Acoustic glass – minor renovation?

This is what the Regulations say:

Work for the following purposes is prescribed as minor renovations for the purposes of section 110(3) of the Act—

(e)  installing double or triple glazed windows,

Note—

The work prescribed by this clause is subject to the requirements set out in section 110(7) of the Act, including requirements that it does not involve structural changes, changes to the external appearance of a lot or waterproofing.

Check with the glass company whether your ‘thicker’ glass is actually a single sheet or two sheets laminated together with a film in the middle. ie maybe technically double glazing.

Alternatively, just go for it and run a small risk anyone will do something.

Guess what, Fair Trading declines to offer a definition of what double or triple glazing is.

I received an email this morning that says “the Regulation does not provide further definition of ‘double or triple glazed windows’.”

Yeah, I know.  That’s why I asked the question.

It went on to say that you should check with the glazier to see what kind of double glazing you want and then with your strata committee to see what they allow.

If they say you need a by-law, and you disagree, then take it up with mediation and then NCAT. So it’s not a minor renovation then, is it?

“To assist in confirming the type of glazing proposed and to confirm compliance or otherwise with the provisions of  28(e), the lot owner may wish to obtain advice/information from the glazier confirming the type of glazing proposed and discuss this again with the owners corporation,” says a Fair Trading spokesperson.

 If a lot owner does not agree with the owners corporation’s determination that the work is a major renovation requiring a special resolution and a by-law, the next step in the dispute resolution process is for the lot owner to apply for mediation with NSW Fair Trading  .

If mediation is declined by the owners corporation or if it is unsuccessful, the lot owner then has the option to apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to seek an order.

So Wim Jansen (below) is right.  Even just thicker glass requires a change of window frames and that requires a by-law.

If you are interested in secondary double glazing that doesn’t require changing the windows, and therefore has no need for by-laws, Google “clip-on double glazing”.

But if you are going to need by-laws anyway, check out our sponsors Windowline to see how much it would cost to  install fully integrated and much more efficient double or triple glazing.

Meanwhile, why do the regulations specify double and triple glazing as being a minor renovation since fully integrated double glazing would require by-laws?

Logic dictates that it can only be secondary or clip-on double glazing that doesn’t require a by-law and why Fair Trading can’t just come out and say this, and amend the regulations accordingly, is beyond me.

If the glass can be changed without changing or damaging the frames, then I would think that could qualify as a minor renovation.

But I can tell you that Wim Jansen (below), who I think is a strata manager,  will probably say if you touch the frames, it’s a change to common property and therefore requires a by-law.

It’s changing the frames that would make this a major renovation, not changing the glass.  If the frames weren’t being changed, I might just go ahead and deal with the consequences later – it’s easier to apologise than get permisson, sometimes.

Of course the glazier will tell you this won’t make any difference to your sliding doors – they are in the business of selling windows.  But in this case, if the new glass is too heavy for the rollers, don’t expect the strata committee to pay for repairs.  They are more likely to charge you for damaging common property.