Apologies to those of you who may have read my past references to our Plan’s Special By-Law for the Keeping of Animals, but as it’s working a treat I thought it was worth elaborating upon here.
In 2013 I managed to convince our Owners Corporation (O/C) that it was pointless to persist with the Model By-Laws (in the 1996 Act & and in the 2010 Regulation) in circumstances where the first iteration of the NSW Government’s proposed changes to the Strata Schemes Management Act forecast that the keeping of pets on a Plan would be the default position.
I also convinced our O/C that saying “NO” to each and every Application for Consent by Residents would not withstand scrutiny, and would additionally encourage Residents to instead smuggle their pets inside, to let them out in the dead of night to wander around and defecate on the Common Property, and to discretely dispose of items such as cat-litter in the toilets and to possibly cause sewerage blockages.
So our Special By-Law (SBL) came about, where in the first instance all applications from tenants to keep a pet at a Lot have to be accompanied by a copy of a written consent by their Landlord/Owner, that has thus far been refused in all but one instance, followed by a lengthy but not burdensome list of supportive information to be supplied by all Residents.
In the case of “assistance animals” our SBL requires supporting documentation to be supplied by Residents to show that the pet is:
“i) accredited under a Law of a State or Territory of Australia that provides for the accreditation of animals trained to assist persons with a disability to alleviate the effect of the disability; or
ii) accredited by an animal training organisation prescribed by the Disability Discrimination Regulations 1996 or in any Legislation that may from time-to-time replace or amend it; or
iii) professionally trained to assist a person with a disability to alleviate the effect of the disability, and certified in writing by a Medical Practitioner as being essential to the provision of assistance to the Owner/Occupier making application under this By-Law, and by a Veterinarian as meeting the standards of hygiene and behaviour that are appropriate for an animal in a public place.”
Then if those hurdles are successfully jumped or if they’re not applicable because the animal is just a “pet” as opposed to an “assistance animal”, then irrespective, all Residents must provide specific details of their pet including a photograph, its microchip details an its Registration papers (for cats & dogs), and as some of our Lots are quite small (e.g. studios), where the “pet” is a dog, a letter from a Veterinarian stating that they’ve personally inspected the Lot concerned and that it’s large enough to humanely keep the pet that the subject of the application.
There are a raft of pet-specific Conditions (i.e. by type) attached to any Consents by the O/C, but suffice to say that in our experience only committed pet owners are prepared to jump over the hurdles contained in our SBL, and those who do so are the type of pet-owners who are committed to and will properly care for their pet, will abide by the Conditions of their Consent, and will therefore present no problems for the O/C or to other Residents of our Plan as a consequence.
There are currently seven (7) Residents with Consents to keep a pet at the Plan, and whilst only two (2) of those pets are dogs, our O/C has had no problems whatsoever with the menagerie that additionally comprises birds, cats, and a marine aquarium; and that’s why our SBL is indeed working a treat!