› Flat Chat Strata Forum › From the Front Page › Pet ban shock as Appeals Court erases by-laws › Current Page
There was and never will be schemes that are pet free, this notion is truly wrong, as long as therapy/assistant pets are legal in all homes that means there is never a guarantee that a block will be free of pets.
If we are going to split hairs, assistance animals are not pets. Also, there are plenty of apartment blocks that are genuinely “pet-free”, generally speaking they are small (so animals are tracked down easily) and often they are company title and are therefore not bound by strata law.
There are also, I know, buildings that claim to be pet-free but where pets are kept secretly (often by committee and board members).
To clarify, 70% of Horizon owners have never voting in regards to the Pet by-law.
Well, that’s strata for you. But the 30 percent who did vote mostly voted against pets, as far as I’m told. The rest presumably didn’t care enough to register their view, which adds strength to your argument, but I’m sure if they were in favour of pets but couldn’t be bothered to vote, they may be regretting it now, as their legal bills add up
Personally, I don’t think large buildings like the Horizon should have no-pets by-laws. But I wonder what will happen to any animal that triggers a life-threatening allergic reaction in any resident who bought into the building believing they’d be able to avoid animals.
Strata law (not by-laws) is pretty clear on that. Humans come first.
(1) The Tribunal may, on application by an interested person, make an order against a person who is keeping an animal on a lot or common property in accordance with the by-laws for a strata scheme, if the Tribunal considers that the animal causes a nuisance or hazard to the owner or occupier of another lot or unreasonably interferes with the use or enjoyment of another lot or of the common property.
(2) The Tribunal may order that the person—
(a) cause the animal to be removed from the parcel within a specified time, and be kept away from the parcel, or
(b) within a time specified in the order, take such action as, in the opinion of the Tribunal, will terminate the nuisance or hazard or unreasonable interference.
Let’s hope for everyone’s sake, human and animal, it never comes to that.