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We live in a new apartment block, which is pet friendly. No worries there. Last Saturday morning, however, I opened the front door and walked 5 metres to the lift, where I found a fresh, steaming, neatly curled number 2 on the carpet. Myself and some other tenants politely asked the dog owner to clean it up, which she did, however there is now a dog poo stain (and wee stain near our front door) on the lovely carpet. I knocked on her door and asked if she could have the carpet professionally cleaned or rent one of those special vacuum cleaners, to which she replied, ” But I'm looking after the dog for a friend.”
“Still,” I said, ” it's your responsibility to do it.”
“I'll see what I can do,” she replied.
She's a nice girl but still nothing has been done and we have to/need to walk around the stains every time. If it was just a food stain or something like that, we wouldn't mind so much.
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I do not want to send you into shock but the Act requires the OC (the owners corporation) to maintain the common property.
My current understanding is that if someone “trashes” the common property and the offender will not do the right thing in the first place (i.e. take responsibility and fix things or pay for the cost to fix things) then it is upto the OC to repair / maintain the common property and then to seek reinbursement from the offender.
This can lead to costly legal battles that are often worth more than the repair or maintenance itself. Sometimes OCs just have to wear the cost of other peoples actions because the lack of decency of some people.
I understand this is one area of legislative reform that is in the mill. There are proposed changes to make the offender liable from the outset as the current situation, if i am correct in my understanding, can easily disadvantage an OC.
All i can suggest, if you want an immediate clean up, is that the OC pay to clean up the mess and send her the bill and hope she is decent enough to reimburse the OC.
Hi All,
Does the Act specify animals must be carried or on a leash when on Common Property?
May not help your current situation with clean up but surely if an animal is supervised this 'accident' would not occur.
Cheers
The Act doesn't say much about animals except that they can be removed from a building if they are causing a nuisance or health issues for a resident (I think). Stuff like being carried on common property is the domain of by-laws for individual buildings.
Don't know if you can blame the “carer”. The dog's normal owners would probably recognise the signs that a) the dog needed to go walkies NOW!!! and b) it was already too late. Oops!
But have you ever tried to stop a dog in mid-dump?
However, the dog-sitter is responsible for cleaning up the mess. Not necessarily their fault but definitely their problem.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
JimmyT said:
The Act doesn't say much about animals except that they can be removed from a building if they are causing a nuisance or health issues for a resident (I think). Stuff like being carried on common property is the domain of by-laws for individual buildings.
Don't know if you can blame the “carer”. The dog's normal owners would probably recognise the signs that a) the dog needed to go walkies NOW!!! and b) it was already too late. Oops!
But have you ever tried to stop a dog in mid-dump?
However, the dog-sitter is responsible for cleaning up the mess. Not necessarily their fault but definitely their problem.
The following is from Clover Moores' 2009 Strata discussion paper.
As can be seen the proposal is to make the culprit responsible due to the current inequitable situation where the OC pay for damage.
The full paper can be found HEREIssue 4.3 Damage to Common Property
Owners Corporations pay for damage to common property, regardless who caused it. Where an owner or their occupant causes the damage, it is only fair that they cover the costs to fix it.
Proposal
° Introduce a provision that an owner or occupier should not cause damage to common property. If they do, they must pay and be responsible for fixing the damage.
° Introduce a provision that makes owners liable for the actions of their tenants where a tenant causes damage to common property.Look to your by-laws.
This is a good topic for discussion of where a strata plan should have a tailored their “keeping of animals by-law” to cover such incidents.
You will note that this type of incident is covered under the new 2010 schedule 2 model by-laws in the Strata Schemes Management Regulations –
17 Keeping of animals
Option B
(1) Subject to section 49 (4) of the Act, an owner or occupier of a lot must not, without the prior written approval of the owners corporation, keep any animal (except a cat, a small dog or a small caged bird, or fish kept in a secure aquarium on the lot) on the lot or the common property.
(2) The owners corporation must not unreasonably withhold its approval of the keeping of an animal on a lot or the common property.
(3) If an owner or occupier of a lot keeps a cat, small dog or small caged bird on the lot then the owner or occupier must:
(a) notify the owners corporation that the animal is being kept on the lot, and
(b) keep the animal within the lot, and
(c) carry the animal when it is on the common property, and
(d) take such action as may be necessary to clean all areas of the lot or the common property that are soiled by the animal.
Yours Faithfully
Simone Balsara
Lawyer
TEYS Lawyers
The Strata Law Experts
02 9562 6500
Realize this is an old post but hope someone can help. We also getting pet poo on our garden almost daily and have complained to both strata mgr and neighbour, both doing nothing about it. We are sick of cleaning it up. No others complain as it seems the pet only likes our lawns. What is next course of action which can be done?
While pet waste stations go a long ways towards curbing community pet waste issues, there will still be residents who fail pick up after their dog. With this in mind, occasional full-fledged common area cleanings are highly recommended for all communities.
Staying ahead of the accumulation is critical. Once the amount of unscooped dog poop reaches a certain level, other dog owners soon follow suit and begin leaving their pets’ waste on the ground too. When this happens, community managers start receiving complaint calls.
This seems to be a thing that takes a change of culture. A few years ago around here carrying a bag and picking up dog poo was not widely practiced. Now it is nearly universal. You can buy rolls of little dog poo bags at the supermarket. Do you have a newsletter? Try putting an article in. Also, your articles/by-laws/rules would almost certainly have something general and catch-all about not interfering with the reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property by other residents. That would include not leaving faeces where others could have their enjoyment interfered with. A newsletter article could remind residents that not collecting their faeces is a breach of the rules.
And people wonder why some strata plans do not welcome pets. In my 12 years of strata living as an owner/occupier & an investor with tenants, we have had flea infestations from pets with new tenants suffering bites & all the pet owners have not exhibited responsible behaviour & picked up after their pets & had them leashed. Even residents without pets did not ask their visitors with pets to do the same. My tenanted property has been damaged by pets & upset neighbours with noise a number of times so now I do not allow them & the rest of the OC don’t support them either as they don’t appreciate being jumped on by other people’s pets whom are left to roam the common property.
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