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Topic
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(NSW) S.64A of the Strata Schemes Management Act, 1996 (as amended) requires all multi-storey blocks to have all windows, except ground floor ones, fitted with child safety locks or equivalent devices.
1. Ours is. 60’s block, SP3XX which is an indication of its date of title. It is a 3-storey walk-up. I wonder if we are exempt from the new regs.
2. If not exempt, our units have keyed locks, maximum opening @ 10cm.(we are checking to ensure all units have these). If no additional work is needed, whose authority is needed to inform the OFT or other regulatory authority?
Stewart
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Stewart – I edited your post to remove identifiers of you and your Plan.
So in response to that, in the first instance your block would not be exempt.
Secondly, the meat on the bones of Sect 64A is contained in Clause 31 of the Regulation, and if your block’s existing window locks don’t comply with that, then devices that do comply have to be in place before March 2018; so there’s no mad hurry.
Finally, your Owners Corporation doesn’t need to inform anyone after any necessary works have been completed — just to ensure that those are done in a way that complies fully with the Regulation as again explained HERE.
I have read Whales Response to weemac47 and looked at Regulation 31.
It appears to me that virtually every accessible external window above 2Mtrs above ground level that can open is required to have such a device fitted. (All toilet / laundry windows appear to be 1.62M (standard) above the internal floor level and so are caught by the 1.70M level requirement).
Our Strata is currently looking at this issue and it appears that even kitchen and Lounge windows which open on to a balcony (enclosed or not) will need to be fitted with them. Is that interpretation correct? If so it seems a little of an over kill, with virtually every window opening restricted to 12.5CM.
Our Strata Manager provided a quote from a company who will do the installation of a specific type of keyed lock “on a cable” (capable of taking a force of >250Newtons), which our EC considered was a real rip-off ($5.6k for 18 units) , plus extra charges for collecting keys to access units / call back fee if no-one present when time arranged. (The locks specified can be purchased for $20 reach on E-Bay).
I understand that locking devices that can be made up by Locksmiths and capable of being installed by EC Members / Handyman, however the issue of being capable of resisting the 250 Newtons (26Kg/56Lbs) pressure needs to be considered and overcome. (Maybe an Engineers certificate).
Whale – is there any chance that this matter might be discussed at the Panel (organised by Strata Community Aust) to review Legislation Jimmy T will chair this weekend (April 30)?
Any comments on the above would be welcome. (Winston)
Winston – in response to your questions, a closer examination of Sect 31 of the Regulation will reveal that the “2m or more above” criterion applies to either the “ground” or to “any external surface below” an opening window.
So in a circumstance where the external surface below a window opening is a balcony, then provided that surface is less than 2m below and any railing or balustrade fitted there is at least 1m high and has no gaps >12.5cm between or below its panels, and it has nothing on or near it that a child could use to climb to the top rail, then no child-proof locking device on such windows is required.
Have a look at this CHECK LIST
As for the quotation that your Strata Manager obtained, all I can say is that it’s consistent with the maxim that every time that a Government devises a new compliance procedure or funding arrangement, opportunists will always come out of the woodwork with a revenue creation scheme!
Further, don’t get hung-up on the 250N requirement, as it’s small in the physical scheme of things; you could bite with more force! Have a look at THESE documents, and you may well find that your building’s existing keyed window locks will comply, although I’m not too fussed about having keys.
HERE is a bit more reading (and viewing) from NSW Dept. Fair Trading who to its credit is doing a good job to put an end to contractors’ revenue creation schemes, and to the myth that owners corporations’ compliance before March 2018 will be a mammoth task.
So given the lead-time and all the information that’s out there already, I don’t think that the topic needs discussion at this weekend’s forum, but that’s up to Jimmy.
To conclude and slightly off-topic, but further on the subject of revenue creation schemes, have you heard the one currently on commercial radio where the script tells the tale of a strata scheme who engaged a consultant to assess its property’s railings / balustrades’ compliance building codes, who concluded that they simply must contact a contractor who could bring all those up compliance with the current code? Of course they don’t have to do any such thing unless all or a substantial part of a balustrade or railing is being replaced for other reasons; but it’s a good tale nonetheless.
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