This week’s lead Forum post is a strata nightmare. It starts when a hobby renovator undertakes a major revamp of his flat, knocking down walls, adding staircases, shifting rooms, ripping out bathrooms – and all without owners corp or planning permission (both of which are obligatory).
He ignores strata complaints, then gets taken to the council and given a long list of remediation orders to make good his wanton destruction.
Then the bathroom floods due to poor-to-non-existent waterproofing and he tries to pin the bill on to the owners corp because its common property.
Now he’s selling and the council is saying that all the work they ordered to be done – but which wasn’t – is fine.
Doesn’t seem right, especially since a neighbour spent $60k to renovate by doing the right thing. What to do? That’s HERE.
Petrified
I was hoping we’d have a pet-free Forum roundup but then one Flatchatter was anxious that she had put down a deposit on a flat, not realising that the block had adopted a no-pets by-law (do thorough searches, folks!).
The strata manager and chair of the committee were both telling her it would be fine … they were going to rescind the by-law anyway, but it felt like a risky move.
What should she do? Should she trust them? Then in the middle of all this, the Court of Appeal ruled that no-pets by-laws were invalid and it looked like she was good to go ahead.
Or was she? There was a difference of opinions on the forum – more of a verbal stoush, really – and you can read it HERE.
Elsewhere on the Forum
- The real estate agent told new residents (wrongly) that the first-in, best-dressed “scramble” parking spots nearest their unit were theirs. Now they’ve got two cars and he’s got a black belt in karate. Ouch! That’s HERE.
- I’ve moved to Sydney but accidentally paid my levies to my former strata manager in Victoria and they won’t pay it back. That’s HERE.
- When salt starts leaching up through tiles laid by the owners corp, why should I be expected to fix it? That’s HERE.
- The sliding garage gate rolls into my car space, making it too narrow but the strata committee won’t budge – that’s HERE.
There are lots more questions and answers on the forum – many of which have nothing to do with pets! Ask a question or answer someone else’s HERE.
