Blanket ban on air con

That to me seems to be a harsh and unjust by law

The act makes it possible to repeal such by laws, though it going to cost you money

I say its harsh and unjust, because these days new apartments are sold with air con, and its not unreasonable to expect owners of older apartments to retro fit an aircon.

Your by law may have stood some chance if it said only with the approval of the owners, but a blanket ban is unacceptable.

Seems strange to make such a bylaw, because it devalues each lot by not having air con, an appliance most people expect in an apartment, or at leas the right to install one.

Jimmy’s point on the building being possibly designed in a way or limited by some variable so as to discourage or negate the installation and use of a/c units may well be valid. At this stage we don’t know.

I suggest that 3dpotato ask the s/committee or manager “how did the by law come about” and “what’s  its purpose”?

Don’t be too specific in the questions. And email them, don’t ask in person.

If the committee’s answers do not rely on design or electrical capacity available in the building, then I’m with Kaindub: the by law is harsh and oppressive and worth a challenge.

As to the punctilious detail on what is also not allowed – all the stuff about drilling holes and visibility etc etc – I wonder if this goes back to what is now known as the Jo Cooper case which overturned a blanket ban on pets in her apartment block.

What’s the connection? It was the blanket nature of the ban that fell foul of the law, not the idea that any specific dog might be refused entry.  Thus a blanket ban on aircon is also expressed in details that would render it impossible to install a system.

But here’s the thing, because it was designed not to have air-con, the electricity supply isn’t up to providing the necessary power.

Sounds like the developer did a cheap and nasty job with fantasy claims about passive  cooling. And was allowed to get away with a deficient power supply.

All good if it works but since it’s not, are those whose residence missed out on the design benefits (which they surely paid for) doomed to suffer for ever?

Probably time to get a copy of the resident’s roll and make contact with your fellow residents and see who’s suffering in the heat.  Then, let the fun begin. Hopefully you’ll be able to cool down again in the near future.

It looks like this may be an invalid by-law, when viewed from the “Cooper” case standpoint. But there are other factors that may be relevant, such as the building’s power supply, or its design and any relevant development application conditions. The easiest and cheapest way of challenging this, may be to assemble all the facts, and then arrange for a legal opinion, from an experienced strata lawyer. If there are other owners in the building interested in getting A/C then share the cost. Then send the opinion to the strata committee, together with an application to install the A/C, assuming the opinion favours you.

Power supply is a serious issue. Aside from air conditioning, renovations introduce additional loads. e.g. replacing a gas cooktop with an induction cooktop has an impact, as it can impose up to 7kW of incremental demand. Ditto with replacing gas HWS or gas heating with electric services. Greenies will want to do this in their deluded belief that removing household gas will save the planet.

Our 12 townhouse complex’s main switchboard burnt down on a hot day after a 100A Ausgrid service fuse exploded. Switchboard replacement cost $15k, with a twist. The 3x100A underground supply was reduced to 3x80A due to new Ausgrid rules and further reduced to 3x63A because of Ausgrid’s demand for additional fuses to protect their new fuses. We suspect recent extensive renovations in one townhouse that shared a phase with others caused the fire, although air conditioning upgrades in other homes may have contributed. We were quoted $250k by Ausgrid to provide additional power. Despite the shared power supply, each townhouse had its own title. 4 owners elected to pay $5k each for feeds from nearby poles. Ugly, but necessary. Even then, Ausgrid said a $250k bill would go to the first owner who exceeded the available supply to the street. It’s a ticking time bomb, as renovations will continue and the increase in dual income households means electricity consumption is more concentrated, with washing machines and dryers used more during the evening peak. WFH helps.

Expecting a horror heatwave we bought a portable air conditioner for about $600.  Added to an extended window blocker (we have sliding doors) it works well but it’s as noisy as a Stalinist tractor.

Then for one of our offices we bought a Click evaporative air cooler which works on the same principle as the Coolgardie Safe but with a fan.  Don’t expect a blast of Antarctic chill, but a gentle cooling breeze is all you need.

One of the assistants in Bunnings advised me not to buy it because the fan wasn’t very strong.  Even so, Bunnings seems to have sold out and I’m not surprised. It only cost about $140 and does what we want, relatively quietly.