Barking up the wrong tree

Nothing gets strata residents’ goat quite like pets … or pet haters. Recently we received a note from a reader who’s been issued with a Notice To Comply  by his executive committee.

“The complaints have come from one particular neighbour about my dog barking (the dog has Strata approval),” says Mztee.   “I am yet to hear any evidence firstly that it was my dog making a disruption, and not the dog next door, and then that a disruption was actually occurring.”

Mztee goes on to say he has only received a written complaint once before when this dog was a puppy, and it was from the same neighbour, who was verbally abusive even when it was clearly not his dog making the noise.

“The dogs (in both my and my neighbour’s apartments) do bark on occasion – they’re dogs!” says Mztee. “But I work from home three days a week, and my housemate is home most days, so I really do not understand the complaints at all.

“Should the EC be agreeing to send me a notice to comply? Do they require any evidence to issue this notice to me?”

Firstly, the EC simply has to be satisfied that there is a legitimate complaint when they issue the Notice To Comply.  However they will require proof if they want to go to the next stage and take you to the CTTT to have a fine issued.

If you feel the Notice To Comply doesn’t apply to your dog – because it is not the one making the noise – then you can either ignore it or reply telling them they have made a mistake.

Bear in mind that a Notice To Comply is a warning , not a fine.  What they are saying is that if you don’t stop breaking the by-laws, they will ask the CTTT to issue a fine.  However, if you haven’t been breaking the by-laws in the first place, how can you stop?

On the other hand,  if the dog is barking and is annoying neighbours, you may have a problem as you will be in breach of both basic by-laws and the terms of your permission to keep a pet.

This  issue has kicked off with readers’ advice ranging from how to prove the dog isn’t the source of the noise to saying there’s no place for dogs in apartments – check it out  HERE.