Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Many, many strata buildings have invalid by-laws about keeping pets. The NSW government has made multiple changes to the strata laws and regulations about pet keeping since 2010. Currently the situation is that pets cannot be prohibited from being kept in any strata Unit, whatever the by-law states, on a general basis. What I mean by that, is that only a pet that creates a real nuisance (or is reasonably and objectively likely to create a nuisance, like a goat in a small Unit), can be prevented or prohibited from being in a strata Unit. The OC must have evidence that the pet is creating a nuisance (they cannot predict or surmise that without a very, very good case), which implies that the pet has to reside in the Unit for a time, for this evidence to be collected.
But keep in mind that a lease from a landlord can prohibit a pet. But if you are an owner, or you rent and your landlord does not object, then keep your pet. If the pet makes a real nuisance while in your Unit, then the OC can take action against you to have the pet removed, but they must collect evidence to present to the Tribunal proving the nuisance. So if that is likely, then you make sure your pet behaves and you need to minimise any nuisance. And you might need to be prepared to defend the action if the OC is foolish enough to commence action, and that costs you time and money…
Can I inject a note of caution here? Strata management is complicated, and from this history, you and your fellow owners have muddled though only from luck, and stumbling across people who voluntarily helped, like a bank employee. A building with 8 Units is quite large, and I have to wonder if you can self manage the plan with your lack of experience. It sounds like you plan to embark on a program of repairs and improvement, with the increased investment in the building, and doing that without good strata knowledge is going to be a struggle.
I understand you not renewing with your present strata manager. But it might be better to find another one, perhaps one that is not part of a slick huge corporation. I would recommend (for all buildings) that the contract with your strata manager should only be for one year (not 3), which means you renew it at each AGM. You can negotiate with a strata manager for them to take over a limited set of duties – the committee can do all the quote getting, contract reviewing and bin cleaning, and leave the strata manager to manage the accounts and provide advice about the complex stuff, like fire safety Orders and Schedules, insurance, by-laws and so on. Be aware that some other owners might take advantage of your inexperience, and act up, since none of your committee members know anything much about strata laws, I assume.
You say you are moving pipes “along the wall”, so as the other responders say, you need to determine if the wall is common property (ie, a boundary, shown in dark lines on the strata plan), or an internal wall, which means the wall is all your own property. Also, do those pipes only supply water to your Unit, or are they supplying other Units too? If they supply more than one lot in the plan, then they are common property. Finally, only pipes inside the boundary wall count as common property. So possibly you could connect to the internal wall pipes at a convenient spot, and run new pipes along the wall (inside the new cupboards perhaps), and pipes in the “volume” of the Unit, and not inside a common property wall, then belong to the owner.
The issue is about who is responsible in the future if a new pipe leaks? The renovation by-law transfers responsibility to repair and maintain a common property item from the owners corporation to the owner, from then on. In the future, people may forget about the renovation, and when a plumber turns up to fix a burst pipe, the renovation by-law (if someone remembers to check it) will mean that the owner gets charged, instead of the OC for fixing the replaced pipes.
I would think you could get retrospective approval for installing properly insulated wooden floors, because the Owners Corporation cannot unreasonably refuse a renovation request. Have you checked to see if your floors are noisy? Talk to your neighbours, and visit there, while you get your wife and kids to walk around on your floors. If you find a problem, then there is one, and it’s your responsibility to fix it.
And I have to agree that letting your kids practice with musical instruments in a Unit seems, perhaps, a trifle unreasonable. Electronic keyboards can have headphones! Excess noise issues come and go – you need to deal with the current problem. There is unlikely to be negligence or incompetence in past strata committees – it was your responsibility to recognise the potential problem with noisy floors (& musical instruments) when you bought the Unit, and you failed to check if there was any renovation by-laws in place. In a strata building you are part of a community, and so you have to consider your neighbours.Actually, there are a variety of approaches when it comes to renovations, and renovation by-laws. Strata law requires that any major renovation be approved as a special resolution (ie, majority for, less than a quarter against) at a general meeting, any minor renovation be approved as a normal resolution at a general meeting (ie, a majority for, and some buildings have delegated this to the strata committee), and any cosmetic renovation does not require approval. The Owners Corporation mainly has sway over a renovation which involves common property; so check out the “Common Property Memorandum” to get a rough idea of what is which. The purpose of a “renovation by-law” is to transfer the maintenance and replacement tasks of any common property affected in the renovation, from the Owners Corporation to the owner of the lot that is doing the renovation. The Owners Corporation can also manage the use of its common property during the renovation and set conditions about working hours, rubbish removal, tradies parking etc, and also require the work to be done properly, by licenced and properly insured tradies, builders etc.
Many buildings have a section in their by-laws that set out the conditions for renovations, which, if your building has done this, will simplify the approval and renovation process, since you will just have to follow that by-law, and so your own renovation by-law can become a paragraph just basically setting out what parts of the common property are being affected in the major/minor renovation, and a summary of the work to be done.
In my building, we have such a by-law on carrying out any renovations, which details the application procedure, how the work is to be carried out, etc. We ask owners to apply to carry out a renovation. They list the work they want to do, and the type of renovation (cosmetic, minor, major) is determined by all parties. If it is for a minor renovation, then the strata committee in our building can approve it (ie, under s.110(6)(b)) but that might not be the case in other buildings.
If the work is a major renovation (or minor that requires approval at a general meeting), then the strata committee reviews it, and if there are no obvious issues, the committee asks for the owner to sign an agreement that they will submit a motion at the next general meeting to carry out the work, and that they will agree and approve a renovation by-law for their work to be registered after that meeting, to take on the maintenance responsibility for the work. They can then sign that agreement (usually 2 pages, listing the work, and confirming the terms of the agreement), and then the strata committee lets the renovation proceed. At the next general meeting there is a motion put to approve (retrospectively) that renovation and register the by-law.
There is a small risk that at the general meeting the owners won’t approve the renovation, but this is very unlikely, because the strata committee is recommending it (and has a voting block). Legally, the renovation between the time it is done, and when the next general meeting is held, is an “unauthorised renovation”, but it is the strata committee’s job to deal with those, and it has already done so, by arranging for the owner to sign an agreement to pursue the general meeting motion and approve a renovation by-law to be registered, at the next opportunity.
An owner wanting a renovation is provided with samples of earlier renovation applications, and they normally prepare the paper work themselves, or with their builders assistance. Without lawyers! Minimum costs, and no nuisance of holding more general meetings. Works smoothly and cheaply. The building benefits from successful renovations, and there is no need to delay them or make them harder to arrange by holding more general meetings that owners don’t care about. However, some strata managers like the extra income that all this kerfuffle involves, so you might need to explain to the strata committee that there is a better way of arranging all this.
Have you discussed your plan with a strata lawyer? It isn’t easy to get compensation due to water proofing failures, and the success for that will depend on your proving that the Owners Corporation neglected to carry out proper maintenance of the common property. A strata lawyer can determine if you have a reasonable claim, and how the anticipated change of ownership will affect any claim.
More information can be found here https://www.bannermans.com.au/library/claims-by-owners-for-damages-caused-by-water-ingress-under-s1065/
But be aware that there are a lot of other cases where compensation for loss of rent was not awarded.Don’t panic. There are a couple of issues to unpack here. I am assuming you are referring to wooden flooring being installed by the previous owner. Installing floating wooden floors is a “minor” type of renovation, under Strata law. Depending on your building’s by-laws, this can be approved by a normal resolution at a general meeting, or in some instances by your strata committee. So you need to check the agendas and minutes of general and strata committee meetings, to see if a motion was put for the owner of your Unit to install wooden floors, and if that motion passed (a majority of the owners at the meeting would need to approve it.) Talk to members on your strata committee to find out what happened, and don’t take the strata manager’s word, without corroboration.
The approval might have been done with some conditions, so you need to check the actual wording used, and if the owner complied, then that is all done and dusted, and can’t easily be revisited. But it sounds like the approval was not done? That means the minor renovation is an unauthorised renovation. One option in response is for the Owners Corporation to require you to reinstate the original type of flooring, which you (as owner) will need to do and pay for – but the OC will need to go and get an Order at NCAT to require this. A common alternative is for you to apply retrospectively to have the renovation approved. Make a fresh application, with all the supporting material, and the OC at the next general meeting can approve it, if at least half of the owners attending vote in favour.
If the owners at that meeting unfairly disapprove the application then you can go to the Tribunal and ask it to overrule the owners. So you need to get the majority of owners on your side – probably some of them have wooden floors or may want them, so they will probably side with you, or make sure the flooring is good, and not making too much noise. Of course, if your wooden floors are a problem then you should consider how to fix that – put down rugs, replace the underlay, carpet the worst affected room, etc?
The second issue is that strata law requires you not to create a nuisance, and disturb your neighbours. Noisy wooden floors can be a trigger for this action. Again, they need to go to NCAT to get an Order, which might involve you reinstating carpet, or perhaps using rugs etc. Again the other side will need to prove the nuisance, and you can dispute it.
Of course, you don’t want to get lawyers involved, or waste a lot of time representing yourself in these matters. It’s best to negotiate with the OC (and your neighbours). Is it just one, or is it a majority? If one, are they influential, or might the Strata Committee be on your side rather then theirs? Is the strata manager being fair, or are they biased to the complainant? Find out. They can’t force you to change your floors without taking action at NCAT – which takes time and money, which the OC would not want to waste unnecessarily, but hopefully you can find a solution that all parties accept. If you need help, talk with a strata lawyer, or your building’s strata manager if they are helpful, or else to another strata manager for some independent advice.
I would recommend that you investigate this, as the issue could blow up to be a bigger mess, especially with that large amount of money involved. Yes, you should check with Council to see if any DA was applied for or granted. You need to review the by-laws to see if a renovation by-law was registered (though the work seems to have been done when strata law was different, so there may not be one.)
You have been told the sunroom was an unauthorised renovation, but there is another way of managing that, as well as the Owners Corporation demanding that the common property be restored to its original condition (ie, without the sunroom). You can retrospectively apply for a renovation by-law to be approved that authorises that structure, and the fact that it’s been in place for over 20 years, without the OC complaining or objecting would imply that it would be approved.It’s good that the OC is treating the repairs as being carried out on common property, and paid for by the OC. But if it turns out that a previous owner did unauthorised work that contributed to the current problem, then you, as the ongoing owner, could be liable for some of the cost of its remediation, as well as contributing to the levy costs. It might pay to get a strata lawyer (or an independent strata manager) involved to look through this, to ensure that you don’t become liable for a big bill.
And yes, a million dollar remediation cost will probably be paid for by all the owners, by raising a special levy. What is in your current Capital Works and Administration funds? Has your OC been planning this work for a long time, and has raised the necessary money, or is this unplanned? Note that the special levy can be raised in one hit, or spread over a longer period, but work cannot start until sufficient money is in these trust funds to pay for each stage of the work. Strata loans are also a possibility. You should get involved in your OC, for your own benefit.
The model by-laws that many strata building’s adopt, or have as their default, normally have a specific by-law stating that the common property gardens are not to be altered by residents. The tenant might be unaware of the by-law, and so it’s education that need, as well as a copy being provided. For a variety of reasons, that by-law should be followed, and the tenant is just wasting their money buying and planting shrubs that have to be removed. Or if the strata committee likes them, then they can take them on…
It sounds like you might be successful in resolving the dispute, but that the dispute itself is causing you to delay the sale. As stated above, this type of dispute cannot delay the sale. But you need to be transparent to prospective buyers. Knowledgeable buyers who understand strata might not be put off, but others might be. A suggestion is to be a legal opinion from a reputable strata lawyer (or from 2) outlining the issue, and how to deal with it, and providing an opinion of the risks involved, (ie, that the gate may need upgrading or repainting etc). Provide that opinion to prospective buyers, and go ahead with the sale.
The NSW government used to publish a very useful guide to living in strata (called “Strata Living”), but they have discontinued that, for some bizarre reason – but it’s available on some other sites, although it is now a bit out of date, so google that document. Here is a source => https://nsw.strata.community/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Strata_Living_Guide-2018.pdf
That guide gives you a good introduction for how to live in a strata building, and how to be part of a strata committee.
As Jimmy says, the balcony itself is likely to be common property (unless the building is old, when it kind of might be the owners property – it’s complicated for older strata buildings.) However, if a previous owner renovated the balcony by adding tiles – then there should be a renovation by-law in place, which makes the common property involved in the renovation the responsibility of the owner to maintain and repair in the future. If there’s no by-law about that, then that renovation is an unauthorised renovation, and the Owners Corporation can now negotiate to register such a by-law, or else take action to have the balcony restored to its original condition (by removing all the additions and remediating it to match the original condition of the balcony – which the current owner must pay for). Then, there’s the past repairs, which might have been done by the Owners Corporation or by an owner, and they might be under warranty, or else the party who paid for those repairs are probably now responsible for making any problems arising from those repairs good…
It’s a mess isn’t it? Still the water proofing has failed and water is getting through the balcony floor slab into the Unit below. That slab is clearly common property. But the water proofing membrane (or system – there might not be a membrane, and the tiles could have been the main way of water proofing) is whose responsibility? If damaged by the later renovations or repairs done by an owner, then it’s likely the owner’s job to pay for the repairs. It will possibly work out to be a joint responsibility?
A suggestion is to get an expert to investigate and report on the cause and the solution, and get quotes for the cost of the solution. Both parties can share the cost of getting the report. Or if there is ill-will involved, then each party can get its own report and pay for that themselves. Then they can read the report, and divvy up the cost of the repairs by the proportion of the attributed cause.
Then there’s the 3rd party involved, who should not be neglected – the unfortunate owner who is suffering the consequences of the leaks – they need to ensure that the other parties get a move on and fix things. Certainly, if there are any unnecessary delays, then they need to go to the Tribunal, and get orders to have the problem fixed. The dispute is less about how to fix the problem, but mainly who will pay for that. Concentrate on fixing the problem now, and working out who pays what later.
What is the overall goal? It should be to hold a valid strata committee meeting. If the owners and SC members are getting hung up on the period of notice, then give everyone more notice. The 3-days notice is the minimum. Why not set the date for the next strata committee meeting at each meeting – say in 2 months time, and state the agenda is to get sent between 14 and 7 days beforehand? Then everyone is satisfied, and the meeting is clearly allowed.
The easiest solution to the current notice period kerfuffle is to reschedule the meeting for a week or two later.
Basic information (now a little out of date) about NSW strata => https://nsw.strata.community/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Strata_Living_Guide-2018.pdf
…And why has NSW govt stopped updating and publishing this?
There’s some confusion here. @minklet is saying that important information is missing from the “strata roll” and so did not appear in a strata report. But the strata roll just holds the name and addresses of the owners of the building. There’s no financial information held there. A strata report is created by other people who comb through all the publicly available records for a strata building, and summarises that, which includes the minutes of AGM’s, Strata Committee Meetings and the like. Strata Managers are often involved in preparing these minutes, but generally they are “agents” and as such, act on the instructions of the Owners Corporation or the Strata Committee. And if its a new building, it gets complicated with the developer and the initial strata committee being involved.
But Strata Managers (in NSW at least) are qualified, and have to hold a current Strata Managers Licence. So some of what @minklet is writing is confusing, and is not what actually happens. Which is not to say that errors were not made, or that malfeasance occurred, but the actual situation is probably not what you think it might be. So you probably need someone who understands the area to now get involved – possibly you could get a strata lawyer to investigate and provide you with an opinion of what your options might be…