As someone who has been battling balcony barbecues for the past 20-odd years, my question would be, is it fair to subject your upstairs neighbours to the smoke and smell from burning meat?
However, taking a neutral stance, it may be possible to keep everyone happy, provided you can persuade the meat incinerators to behave with a little consideration for the people living above and around them.
With that in mind, you could suggest a by-law that allows barbecue use subject to conditions. It might read something like:
Residents may not use barbecues on their balconies without the written permission of the strata committee. That permission would be subject to the following conditions:
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- The barbecue must be gas or electrically powered. Solid fuel barbecues are not permitted. Residents must make their barbecue available for inspection.
- The barbecue must not be cleaned by “burning off” the remnants of previous use.
- The barbecue must be cleaned between uses.
- Pungent foods such as seafood and unwrapped fish may not be cooked on the barbecue.
- The barbecue must not produce excessive smoke or smell.
- The resident must have a fire extinguisher or fire blanket available for emergencies.
- Permission may be withdrawn following any complaints from other residents about nuisance smoke or smell from the barbecue.
That would seem like a reasonable by-law to me – but I would probably still vote against it because people who are inconsiderate of their neighbours usually don’t read by-laws anyway.