› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Pets: Furry friends … or fiends? › lease vs by laws › Current Page
Let’s just lay out a few facts, to answer the question asked in the original posting, the lease does NOT over-ride by-laws – if anything it’s the other way round. Landlords can’t just make up their own rules that allow their tenants to do things other residents can’t.
Once you have the permission of the landlord, you still have to get the permission of the Executive Committee and that has to be based on the by-laws that operate in that strata scheme (which may be different from other by-laws elsewhere).
If you have permission in writing or, at the very least, the rental agent admits that they did give you permission, then you are well placed.
The landlord has employed the rental agent to act on their behalf. If the agent has done something the landlord didn’t want, then that’s something they need to sort out between themselves – it has nothing to do with you.
Have a look at Page 9 of the standard residential tenancy – it has has a couple of clauses related to the keeping of animals and any specific conditions that apply. By the way, your landlord/agent was breaking the law by not providing you with a copy of the by-laws and could be fined for not doing so.
Most by-laws that allow pets, stipulate that tenants must have their landlord’s permission, first and foremost. Then the Executive Committee decides whether or not it will give permission for the pet.
If the by-law is basically the ‘can’t unreasonably refuse permission …’ model and you have the permission of the landlord or agent IN WRITING then you have a very strong case if the dog is well-behaved.
One owner’s complaint is not sufficient reason to make refusal ‘reasonable’ – even if they are lawyers. Some (but not all) lawyers who live in strata should be required to wear tee-shirts with “LAWYER” on the front, to save them having to say “listen, I’m a lawyer …” when they start bullying their neighbours. Most lawyers who aren’t strata specialists know diddly about the intricacies of strata law.
Also, residents and Owners Corps have legal protection against nuisance animals regardless of whether or not they have permission.
The strata Act clearly states animals can be ordered out of strata schemes even when they comply with the by-laws (see Section 151 below). For instance, a cat might be quiet, clean and never stray on to common property – but it’s very presence nearby might cause serious medical problems for someone who has an allergy. People take precedence over pets and medical conditions trump personal preferences.
I mention that clause in the Act because Executive Committees are often highly ignorant of their own by-laws, and even less informed about the protections they have under the strata Act. As a result, they tend to react – usually overreact – by jerk of knee.
All that said, I don’t think anybody needs to be threatening anyone else with court action if it can be avoided. This could be resolved by mediation at Fair Trading but it seems to me the first step is to get the landlord or their agent to concede that the dog was allowed (the length of stay is irrelevant unless you are assuming it will be a nuisance).
If you get permission in writing (or already have it), apply to the Executive Committee for their permission under your strata scheme’s by-laws. Someone has written here that it’s up to the landlord to make that application – I don’t think that is the case since it’s very hard for the landlord to stipulate the nature of the animal concerned.
You get the permission, then you apply to the EC. Your mistake with ‘m’learned friend’ next door may be that you hadn’t applied for permission from the EC before you introduced the dog.
If the landlord refuses to give permission, and you believe they have misled you, you can apply to Fair Trading for mediation and a possible CTTT order on those grounds – although it’s hard to prove if both the landlord and agent say permission wasn’t given and you have nothing in writing, or a witness who will testify to the fact.
Verbal agreements, especially in rentals schemes, are as the late, great Sam Goldwyn said, “not worth the paper they’re written on.”
151 Order relating to animal kept in accordance with by-laws
(1) An Adjudicator may make one of the following orders if the Adjudicator considers that an animal kept on a lot or the common property in accordance with the by-laws causes a nuisance or hazard to the owner or an occupier of another lot or unreasonably interferes with the use and enjoyment of another lot or of the common property:
(a) an order that the person keeping the animal cause the animal to be removed from the parcel within a specified time, and to be kept away from the parcel,
(b) an order that the person keeping the animal take, within a time specified in the order, such action so specified as, in the opinion of the Adjudicator, will terminate the nuisance, hazard or unreasonable interference.
(2) An application for an order under this section may be made only by an owners corporation, lessor of a leasehold strata scheme, strata managing agent, an owner, any person having an estate or interest in a lot or an occupier of a lot.