› Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Enforcing breach of by-law after more than 3 yrs? › Current Page
Two issues here, going back to your link to Simone from Teys Lawyers, she quite clearly says that any enforcement of by-laws has to be initiated by a written complaint. Whether that includes, for instance, a minuted issue raised at an Executive Committee meeting, I'm not sure. However, I do know that the EC has to raise, discuss and vote on a Notice To Comply before it proceeds (or have delegated those powers to their strata manager).
More significantly in your case, the EC has missed the boat on this air-con issue. They had their opportunity to enforce their by-laws when the original owner installed the air-con. The fact that they didn't and the installer has sold up and moved on means the air-con is their problem, not yours. Any argument they may have that this was a previous EC is irrelevant.
This is not a case of caveat emptor (buyer beware) as they will probably argue, but “EC attend to your obligation to maintain common property” (no idea what the Latin for that is).
So sit tight and tell them to talk to their lawyers about this. But be prepared, as a good strata citizen, to let them move the air-con to an acceptable location at their expense but with your undertaking to look after its ongoing maintenance.
This does seem a bit harsh on all the other owners who will contribute to making good the previous EC's errors but it's an object lesson in why changes to common property should never be allowed to go through on a nod and a wink.