#25434
Arlette
Flatchatter

    Hi everybody. I am new to this forum and I recently read an article from Michael Pobi from Pobi lawyers about what to do when you wish to keep a pet as an owner of a strata scheme. This is the article I am referring to https://www.pobilawyers.com.au/owners-corporations-unreasonable-witholding-consent-pet/.
    We would like to find out a bit more information if possible.

    My partners parents own an appartment in a well thought after highrise in north sydney in which me and my partner live and our by laws say no pets allowed.

    We spoke with our current strata manager and he advised that this is a strict policy and that we should not even bother to apply for a small dog as he believes the owners corporation will decline our application right away given the by law that is in place.

    We would like to challenge this by law given the recent proposed changes for keeping pets in new strata schemes in nsw. We feel that it is highly unfair and unreasonable that we are being refused to have a small dog in our own appartment just because we bought 15 years ago.

    I have been suffering from an adjustment disorder for a while now (as I am originally from Germany) and me and my partner both feel that having a small dog to keep me company while he is away at work (we work opposite schedules and rarely get time together which makes me very lonely and sad) will improve my mental health significantly.

    We spoke with a friend who is in real estate and she encouraged us to apply and take this matter to tribunal if we have to even though it says no pets allowed. She said that tribunal would be very likely to rule in our favour.

    We understand that we could try our best to change the by law to the more moderate option that every pet needs to be approved by the owners corporation first and that they cannot unreasonably withold the approval. But for this we need more than 75% yes votes to change it. Our strata manager has already pointed out that this won’t happen as he knows how conservative the owners here are.

    Now I also read that after november 30 when the new bylaws take action old strata schemes have to review their bylaws. Is this correct?

    We will take this matter to tribunal if we have to but wondering if we stand a good chance? Lawyers are expensive and i rather not pay 500 for someone to tell me we dont have grounds. We heard about a ruling in Queensland but the strata manager already said they don’t care about what happens in other states.

    We do not understand why the reform would only recommend this new rule and not make strata schemes enforce it for new and retrospective created strata schemes. All in all this reform seems useless then as all strata schemes could still say they won’t adopt it.

    I apologise for the lenghty post and the questions but it seems that there is a lot of fighting ahead of us and we would like to know if it is worth us picking this fight with our owners and if we even stand a chance.

    The dog would likely be a small pug who is not a noisy dog or bark loudly and can be carried over common property. The dog would not even have to be carried through the entrance reception area of the building just in the elevator and down to our garage where no one would see the dog.

    If they worry about the common property we are willing to look into getting an inside cat instead that would never leave our appartment but we prefer a dog as a companion.

    I appreciate any little comment from you! ???? have a great day.