A positive covenant under the Conveyancing Act 1919 [s88E] has been created over the land upon which your friend’s scheme sits by the State Environment Planning Policy (Housing for Seniors or People with a Disability) 2004. In this situation the purpose of the positive covenant is to place restrictions on the use of the land.
If the covenant conditions have been breached then your friend may be able to seek relief from the situation by writing to the Strata Manager stating that if the situation is not rectified immediately then your friend will exercise their rights under SSMA 2015 [s234]. This may be enough to make the SM and the committee do the right thing both now and into the future.
If it doesn’t, then your friend may need to apply to the Department of Planning and Environment and/or the council requesting that the DPE apply for an Order from NCAT to enforce the positive covenant. The relevant legislation is below:
STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 234
Order enforcing positive covenant
234 Order enforcing positive covenant
(1) The Tribunal may, on application by an authority having the benefit of a positive covenant, order an owners corporation for or owner of a lot in a strata scheme to comply with an obligation imposed by the covenant and relating to the maintenance, use, repair or insurance of a building or lot in the scheme, if the Tribunal considers that the owners corporation or owner has failed to comply with the obligation.
(2) If the authority has been refused an injunction under section 88H of the Conveyancing Act 1919 , the Tribunal must not make an order to the same effect as the injunction refused.