There can be few things worse in strata that finding yourself living next door to an incessantly yapping dog.
Actually, there is: living next door to an incessantly yapping dog and its owners won’t do anything about the yapping and the strata committee won’t do anything about the owners.
So let’s take this case in particular. Our Flatchatter is being driven mad by her neighbours’ chihuahua. Chupa (NOT his real name, I hope) barks all the time his owners are home to get their attention, then barks when they’re not home, presumably to guard the property.
Before we get into the weeds on this, chihuahuas rate pretty highly in the list of dogs that are not suitable for apartments.
In fact, on this US website for renters, on the page about the worst dogs for unit dwellers, there’s a picture of a chihuahua at the very top.
That’s not to say chihuahua is the worst. It’s only number 6, after St Bernards, German shepherds and other apartment unfriendly dogs.
But let’s see why the website says chihuahuas are even in the top ten: “They can be territorial and untrusting of strangers, so you’ll need to supervise your chihuahua constantly … also, they can be a very yappy dog, which will likely annoy the neighbours.”
Okay, that was just the first website that came up when I google barking dogs. Chihuahuas are No 7 in this website’s guide to the 10 yappiest dogs which also has a link to a story about a town in the USA that was terrorised by a pack of feral chihuahuas, and second-worst in this list of dogs that do and don’t bark.
Back to our Flatchatter. Everything was fine until Chupa’s owners moved in, and then the barking started. She asked them politely if they could do something about it and they said the wee dog was just settling in. Aaaah.
Then it continued. And continued. And continued. Finally she reported it to the strata manager who said they’d issue a breach notice. But the committee declined, preferring to believe Chupa’s owners that the dog didn’t bark much and it was probably triggered by noise from our Flatchatter.
Now, I feel sorry for Chupa ; he’s been cursed with selfish and stupid owners. And I feel sorry for our Flatchatter, who’s been landed with a lazy strata committee and uninspired strata manager.
We’ve made a few suggestions about what can and maybe should be done. But what do you think? Is there a solution that doesn’t involve Chupa being evicted? That’s HERE.
Elsewhere On The Forum
- My lock broke late at night, locking me out. Now the building manager won’t pay the locksmith call-out fee because it wasn’t authorised by the strata committee. That’s HERE.
- Our Committee is using a DIY fix for a failed membrane. Aren’t they obliged to use professionals? That’s HERE.
- Now, this is a non-strata question – it would be easier if it was strata-related: What do you do about a door-slamming neighbour? That’s HERE.
- Things are changing on the Airbnb front. Catch the latest comments HERE.
- The mystery of the unregistered strata scheme is solved HERE
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