› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Pets: Furry friends … or fiends? › Can strata committee prevent me having a pet › Current Page
Your strata managers and committee are technically correct but they are being a bit cute in ignoring the realities of the situation.
The Court of Appeals is the highest court in NSW. Its verdicts create precedent for every court in the state (and to some extent, elsewhere in the country). They are as good as law at the NCAT level.
Your strata committee and strata managers are also being a bit naive in thinking they can cling onto a by-law of the type that has been shown to be fundamentally flawed when they should be trying to devise one that protects the amenity of the building in other ways.
One of the losing blocks in the recent highly publicised pets stoush (not the one named in the Court of Appeal) has already changed its by-laws accordingingly.
Your strata managers’ statement that they don’t have the authority to allow pets may be correct, but they neglect to say that their by-law is incompetent in preventing them and is wide open to be challenged.
This is what the strata Act says:
(1) By-law cannot be unjust
A by-law must not be harsh, unconscionable or oppressive.
Note— Any such by-law may be invalidated by the Tribunal (see section 150).
Blanket by-laws banning pets have already been found to be “harsh, unconscionable or oppressive” by the highest court. No Tribunal Member in his or her right mind is going to go against that.
So how do you short-circuit the process? Simple. Get your wee dog and wait for the strata manager to issue a Notice To Comply with the by-laws. Turn up at NCAT and point the Member at the Court of Appeals Ruling.
Even better, tell the strata manager and committee in writing that both they and you know that their NTC is incompetent, the by-law is invalid and as a result, theirs is a vexatious case and you will be seeking all costs to be awarded against the owners corproation.
By the way, unless the solicitor who has offered to help you is prepared to seek costs from the OC, I wouldn’t bother with them. You’d be wasting your money. You don’t need a solicitor as this case could not be more clear cut.
And you don’t need to run this through Fair Trading either. You are not the one at fault.
But if you feel you need professional legal advice, click on this link to Marrickville Legal Centre and they will advise you properly and probably send a letter to the strata committee telling them to pull their heads in.
Oh, and if you do contact MLC and you get a result, you might want to put a few dollars in their Christmas funding appeal.