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We live/own a unit in a small block of units. Generally we all get on extremely well. However one of the owners of a unit appears to be running a food and alcohol business from her place. When asked about this, the response is that she is providing for friends and it’s not a business.
Although the rest of the units are concerned about the legality of the business, I think that this should not be a strata problem, but that it’s her problem if she is registered or not. I’ll leave that to the ATO to work it out.
The main issue is the delivery trucks that deliver to her garage. There are weekly deliveries to her garage which is underground, and the trucks often block access to the other garages. We’re also concerned about the extra wear and tear on the driveway.
What are our rights and options?
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Where are you? NSW?
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.
The local council should be advised, they could send out an ordnance inspector to deal with the owner. The building presumably is in a residential zone, and no doubt the original development approval was for residential use.
As far as the strata scheme is concerned, the coming and going of trucks can be against your by-laws, particularly when it causes obstruction and inconvenience to other residents. Does the owner have one or more cars, if so are they parked on common property instead of in the garage, in contravention of a by-law?
And since food and drink are involved, are these refrigerated in the garage?
Often the power supply to the garages will be on a metered supply which is billed to the owners corporation. Under those circumstances refrigerators and freezers will be costing the owners significant amounts of money. Worth while checking out, you don’t want to be copping the inconvenience of some-one using part of their lot illegally for commercial purposes and having to subsidise their business as well.
Also, check with your insurer – they should be told (or your strata insurance may be invalidated). If that causes your insurance premium to rise, and assuming you are in NSW, under section 77 of the Act, you can ask the business person to pay the extra premium and, if they refuse, you can seek an order at NCAT under section 149 (2) for a variation of their levies.
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.
One way to check if your neighbour is genuinely running just for family and friends is to check the ABN register.
or go to ASIC –
If you know their name, and choose advanced settings and set the state, you can see if they have an ABN. Having an ABN and a business name registered would indicate she has business indentions and not just running for family & friends.
Also check if there is any catering businesses around the area advertising services, they may give themselves away with using their residential address. Use google or even social media sites such as Facebook.
It may even be that doing for friends and family and the additional cooking and storage may be considered a business due to the volume of cooking and storage.
JimmyT is right about the insurance. If she is running a business the insurance for residence only it is going to make the insurance invalid (I know from experience). If she has an accident and burns down her kitchen and adjoining units the insurance company will void the insurance. I would also have your insurance checked regarding the garage and the trucks. (Where I work we have a client with large trucks and his insurance company put in an additional clause regarding wear and tear on the driveway for the large trucks)
Hi All,
Is adding your spare space, renting your rooms as accommodation, including a meal here n there, wine n bikkies, advertising it really well on airbnb in a strata building illegal? In both the council and strata streams? Are there grounds for a breach of bylaw in strata nsw?
Is this running a business in your home? And is running a business from your your home in this instance not on?
Cheers
@ros11e2029 said:
…The main issue is the delivery trucks that deliver to her garage. There are weekly deliveries to her garage which is underground, and the trucks often block access to the other garages. We’re also concerned about the extra wear and tear on the driveway…These days lots of people have a home office and could run a business with just a computer and little else. Such a business could be entirely invisible to the neighbours and cause no problems whatsoever. It seems unreasonable to me to prohibit that.
On the other hand, perhaps you can address trucks and blocking of access purely from the point of view of the usual general purpose rule/by-law/article that most have that prohibits unreasonable interference with reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property by other residents.
@ros11e2029 said:
Thanks everyone for your replies.I want to reiterate that I’m not concerned about the legalities of the business. As far as the person who is running the business is concerned, she is supplying her friends at no charge and it is not a money making venture.
So, back to the issue – there are delivery trucks bringing in supplies on a regular basis. Is there some way of dealing with the extra wear and tear on the driveway and the blocking of garages by these trucks, without getting this particular owner off-side.
Thanks again for your advice
You could ask your EC to have a word with her about the damage/risk of damage to the common property and the nuisance caused by blocking access. If they wanted to get serious they could use the by-laws but talking first is best.
Still, how much of a problem is it if a delivery happens only once per week? For how long does the truck block access?
Hi PeterC,
I think the issue is that it’s not just one truck once a week, it’s multiple vans delivering stuff.
As for the EC talking to this owner – I won’t go into the specifics, but this is not an option
Again, thanks to all for your suggestions.
I guess the bottom line is that the level of activity (deliveries and such) either is or is not sufficient to be an unreasonable interference with reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property by others. If it is, then most places would have words to that effect that could be drawn upon from their rules/bylaws/articles.
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