› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Pets: Furry friends … or fiends? › lease vs by laws › Current Page
I think the problem here is that the Landlord is more concerned about keeping the lawyer neighbours happy than looking after her tenant. That may be understandable in the long run but they have signed a legal contract and they have an obligation to both parties – the tenant and other owners – and should be seeking compromise rather than adding fuel to the fire.
The landlord has the ability to give approval at a general meeting – since she has the majority vote – and you could argue that the permission was given when she signed the lease.
However, she has chosen not to exercise that power and has instead chosen to renege on her legal contract with the tenant and is even going along with a plan to change the bylaws, which she could easily block.
The other owner can take action at Fair Trading and the CTTT for the implementation of a by-law, as any resident – owner or tenant – is entitled to do. The by-law requires that EC permission be given and they would ald argue that hasn’t happened. However, the question of whether or not that permission was withheld unreasonably would come up and it’s quite clear that giving permission in a lease and then withholding it at the EC level is unreasonable by any standards.
So Keb is on solid ground if the matter goes to the CTTT but she probably needs to get Fair Trading involved right away (cal 13 32 20) and it would be worth looking at the Tenants Union website too, specifically this factsheet.
The website does have a number of template letters for sending to landlords during disputes – unfortunately none of them come under the category “your mistake – leave me alone”.
However there is a sample letter on this page under “Peace, Comfort and Privacy Breach” which might be amended to suit these circumstances.
Finally, I would move the dog in and let the landlord and lawyer run their case at the CTTT to have it removed, if they want. Ignore Notices to Comply – on the grounds that the majority of the Owners Corp has given permission – and let them, if they want to push it, take it to the CTTT where I would guess they would be laughed out of court.
At the same time, I would be looking for a nice new apartment in a genuinely pet friendly building because, given the state of play at the moment, Keb will not be getting the lease renewed at the end of its term.
Oh, and if Keb found somewhere suitable before the lease ran out, she could use this whole saga as a reason for leaving early. The landlord has breached the terms of the lease – Keb is free to go when she wants.