Barbecue court battle

Enjoy your balcony barbecues while you can.  If one Flat Chat reader has his way they will soon be banned by the Supreme Court.

“The smoke and smell comes through our windows and doors, permeates my living room and my kitchen, and through to the bedroom on the opposite side of the building,” says ‘Battle’ from North Sydney, who has put up with years of fumes from his downstairs neighbour.

“I have to be on ‘BBQ alert’ all the time and even if I sit with all windows and the balcony door shut, the smell penetrates.”

Battle has my sympathy.  You don’t want to be sitting with your windows closed in summer when, ironically, barbies are all the rage.

“We once did try to politely speak to the occupiers but they said that we should just put up with it or move somewhere else,” says Battle.

“People say I’m being selfish but, of course, filling your neighbours’ homes with smell and smoke is in no way selfish.

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that we are protected from smoke in shops, offices and restaurants but, apparently, have no protection inside the supposed sanctuary of our own homes.

“It is ridiculous that any unit block should allow balcony cooking as there is no way to do it without it affecting the other units,” says Battle who is planning to fight this on the part of the law that forbids strata residents from creating ‘nuisance’.

But the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal is the usual route for strata disputes so how is Battle planning to get the Supreme Court involved?  Well, that’s the interesting twist: Battle is considering suing for damages from his neighbour and possibly the Owners Corporation.

And, because the CTTT can’t award damages or costs, the case can go the Supreme Court which has in the past heard strata cases where damages were sought.

The scary thought for die-hard balcony beef burners is that any ruling made in the Supreme Court can be used as a legal precedent. Salad, anyone?