Notice to comply or mediation?

@paula said:
An owner has installed Ducted air conditioning without approval, since then a noise issue has arisen and a repair cost has come up that strata has had to pay for as the air con is on common property. what should we do next?

Well, first of all, if the lot owner has installed air-con on common property without permission and they are still in possession of the property, the Owners Corp would be mad to pay to fix it.  Tell the owner they need to fix all the work themselves or remove the air-con.  

If the unit has been sold to a subsequent owner, your  choice is to either fix the problem that you have inherited or tell the new owner that you plan to restore the common property to its original state.  That should get their attention.  Either way, the Owner’s Corp has the whip hand here and your other owners should not be subsidising a ‘land grab’ by one owner

Is a letter requesting the removal and stating the two by law breaches considered a Notice to comply?

A Notice To Comply has to be sent in a specific form which you will find HERE. Having said that, I would reckon better option is to pursue an order at the CTTT.  Have a look here to see the difference between the two options  and how to pursue the Order (with links to the required forms).

what happens if we go to mediation, do they have an opportunity to reapply for the air con approval?

Meditation is an opportunity to resolve the issue amicably and is a prerequisite of any further action at the CTTT.  It can’t be avoided in a case like this and if you went to mediation, you would ask at the very least for the person who installed or now owns the air-con to agree to repair the the air con themselves or draw up at their own expense a special resolution by-law allowing them to have the air-con and agreeing to maintain and repair it in perpetuity.  

That is a reasonable request and should be your absolute line in the sand.

The air-con installer can’t apply for permission at the mediation. In fact, neither party has to agree to anything.  However it is an opportunity for you to tell them that permission will be granted under certain reasonable circumstances – and those are that they pay for a special resolution by-law that you agree to (you might even agree that the  Owners Corp chooses the lawyer). That by-law will require them to deal with any problems resulting from the installation of the air-con.

You can also make the point that if they refuse you will be pursuing an order at the CTTT for the air-con to be removed at the lot owner’s expense.

Is a special by law recommended?

Absolutely.  Anything less than a special resolution by-law that ties the owner to maintain and repair equipment they have installed on common property is a recipe for disaster (regardless of other opinions expressed elsewhere on these pages). This is not as harsh as it may seem. The person who wants to use common property for their own purposes should pay all costs, including the drafting of the by-law since they are the only ones benefitting from this.