Health says multi-unit renos are okay

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You’d be forgiven for hoping that, at times of an increasingly out-of-control and potentially deadly virus, our state Health department would be keen to give us clear directions on what to do and what to avoid.

You’d also think that, given that we are all being told to stay home and even work there, if possible, some consideration for our mental health would be exercised.

However, given their recent chaotic pronouncements and their subsequent refusal to explain or correct them, you’d also be forgiven for assuming that NSW Health doesn’t understand or care about strata communities.

Today, the NSW government gazetted its latest updated rulings. One thing that hasn’t changed since last week is that, outside of the eight ‘hot spot” Local Government Areas in South-West Sydney, you can go ahead and have renovations in apartments provided:

  • there are no more that two workers per residence
  • the residents are in a different room from the workers at all times
  • the workers wear masks on common property

Define residence

But what is a residence, and what is a “room”? According to some strata law experts, “place of residence” means the whole apartment building.

That’s based on the legislation that supports the Public Health Order which defines “place of residence” as including the premises “where a person lives and a garden, yard, passage, stairs, garage, outhouse or other area or thing attached to, or used in connection with, the premises.”

However, according to the spin doctors at NSW Health, regardless of what the law actually says, it means an individual apartment. And that means you can have as many renovations in your block as can be done by two tradies at a time.

Let’s backtrack a little. This particular problem first arose last week when the state government lifted its short-lived ban on building work.

That extended to freeing up renovations in houses which, because NSW Health declines to acknowledge any significant difference between houses, apartments and apartment blocks, extended to units.

To put this in some kind of context, protect residents’ mental and physical health, in Melbourne’s long lockdown last year, renovations in apartments were banned if there were still people living anywhere in the block.

Here in NSW, our Health department has decreed that renovations are OK in unit blocks, provided that there are no more than two workers per apartment and that the residents are never in the same rooms as the workers.

Two tradies rule

Also, a NSW Health Media person who called me about this said the two-tradies per residence rule applied to each apartment, not the whole block.

Thus, theoretically, you could have multiple apartments in a block being renovated at the same time. And, as long-term residents in gentrifiable buildings will attest, this is not as far-fetched a scenario as it may seem.

But, really, how much noise and disruption can two tradies really create? Well, it only takes one to drill up tiles in a bathroom.

FYI, such well-credentialled observers as Chris Duggan, president of SCA-NSW (the strata manager’s professional body) and high-profile strata lawyer Amanda Farmer say the law means one reno per building, regardless of what the Health Department’s media operatives think.

The Act also says work is permitted (given other restrictions) provided “no person, other than another worker, is in the same room as the worker when the worker is carrying out prescribed work.”

One Flatchatter wonders how this can be possible.  Is a lobby or lift a “room” – they certainly seem to be, according to the definition in the Act. Does turning up for work and travelling through common property lobbies and in lifts count as work (as it does under WorkSafe and insurance provisions).

Her point is that it’s virtually impossible for workers attending to renovations in apartments to avoid contact with strata building employees and residents both in the unit concerned and in common property, so therefore it should not be permitted in strata at all, except in buildings where this can be controlled and guaranteed.

Is she splitting hairs? It’s a valid question, which I put to the Media unit at NSW Health.

A senior member of their Media staff responded: “We’ve provided you with a range of information on this topic, and will let those statements stand.”

That “range” includes one media release and a phone call. I asked which of their contradictory and confusing statements they’d prefer to “stand”. About 24 hours later I have still received no response.

What does this all mean?

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that Chris Duggan and Amanda Farmer are right.  You can legally restrict renovations to one per building and two workers per reno. But how a strata committee is going to do that without clear guidelines to that effect from government is a whole other question.

Who do you call when a second or third renovation starts in your block, or four workers rather than two turn up?

According to the Health Media person I spoke to you can leave the latter to the building manager or apply “common sense”. 

But what if you don’t have a building manager – as most of the 80,000-plus apartment blocks in NSW don’t – or they say all of this is above their pay grade or your committee is never seen and rarely heard?

The problem with NSW Health is that they don’t seem to have anyone there who is applying real-world strata parameters to their edicts.

It’s this kind of lack of logic and inconsistency that makes all resident question the thinking behind Public Health Orders, and that makes compliance and common sense just a little bit less likely to prevail.

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  • #57552
    Jimmy-T
    Keymaster

      You’d be forgiven for hoping that, at times of an increasingly out-of-control and potentially deadly virus, our state Health department would be keen
      [See the full post at: Health says multi-unit renos in one block are okay]

      The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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    • #57561
      Toretti
      Flatchatter

        Try asking them also what applies to strata schemes inside the 8 LGAs.

        The updated Customer Service website says that inside the 8 LGAs of concern, the  “2 workers same room” practice is strongly recommended. It does not make sense as a rule or recommendation.

        Outside the 8 LGAs of concern:

        • residential premises includes common property;
        • the object and purpose of the rule is to enable contactless work (any work);
        • the ordinary meaning of the words in context necessarily imply it applies to apartments only and any other interpretation is absurd (in a legal sense);
        • this leave OCs back with the previous restrictions (prescribed and necessary) for Common Property; and
        • all residents and workers exposed to variety of workers (or all types not just tradies) coming in an out of the building;
        • there is no requirement for testing or vaccination and no obligation on the owner to check

        If you add to this:

        • no mask mandate until weeks after other closed indoors areas (unlike Melbourne)
        • no QR or plan prompts for strata (visitors and workers) (unlike other premises and entities)
        • no direction on indoor recreation facilities (unlike Melbourne, Toronto)
        • no directions to put up poster, install sanitizer (unlike Toronto)

        its a disappointing performance when apartment dwellers are at high risk of infections from others, visitors and workers and are part of the population the PHOs are intended to protect.

        It cannot be solved unless NSW applies PHO directions directly to OCs and common property as well as individuals or business entities.

        #57563
        Jimmy-T
        Keymaster
        Chat-starter

          Try asking them also what applies to strata schemes inside the 8 LGAs.

          They are refusing to answer my questions beyond saying they have issued their statements and they have nothing to add.

          I have passed this on to Ministers Anderson and Dominello but have heard nothing.

          The clear sense I get is that NSW Health thinks apartment blocks can manage this themselves.  Fair Trading  and Services NSW must know this is far from true but either aren’t saying anything or aren’t being listened to.

          The combination of arrogance and ignorance from NSW Health is breath-taking.

           

          The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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