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Retiled my 80yo bathroom and installed new toilet, sink and lights. We drew up plans, went over the top and got an engineer's report and submitted a detailed description of the work to the OC. We drafted a by-law for the work and discussed it with all interested OC members. Then we had it voted for at an AGM, all in favor, except for one owner…
Waiting until we gutted the bathroom, the dissenting owner filed a CTTT emergency cease work order, citing that the work would structurally compromise her lot beneath and that we had not properly notified the OC. We were left a month without our only bathroom, costing us money in accommodation and interrupted building. Our strata agent and the rest of the OC will testify to the fact that she was told that the work had been looked at by an engineer (despite only being a retiling) and that she knew the OC voted in favor of the work.
After mediation and adjudication, we had the order overturned. But my incredulity that someone could be so disruptive just by filing a flimsy, baseless argument was eclipsed by my incredulity that the CTTT and the Dept of Fair Trade didn't seem to care that they had been deceived.
So my question is, what action can we take against her? The CTTT are more ineffectual than most government bureaucracies, so I can't see anything positive coming out of further dealings with them. My lawyer says we should have a case against her in local court, with OC members and the strata agent willing to testify. Apparently there are fairly severe criminal penalties for deceiving the CTTT. Anyone else have any experience seeking restitution for ungrounded CTTT actions?
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I don't know why your Owners Corporation (O/C) drafted a new By-Law, but if it hadn't been Registered and attached to your Plan's Title Documents at the time that your dissenting neighbour lodged her Application with the Office of Fair Trading, they (OFT) would have no way of knowing that your works had received the O/C's prior authorisation.
OFT could of course have attempted contact with your Strata Manager or the Secretary of your Executive Committee, but as you've correctly observed they're not the most efficient of the Government's Bureaucracies!
Sorry, but unless you want to spend your money on litigation instead of on something positive like your new bathroom, I'd just move-on and put the whole episode down to experience.
So far as I'm aware, there is no impediment to your neighbour again lodging an Application for Interim Orders with the CTTT, where as you've already found out an Adjudicator can make Orders without mediation.
One would hope that your neighbour's original Application (re the bathroom), her subsequent Full Application (mandatory), records of the Mediation Process, and the Determination would all be on file at the CTTT, and that all that would influence how they handled any further Application/s by this same person involving the same Strata Plan / Parties.
Once your proposed renovations receive the consent of the O/C and all Owners have the Minutes, I'd write to the CTTT outlining in general terms what is proposed with those further renovations, attach the relevant Minutes of the General Meeting, and appraise them of your concerns should they again favourably consider any Application for Orders by your neighbour.
Advice of a legal nature is best left to those Strata Lawyers who regularly post on this Forum, and based on my personal experiences, Simone of TEYS Lawyers has always been prepared to provide general comments via a personal approach on e-mail simone@teyslawyers.com.au ; mention your post on this Forum.
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