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I have sent my complaint to the Fair Trading and am awaiting a response for a mediation. We will take our case to the next adjudication level once this is over.
Most apartment declarations have provisions prohibiting owners from causing nuisances to other owners or residents, and board of directors, as part of their fiduciary duty to the owners, may have to enforce these nuisance provisions if allegations of nuisance or unreasonable amount of annoyance is made by one owner against another.
The declaration or a rule of virtually every apartment prohibits nuisance or other occurrences that interfere with the use of units or common elements by others. The board is obligated to enforce the declaration and rules. If mediation is unsuccessful we will make an application for adjudicators orders in the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal seeking an order restraining cooking on balconies under section 138 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 for breach of section 117 of the Act.
The odor nuisance travels into the neighboring units and STINKS. It is rude, inconsiderate, offensive, illegal, and a health hazard.
We notified our strata manager and she in turn notified the Committee. We spoke to the Committee Chairman a few years back regarding this nuisance and spoke to him again last year in November (2010). He said he's not a lawyer, doesn't know the law, and would like to speak to my lawyer regarding this.The law is unambiguous and its rationale clear.
Time and time again, it has been repeatedly declared … that where the law speaks in clear and categorical language, there is no room for interpretation. There is only room for application.
Nuisance is: “That which annoys and disturbs one in possession of his property, rendering its ordinary use or occupation physically uncomfortable to him; e.g. smoke, odors, noise, or vibration…includes everything that endangers life or health, gives offense to senses… or obstructs reasonable and comfortable use of property… An offensive annoying, unpleasant, or obnoxious thing or practice; a cause or source of annoyance, especially a continuing or repeated invasion or disturbance of another's right, or anything that works a hurt, inconvenience or damage.” (Black’s Law Dictionary, sixth edition)
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We are on the second floor. Recently 2 new arrivals – one on the ground and one on the first have both discovered the joys of balcony barbecuing.
One has a Weber gas + charcoal. Our life has been a misery since. They barbecue almost every evening meal and right through the weekend afternoons.
Both have their appliances directly under our living room – the smoke rises and gets sucked right into our living area – the smell of charcoal plus sausages etc is nauseating. We now have to shut all of our windows and find it unpleasant to sit outside. Heaven help us come Summer. How on earth can these devices be allowed? I have politely asked one resident if he could move the barbecue to the other end of the balcony away form the living room. If this doesn’t resolve the problem I think the exec committee may have to be asked to intervene. What power do they have anyway?
Hi All,
I am in a block less than 30 lots. I am on the EC and have been secretary. Myself and many others have BBQs on our balconies or in courtyards. Great to have a barbie on a summer evening. We have found the only time a BBQ smokes and causes issues is when the unit as in the BBQ is not kept clean. We all scrape our BBQs down and use wire brushes, then remove any drip fat from the run off. We currently have one lot causing an issue and have sent a letter via the SM advising them to clean the plates and drainage after use. This tends to solve the problem and we can all enjoy some outdoor entertaining. Unless of course a vegetarian has an issue with the smell of meat! Lets live and let live, try to enjoy our lives.
If you are not resolving your problem amicably, and considering all involved then you take the path of sending a notice to comply re noise smoke offensive odours etc
Best of luck CBF
A note to ‘the Swede’ – If you’re an Owner, I’d strongly suggest that you ask the Secretary of your Executive Committee to arrange an inspection of the Unit below yours, because IF the exhaust fan above the range hood has been ducted into the wall cavity as you suggest, then it’s created a very real fire hazard!!
Whilst the air/fumes may escape up the cavity, the particulates such as grease/oil will not, and will instead deposit on the inside faces of the cavity creating a volatile fuel source on the first occasion that something on the cooktop ignites.
Any dirty cooking appliance will smoke and smell and be offensive to even the person in the same space as the appliance, be it an oven, grill, frypan or bbq. Fat and oils have a smoking and burning point ,some have a higher burning point than others hence you use a different oil for deep frying where the oil needs to be heated to a higher temperature.
If you don’t clean these items the oils present will burn, smoke and smell.
Ever gone to use the oven from a previous roast and the whole house fills with smoke? The fat and grease has usually dripped onto the oven surfaces and burns! You need to clean the oven!
Of course a wood or coal fired bbq or fire will smoke regardless hence they should be banned from Community living in my opinion.
But if you keep clean your gas or electric cooking appliances, grills, ovens and pans I believe there should not be an issue.
Regards, CBF
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