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Hey team,
based on the below, and if i provide sound acoustic underlay, am i able to get floorboards?
14 Floor coverings
(1) An owner of a lot must ensure that all floor space within the lot is covered or otherwise treated to an extent sufficient to prevent the transmission from the floor space of noise likely to disturb the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot.
(2) This by-law does not apply to floor space comprising a kitchen, laundry, lavatory or bathroom.
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BonnieB – the floor of your lot is common property, where the removal of carpet and similar “soft” flooring fitted there and its replacement with “hard” materials such as laminated “floating” floors and/or timber flooring has proven to be so problematic in strata buildings in terms of increased noise and vibration then affecting neighbours, that FlatChat has THIS dedicated forum on the topic.
I urge you to peruse the linked forum before you make a decision to install any type of floorboards, and to particularly note the willingness of suppliers and installers to readily offer guarantees about the sound insulating properties of their products, and to then quickly walk away from those when neighbours subsequently raise noise complaints with the owners corporation.
Now in answer to your question, the floor is common property and the by-law that you have quoted means that the owner of a lot can install timber and similar products on/over that floor provided they first advise the owners corporation of their intention to do so, and provide details including the contractor involved, when the works are proposed, what part/s of the lot are involved, the type of product to be used, the acoustic underlay to be used and its specification including its as-installed performance as calculated by the manufacturer.
The executive committee of the owners corporation may not unreasonably refuse its consent to your proposal, but can do so conditionally such as with the times of work and to the requirement for the installer/s to be properly insured, or it has evidence of past problems arising from similar works at the scheme it can refuse consent.
You also need to be aware that any consent given by an executive committee is on the basis of the information that you and your suppliers / installers provide, and that if a core component such as the acoustic underlay proves ineffective and noise complaints subsequently arise, then you are responsible for correcting that situation even if those suppliers / installers walk away, and that you may upon application to the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal by the owners corporation, be issued with Orders to at your cost restore the floor of your property to its original state.
Finally, the noise and vibration related disturbance to neighbours following owners’ installation of various types of timber floors has become such a big problem, that the new NSW Strata Legislation to be introduced in November will no longer permit such decisions to be made by executive committees, but will instead require that those to be determined only by a majority vote at a General Meeting.
So if you’re determined to seek consent, make sure that your chosen suppliers and installers indemnify you if noise / vibration and similar complaints subsequently arise, or better still have a look at good quality timber patterned vinyl flooring.
Good evening,
Our strata is all townhouses in NSW built in 1971 – therefore pre-1974. All townhouses are two levels (bedrooms and main bathroom on second level) one of our owners is doing up their townhouse and as such as sent an email to the Strata Mgr saying they are wanting to put timber flooring on the bedroom level. None of the other townhouses have timber or lino or hard flooring on this level. while some of the townhouses have original timber flooring on the lounge / dining / kitchen level (ground level) and one or two have uncarpeted stairs. the townhouse in question is offset and not on the same slab.
With the new laws that have come in to play in November 2016 Whale’s paragraph above says that the decision to put timber flooring could now not be made by the EC and should go to a General meeting. Has this law come into play?
we are a bit reticent to give the go ahead as to the noise factor.
and being pre 1974 the LPI states:-
- Any floor or wall separating the same parts of a strata lot are not common property the repair and maintenance is the responsibility of the respective lot owner.
- Any staircase within a lot connecting different levels of the same lot is the responsibility of the respective lot owner.
this owner had problems with the shower leaking into the second bedroom we believe it was the ‘tray’ in the shower not pipes in the wall… and our strata manager sent someone to fix and the strata paid for repairs to the shower floor, bedroom wall and whatever, the committee members were both away at the time and were not consulted. we believe that being pre-1974 that rules above from LPI also apply to the floor of the main bathroom – and strata should not have paid for the repairs.
we now have had another incident over Christmas of the same problem leaking shower into the second bedroom causing same damage. the owner has paid for the repairs – however, I believe the bills for repairs will be coming to strata to pay. is this correct?
it is our belief that all walls internal to the lot and the second floor including bathroom floors and showers are part of the lot and not strata responsibility. are we correct?
regards
taps
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