval for the acquisition of the common property roof space via a common property rights by-law.
From the Office of Fair Trade site is the following advice: “A common property rights by-law (previously exclusive use by-laws) may be created in instances where a lot owner may request personal use of common property for renovations or the sole use and enjoyment of the whole or any specified part of common property.
An owners corporation can only make a common property rights by-law if it has the written consent of each owner on whom the by-law provides the right or special privilege and has been passed by a special resolution of the owners corporation.
The common property by-law must state whether:
- the owners corporation is to continue to be responsible for the proper maintenance of the property or,
- impose on the owner or owners of the lots the responsibility for that maintenance and upkeep.
Any common property rights by-law must be disclosed to purchasers by vendors and a copy of the exclusive use by-law must be attached to the contract of sale.”
Be very careful with the wording of your by-law. Will your by-law specify that you will be responsible for the roof itself?
The by-laws granting exclusive use to a roof space can include appropriate conditions about the lot owner/s obligation to pay compensation to the owners corporation for the grant of the rights.
See this link for more details about compensation for the use of attic space:
Living in a garage would be a breach of council regulations and also a breach of the car parking and/or garage by-laws. It would also impact on the building’s fire insurance.
If I was in your daughter’s position I would contact the Council and ask that they issue a Notice to these tenants. I would also contact the SM and demand that action be taken about this immediately. The letting agent should be notified about this by the SM, and also the owner of the Lot.
If any committee members live onsite then they could go and speak to the tenants and tell them that are in breach of the regulations and that they could face a fine. This may be enough to make the garage dweller move out.
A General Meeting would need to be held to approve the issuing of a notice to comply or bring an application to NCAT.
Some info from the LookupStrata site that may be helpful ….. “To enforce a by-law an owners corporation must either:
(a) issue a notice to comply and, if the behaviour continued to make an application to NCAT for penalty orders; or
(b) make an application to NCAT for orders that a by-law has been breached or the behaviour complained of (for instance depositing rubbish on the common property) constituted a nuisance and, if the behaviour continued after an order was made, to make an application for penalty orders.
The first option, issuing a notice to comply, is now much more attractive to owners corporations as:
- The maximum penalty has increased from $550 to $1,100 for the first breach; and
- The maximum penalty for a second breach within 12 months of the first order is now $2,200; and
- The penalty is payable to the owners corporation unless the NCAT orders otherwise.”
The new Act and the new Regs provide the new definitions of Minor Renovations:STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015
110 Minor renovations by owners
(1) The owner of a lot in a strata scheme may carry out work for the purposes of minor renovations to common property in connection with the owner’s lot with the approval of the owners corporation given by resolution at a general meeting. A special resolution authorising the work is not required.
(2) The approval may be subject to reasonable conditions imposed by the owners corporation and cannot be unreasonably withheld by the owners corporation.
(3)
“Minor renovations” include but are not limited to work for the purposes of the following:(a) renovating a kitchen,
(b) changing recessed light fittings,
(c) installing or replacing wood or other hard floors,
(d) installing or replacing wiring or cabling or power or access points,
(e) work involving reconfiguring walls,
(f) any other work prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.
(4) Before obtaining the approval of the owners corporation, an owner of a lot must give written notice of proposed minor renovations to the owners corporation, including the following:
(a) details of the work, including copies of any plans,
(b) duration and times of the work,
(c) details of the persons carrying out the work, including qualifications to carry out the work,
(d) arrangements to manage any resulting rubbish or debris.
(5) An owner of a lot must ensure that:
(a) any damage caused to any part of the common property by the carrying out of minor renovations by or on behalf of the owner is repaired, and
(b) the minor renovations and any repairs are carried out in a competent and proper manner.
(6) The by-laws of a strata scheme may provide for the following:
(a) additional work that is to be a minor renovation for the purposes of this section,
(b) permitting the owners corporation to delegate its functions under this section to the strata committee.
(7) This section does not apply to the following work:
(a) work that consists of cosmetic work for the purposes of section 109,
(b) work involving structural changes,
(c) work that changes the external appearance of a lot, including the installation of an external access ramp,
(d) work involving waterproofing,
(e) work for which consent or another approval is required under any other Act,
(f) work that is authorised by a by-law made under this Part or a common property rights by-law,
(g) any other work prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.
(8) Section 108 does not apply to minor renovations carried out in accordance with this section.
Note : Section 132 enables rectification orders to be made against owners of lots for damage caused by work done by owners.
And from the Strata Scheme Management Regulations 2016Section 28 Minor renovations by ownersWork for the following purposes is prescribed as minor renovations for the purposes of section 110 (3) of the Act:
(a) removing carpet or other soft floor coverings to expose underlying wooden or other hard floors,
(b) installing a rainwater tank,
(c) installing a clothesline,
(d) installing a reverse cycle split system air conditioner,
(e) installing double or triple glazed windows,
(f) installing a heat pump,
(g) installing ceiling insulation.
Note.The work prescribed by this clause is subject to the requirements set out in section 110 (7) of the Act, including requirements that it does not involve structural changes, changes to the external appearance of a lot or waterproofing.
I am not a lawyer. The following is a suggestion only and is not to be relied upon. I advise you to take a good look at SSMA 2015 [s110].
Depending on your particular scheme’s needs a suggestion for your Minor Renovation By-Law could go something like this (or not):
By-Law for Minor Renovations
- The owner of a lot may make minor renovations to their lot subject to the approval of the strata committee and subject to all of the requirements and conditions outlined in these By-laws.
- The minor renovations must not interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of any other lot.
- Minor renovations are only those specified in SSMA 2015
and do not include major renovations. - Minor renovations include: (a) Renovating a kitchen. However, these cannot include waterproofing. (b) Changing recessed light fittings. (c) Installing or replacing wood or other hard floors. However, these are subject to the condition outlined in these by-laws. (d) Changing internal walls. However, these cannot include structural changes. (e) Installing sustainability measures (such as clotheslines or reverse cycle air conditioner). However, these cannot involve changing the outside appearance of a lot or structural changes. (f) Installing or replacing wiring or cabling or power or access points.
- With the exception of a ground floor lot all owners who wish to install or replace wood or other hard floors as a minor renovation must abide by the following conditions: (a) Provide a written report to the strata committee from a qualified acoustic engineer that analyses the acoustic properties of the proposed floor finish prior to installation and a further written report that tests and analyses the acoustic properties of the flooring on completion of the installation of the hard floor.(b) The acoustic properties of the proposed flooring and the completed flooring must not be worse than a 3 star AAAC rating of Lntw < =55 dB. (c) If an installed floor finish fails the provisions of the by-law, then a Notice may be issued to the lot owner concerned requiring that lot owner to place carpet laid over heavy duty underlay over the installed floor finish.
- All owners who wish to undertake minor repairs must provide the following details to the strata committee: (a) any plans of the work, and (b) when the work will be carried out (times and dates), and (c) qualifications and details of the trades people who will do the work.
- The renovating owner must ensure that during the uplift of materials and removal of debris via the use of the common property lift and/or stairs and/or walkways that disturbance and inconvenience to the other occupants of the building be minimized.
- Measures (acceptable to the strata committee) must be taken by the renovating owner throughout the course of the minor renovation to: (a) Protect the common property (b) Ensure that the site is left clean at the end of each working day (c) Minimise the release of dust (d) Minimise noise disturbance and nuisance.
Hanging of clothing on common property other than within the designated common property drying area would be a breach of your by-laws – I would think!
The strata scheme can become involved in the choice of fencing materials if the fencing material impacts on the Appearance of a Lot by-law (dependent upon whether the scheme has this type of by law).
If the purpose of the Appearance of a Lot by-law is to create uniformity of appearance then fencing materials will probably need to be uniform regardless of where the fences are located.
Kenuppa – Your by-laws are stricter than David’s by-laws. Your by-laws include items being visible from ‘another lot’ AND and from ‘outside the building’. David’s only include the ‘outside the building’ portion.
In NSW the Chairperson does not get a casting vote. In this situation it is up to each side to convince one other owner to change their vote. They do this by laying out all of the facts such as cost (not just initial cost but ongoing costs), durability, longevity, aesthetics etc. Eventually some one will change their mind.
NB: If you are in area where termites are prevalent then colorbond may be the best option.
Jimmy T – This type of commercial outfit would not be permitted in many locations, I would imagine. This is quite a bit different from an ordinary ‘mum and dad’ operator letting out their holiday apartment for a few months of every year!
The management fees would no doubt be enormous! They even get designers in to select the furniture! They also seem overly bossy and restrictive too e.g. the owner is only permitted to reside there for 6 weeks!
The ‘ghost tax’ only applies to foreign nonresident owners. This type of ‘ghost tax’ is also used in Vancouver.
The ‘ghost tax’ doesn’t apply to Australians who leave their properties empty.
Foreign nonresidents can be easily identified by the ATO. This is because foreign nonresidents need to apply for foreign investment approval before purchasing any residential property in Australia. Foreign nonresidents already pay fees of $5000-$90,000 per property depending on its value. The ‘ghost tax’ will be an additional tax.
Water usage is just one method of assessing whether a property is vacant. However, any savvy owner could easily ask (or employ) another person to turn on a few taps in their apartment every so often to make the place appear to be lived in.
As a result I don’t think the ghost tax will achieve its desired aims of releasing more nonresident foreign owned rental properties into the rental pool.
You have ‘jumped through the hoop’ of the required Mediation. Sometimes Mediation works and sometimes it doesn’t.
I personally find that Mediation suits ‘bossy’ and ‘assertive’ people whereas it does not suit ‘quieter’ and ‘less confident’ people. Some people are better ‘talkers’ and some people are better ‘writers’.
If you did not like the outcome of the Mediation then you can take this matter further and apply for an Order to NCAT.
The Application Form is below. The last few pages of the Form explain what Orders you can seek.
https://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/Documents/ccd_form_strata_application.pdf
Also see
I believe that the Strata Manager’s assessment is incorrect.
When responsibility for taking a particular action is lawfully delegated to the Strata Committee by the OC then that generally means that the matter is dealt with at a Committee Meeting rather than a General Meeting.
In that scenario it is permissible for Minor renovations to be approved at a Committee Meeting rather than at a more expensively convened General Meeting.
James79 – You are partly right and partly wrong. See the link below for what approvals are required for the 3 categories of renovations: cosmetic, minor, and major.
The committee cannot approve a Minor renovation unless a by-law has been passed by special resolution at a General Meeting to permit this to occur.
https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Tenants_and_home_owners/Strata_schemes/Renovations.page
Are you able to indicate which Sections of the Act that you are interested in finding some cases on? We can probably help you track down some information for you if its out there.
This Model By-law seems to be the new accepted and more lenient ‘wisdom’ of the framers of the SSMA 2015 regarding washing on balconies. There is now no mention of it being not visible from ‘the street’ or from ‘outside the building’.
I would assume that any legal interpretation of a slightly ambiguous ‘old’ by-law regarding ‘washing that is visible from outside the building’ would probably show an element of leniency too.
By-laws tend to be all about ‘reasonableness’ these days rather than outright banning of activities.
14 Hanging out of washing(1) An owner or occupier of a lot may hang any washing on any lines provided by the owners corporation for that purpose. The washing may only be hung for a reasonable period.
(2) An owner or occupier of a lot may hang washing on any part of the lot other than over the balcony railings. The washing may only be hung for a reasonable period.
(3) In this by-law:
washing includes any clothing, towel, bedding or other article of a similar type.