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I have had a similar issue. My advice is to make it THEIR problem as well by parking them in at every opportunity – this will be effective in odd hours – if they don’t answer the door, you can call the Police to knock on their door for you – they will tell you it is out of their jurisdiction being a strata issue BUT they can intervene on the basis that the situation could escalate into some sort of altercation if not resolved which then becomes their issue . You wrote you have parked them in but were abused when you explained why. Keep doing it and when they honk their horn for you to move your car, take your time. Then there are a couple of ways you can go about it. Either don’t talk to them when you are moving your car (either outright ignore them or pretend you are on the phone) or take a dictaphone with you and if they abuse you, say calmly “I am recording this”. However, if you think this will escalate their abuse, you CAN record them discretely, even though people say you cannot record someone’s voice without their permission, you CAN do this, you just may not be able to use the evidence in court, although this may be possible as I have been in a court hearing where the Magistrate was willing to listen to my recordings of my stata plan neighbour verbally abusing me. If you want to stop the verbal abuse, show them they are being recorded but if you want to use it as evidence, it is up to you if you want to disclose the recording. In my case, showing the dictaphone shut them up. All they would then say is “You can’t record my voice.” But I can and did and was allowed to use this. The worst thing you can do is give up your right to park/access your garage as it will get worse.
I am an owner/occupier as well as a landlord in my strata plan. I have had so many difficulties with other owners & tenants keeping pets. In my experience, it doesn’t matter what is agreed, residents with animals just do what they want no matter how it adversely affects the others in the strata plan or other neighbours and then it is up to me and Owners Corporation to spend time/money/energy on trying to sort the problems out eg let cats roam the property day & night – I have had cats wandering into my garage when I have the side door ajar for fresh air when I am in inside for a period of time, allow dogs to be unleashed on common property whom ‘rush’ at me and small children whom are visiting myself or my tenant, refuse to believe dogs are barking when left home alone all day, allow cats & dogs to defacate on the lawns and in the gardens which is smelly and unpleasant for those whom tend to these gardens (me), keep birds & parrots whom make loads of noise, keep snakes plus live mice/rats to feed them, allow their dogs to have puppies so “one small dog” becomes 5 dogs overnight – then those whom complain (me) are considered to be harsh – it ends up being others whom are expected to accept and accommodate the presence of these pets – permission is never sought BEFORE, it is always after the fact and once these pets are in, they never leave, no matter what. I believe it is the irresponsible behaviour of pet owners that encourage Owners Corporations to frown upon pet ownership in a strata plan – it is easier just to say no than to continually argue with these people for months, if not years. Again, in my experience, unit living, especially the small 1 bedroom/studio units in my strata plan, is generally unsuitable for most pets. Personally, I value the native wildlife at our property but the birds, possums, bandicoots, bilbys etc are continually chased away or attacked by the pets of inconsiderate and ignorant pet owners whom refuse to change their behaviour. In my book, pet ownership is a privilege, not a right. I shake my head when I read stories about disadvantaged families whom have quite a few children PLUS a dog and/or cat and complain landlords will not lease their properties to them. I won’t be handing over the property I scrimped, saved & worked my behind off to acquire and lovingly take care of to have it trashed by animals & be made to feel I ‘owe’ people whom have chosen their circumstances (we all do) and feel pet ownership is for them when they are not set up securely. When I was a naive, first time landlord, I believed the promises of a couple of my tenants with “1 small dog” – one moved in with 7 animals which grew to 12 – and after having carpets stained with urine & torn, fly screens ripped, and numerous other damages plus the copmplaints of neighbours about the barking an howling – never again!
I agree completely.
Unfortunately, we have had to adopt a no tolerance policy regarding storing personal items on common property. Interestingly, the largest unit of our 4 lot strata plan being 2 bedrooms, 2 storey, 2 large balconies, plus a large lock up garage seems to attract residents (both owners & tenants) whom claim they do not have enough storage room & have attempted to store bikes, bird cages, gym equipment, outdoor fire places, pot plants, go-carts, tents etc in our common back yard. The other 3 units are 1 bedroom with no garage & only a small terrace yet we manage to store our personal items within our own lots. If we had allowed this storage, our property would resemble a junk yard.
What a radical strategy Scotlandx!
“Just one other general observation – anyone looking for a simple “magic bullet” answer to any problem in strata is likely to be disappointed. But you could have the same issues with a noisy neighbour in a house and have even fewer options in terms of effective responses. Use all the resources open to you and you’ll get the peace and quiet you crave.”
Spot on JimmyT – many of my friends tell me they would never consider a strata property after hearing of my tales of woe but then I hear from freestanding house dwellers whom have some similar stories. I do accept these situations can be more common in close living quarters however we have to deal with all types of neighbours anywhere & everywhere we go … there is always the lure of the remote property in the country.
apartmentalize
I appreciate your post & information however, as installing a new hills hoist clothes line in the back yard is adding something new to common property, we actually require a special resolution which is at least 75% of the votes.
Lot 4 has 45% & this has been the cause of many of our problems. In effect, if Lot 4 calls ‘poll’ on votes (& has done so many times in the past) we cannot add to, change, or alter common property.
They have said that if/when they move back to the property, they will remove the clothes line. They do not care that their tenants, with their 1 year old baby, value this clothes line greatly.
We have a drop down clothes line in the shaded side yard but the position in which we have installed the hills hoist (ie 3 of the 4 owners with a combined unit entitlement of only 55% WITHOUT authorisation) is the sunniest part of the back yard, near the common laundry which, to us, is common sense. We have tested many, many, many things in the Tribunal but this time, we just DID IT as we are SO over the many months & application fees to achieve something that is so common sense, it is not funny. Our view now, is let him remove it if he ever moves back (so not going to happen as he has a adult family of 4 that he squeezed into a 2 bedroom unit for 10 years) & we will address it then.
I am still interested in the view of others about his rationale of it not being nice for his ‘view’ of the property. Also, some prospective buyers of Lot 4 have said “Oh, isn’t this back yard all our own?” & when told no, “Oh, so who uses this laundry & who uses this clothes line & do we have to see other people’s underpants on this clothes line?” I admit, our property is poorly designed but I have seen so many other properties with facilities in the common back yard & their owners don’t carry on like this dude.
Our meetings are always held in the evening (at our request & expense) & typically go for 3 hours or more – extremely painful & labourious – this is because of our nightmare owner who needs to attemt to dominate, control, argue, ridicule etc all other attendees including our managing agent. One agent sacked us, one upped the fees for our 4 lot plan to $3,500.00 pa. They end up being scared & wary of this guy. Luckily he has moved out & has his unit leased & it is still for sale, has been for the last 3 years due to it being overpriced & the levies being around $12,000 per annum due to his 45% unit entitlements (that he thought he could use to control the plan – pity he didn’t do his research & discover special resolution requirements of 45% & ALL his plans involve taking over exclusive use of common property in a manifestly unjust & unfair way).
Personally, I would like our meetings held at the property as our current managing agent has no idea of what our somewhat ‘unique’ property is like & this makes discussions difficult.
We have 4 lots tha used to be holiday flats that were built 40 years ago & were not strat’d properly at all. The layout is odd to say the least.
Further to my rant below. The reason these owners forged the signature of the other owners (that I only found out by accident when our new strata manager asked me if the solicitor’s bill was OK to pay – this was after our previous strata manager ‘sacked’ us due to the level of nonsense that went on in our plan) was to have exclusive use by-laws be drawn up giving them all of the large grassy back yard, the side yars, the rear patio, the common laundry & in exchange for this, give the other owners the small grassed area in front of their unit & these other units would have to install laundry ‘facilities’ inside their units at their own cost.
When the solicitor advised that they would need more than the 75% special resolution due to the complexity of their exclusive use plans (my 2 garages actually open out to the rear patio & the back yard via side doors) they were forced to admit that they did not have 100% support for their plans & then billed the OC. They almost got away with it too! The solicitors acted in good faith I suppose but their instructions from this owner was to ONLY liaise with him BUT bill the managing agent.
My horror stories are long & varied & probably boring to others.
Whale & Struggler
Thanks for your posts, it can be very frustrating at times & rightly or wrongly, I have now learned to ‘play the game’ & will do so accordingly to achieve the outcomes I want however I note these desired outcomes are all being fair & equitable & not disadvantaging any other parties.
The people whom taught me what I can & cannot get away with were critically problematic owners & while the strata system allowed me to address their many breaches & forced them to remedy many of their wrong doings, they also got away with a lot for the flimsy of reasons & the most ridiculous rationales from hearing rulings – eg they were allowed to keep common property & include it as part of their lot (despite it being clearly depicted on the strata plan as common property & all the wiring etc supporting this & the guy who drew the plan confirming in writing he did NOT make a mistake etc, etc, etc) because – wait for it … THEY RENOVATED IT DRAMATICALLY OVER THE YEARS so they get to keep it – what!?!? … during these ‘years’ of renovation we were disputing this & contstantly liasing with the managing agent & OFT & CTTT … it took them so long to address it (tried a statutory appointment of a compulsory strata manager who mediated with the owner for years etc).
There are also instances of fraud (forging other owners signatures), sending tradespeople away whom have been authorised to do work at the property, unauthorised changes to the outward appearance of the building, assault & battery on common property, mail theft, harassment, abuse, attempts to change the strata plan withou the knowledge of other owners, vandalism of other owners private property, preventing other residents from washing & drying clothes, verbal abuse of propsective tenants, death threats & the list goes on & on like a bad movie. You might be thinking “But what did YOU do to invite all this?” All we did was ask them when we moved in, to please not park in front of our garage & to please remove their personal possessions from the common laundry so we could install our machines & that we did not want to sell them our garage.
Despite my disappointment & disullusion, I am somewhat ‘stuck in strata’ – by choice – as I have sunk so much time, energy & money into this property for the very reason that I am not leaving – ever – excellent location & I own 2 of the 4 units & have plans to own more in the future … I’m just noting that if I had my time again, I would not consider strata living.
Regarding the 2 comments below:
“It’s worth noting, however, that if you have security video surveillance in your building, you must have signs up alerting visitors – not so much for privacy law reasons but for Work Health and Safety issues.”
“I read a while back, in the newspaper I think, that people can be filmed, say with CCTV for example, but cannot be recorded unless they knew they were being recorded”
Just letting you know, I was allowed by Police & the Court to record & use as evidence in court other residents using common property (ie letterboxes, in front of my front terrace, in the driveway outside my bedroom, etc) WITHOUT any notification to anyone, I was doing this as it was for my own protection (I asked the Police beforehand if I need to put up a sign).