#25335
burnstar
Flatchatter

    I went down this road a few years ago, our by-laws state that pets can’t be unreasonably refused. However the EC refused on the grounds that they have never allowed pets before and weren’t about to start a precedent

    before going to tribunal we had to go to mediation, however as the SM represented the EC at mediation it was just a waste of time as he was just there to reinforce the wishes of the EC (even though he guided the EC on the pet refusal).

    We got a lawyer (who specialises in Strata & pets). The main thing we learnt was to get submissions (i.e. supporting letters) from as many owners and tenants (i.e. the people living there) as this made a massive difference, you need to show you pet is suitable for apartment living (remember that dogs bark and this itself isn’t an issue, excessive barking is though).

    In our case we found out that the neighbour below us (new parents) was on the EC and had a previous issue with a dog where they lived before and this had turned them into ‘pet haters’ and were spreading lies about how noisy we were to the EC. Luckily for us we knew all our neighbours and got along well with them and they were happy to provide letters saying they didn’t have a problem with us.

    We won our case as the tribunal found the EC unreasonably refused and the majority of owners/tenants didn’t have an issue us having a pet. The whole process took just under (a very stressful) 12 months…