Flat Chat Strata Forum Common Property Car exhaust Current Page

#21699
bubbles
Flatchatter
Chat-starter

    I’m hoping someone can advise me on what my best course of action is now there has been a disturbing development this evening, which i will describe below.
    First i’ll give an update, sorry for the length but i want to provide all the details, as i seem to be being lied to by those involved.

    My original complaint to the EC was on 15th April, i have received no response.
    The building has a part time building manager who i spoke to on Monday this week, i explained the exhaust problem and asked that the building be fixed, he said he would look into it and get back to me.
    Having not heard back from him, which is standard procedure, i spoke to him again this morning. He asked if there had been any change, as he said he had spoken to the vehicle owner and asked him to not rev his engine and to get in and out as quickly as possible. This seemed strange to me, as they only use the vehicle of an evening, when the building manager is not around, so i don’t know how he could have spoken to them as he would have no idea who they are. As there has been no change, he said he would take it further and speak to the garage owner.
    Also in the meantime i had made a complaint about the vehicle noise with the EPA.
    This evening there was a loud banging on my door. This is unusual as it is a secure building, and visitors have to use the intercom.
    I answered the door and there was a couple who asked me if i was having problems with the exhaust of the vehicle in question getting in my unit. The couple were the vehicle owners, who then had a go at me asking if i had complained to the EPA as they said they had received a fine. I said i had spoken to the building manager, and asked if they had been contacted about the problem, and they said they had not.
    Now i don’t know who is telling the truth, although a few things don’t make sense here. Firstly the EPA issues a notice to problem vehicles after complaints, and only issues fines if people don’t comply or have a history of problems, so this would suggest they have had other problems with the EPA. Secondly, my complaint to the EPA was about noise, so how did they know about the smell problem, although perhaps they are already aware of the smell due to their illegal exhaust.
    We argued for a bit about the problem, then I’d had enough and told them it was completely inappropriate for them to come into a secure building and harass me, and that they needed to leave. They argued for a bit more then left.
    I’m quite disturbed that they are now coming to my home and harassing me. They have a security pass to the building, i have no idea what they will do next.
    I considered calling the police to make a complaint so there would be something official, but although they spoke to me in an aggressive manner, they never actually threatened me.
    So what can i do? I will speak to the building manager again on Tuesday, and will see if there is a way i can speak to someone on the EC, but can i take direct action against the unit owner, seeing as the EC seems unwilling to do anything? Is there something better i can do? I don’t want these people to have access to my home.
    Listed below are 2 of the by-laws that i believe the unit owner is in breach of:
    Security keys
    An owner or occupier of a lot in posession of a security key must not duplicate or permit the security key to be duplicated and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the security key is not lost or handed to any person other than another owner or occupier and is not disposed of otherwise than by returning it to the owner or Owners Corporation.
    Behaviour of invitees
    An owner or occupier of a lot must take all reasonable steps to ensure that invitees of the owner or occupier do not behave in a manner likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owhner or occupier of another lot or any person lawfully using common property.