› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Pets: Furry friends … or fiends? › What are some reasonable reasons to reject a pet application? › Current Page
Hi, Sonido. Sorry to arrive late to the party. One way for a committee to be “reasonable” is to give permission subject to conditions. Based on my experiences in Queensland, the control of your pet problem lies within the conditions imposed on the owner. For pets, the conditions could/should start off:
1. Pets must be registered with the local council according to local council sub-laws or regulations. A copy of the original registration form has to accompany the application to keep a pet.
(This copy would have to be verified by contacting the local council.)
2. Where more than one pet is involved, an application for permission to keep more than one pet in an apartment/unit has to be approved by the local council. A copy of that permission for more than one pet has to accompany the pet application.
(Our local council stipulates – one dog per unit, one cat per unit, etc. Which effectively blocks two dogs unless your local council dodges confrontation by deferring to body corporate bylaws. The copy of that permission would have to be verified by contacting the local council.)
As noted above by Peter C, pets should be on leads or leashed on common property, owners should pick up and dispose of their pet’s faeces by dropping the double bagged item and contents in the waste industrial bin, etc.
(Pet owners have been known to leave pet faeces on their balconies for a number of days which usually contravenes local council health regs.)
Other conditions could include:
3. Pets must be carried while in the foyer area of the apartment block e.g. from a lift to an entry door.
(This poses a problem for owners of large pets e.g. elephants.)
4. If there are residents on a lift that a pet owner and their pet wish to enter, the pet owner must ask those residents if they are comfortable with travelling on a lift with their pet. Where residents do not feel comfortable, the pet owner and pet must wait for another lift.
(This is aimed more at large or potentially dangerous dogs.)
5. Where the pet’s behaviour (e.g. barking or defaecating on its unit balcony) causes a nuisance to residents in other units, the pet owner will take steps to remedy the pet’s behaviour.
The bylaws should finish with something like –
“Where the above pet bylaws are contravened, the pet owner will be given notice to remedy the breach. Failure to remedy the breach in seven (?) days will require the pet owner removing the pet from their lot within 30 days.”
Blanket bans on pets in apartment blocks are very difficult to sustain under adjudication because each case has to be judged on its merit otherwise the committee can be deemed as acting unreasonably. It is far easier to impose conditions that are reasonable within themselves when taken singly but, in total, are very prescriptive and require the pet owner to be responsible.
Based on some adjudications I’ve seen in Qld., it is possible for a committee to give permission or approval or not after the event, as in your situation, without being in contravention of bc legislation. The fall back position that applies in “difficult” decisions is for the committee to refer the decision to an extraordinary general meeting where all the owners are given the opportunity to vote. Providing the motion is properly framed, not illegal, etc., adjudicators are very reluctant to over-rule a decision arrived at by all owners.
Good luck, George