Obtrusive external lighting

Hi Jacqui.

It would help with the answer to know who it is you are dealing with.  There is no such thing as a Body Corp in  NSW.  Is it the Executive Committee?  Is it the Building Manager?  Or is it the strata manage?.  I'm guessing it's probably not the Owner's Corporation, unless you have had a general meeting recently.

I'm not being picky or smartarse about this – all of these people may be involved in your issue and they all require different approaches. So give a clue about who has said what and then we can offer some advice?

JimmyT

The fact that that the strata managers are are charging a fee for this means that their contract allows them to charge for work over and above their ordinary duties (which will not include an unlimited number of meetings).  There is nothing unusual or unfair in this charge, per se. The fact that you have been told about this is either simple transparency or a not very subtle form of bullying by members of your body corporate committee.

But, hey, if they were so keen to avoid these payments they should have done something about the lights, so don't worry about it.  Make it clear at the meeting that if you don't get some satisfaction over the lights that you may well pursue this all the way to Consumer Affairs, which will cost them a few more bills from your strata managers (two can play that game!).

This is a problem that's caused by a common property light installation and it's up to them to fix it.  The light may be needed for safety or security reasons but residents have the right to sleep peacefully in their own homes.

However, explain to your committee members that you are prepared to listen to any compromise solution that allows you to sleep at night – inexpensive motion activated sensors on the lights, for instance, or black-out blinds for your windows – either of which would be a lot cheaper for everyone, both financially and in terms of time and emotional energy, than fighting this through the CAV system.

Realistically, there may be a point where it makes more sense for you just to give up the fight and put black-out blinds over the windows.  Keep this to yourself, but being involved in a long and bitter dispute with your neighbours can be debilitating and distressing, especially in a small block,  and if you don't have the stomach for it, can destroy your sense of “home” quicker than having a bikie gang move in next door.

Only you will know where that 'surrender' point is, but until you reach it stand firm. The Consumer Affairs Victoria website is HERE and their guide to strata living can be downloaded HERE.

In NSW, this comes down to simple democratic process, in that it is down to what the majority of owners want to do, ie, if the simple majority of owners (those that want to get involved that is) all agree that they want to keep the lighting on for particular times, then this is the decision of the owners corporation.

I know that in Sydney particularly there is at least two good reasons to keep the common areas well lit. 1. Security – most security advisers indicate that the first thing you do to reduce security issues is keep a building well lit. 2. Safety – if your building was designed and built with specific lighting to comply with particular BCA requirements, then the OC is taking a massive amount of liability in altering this lighting. This could cause problems with the oc’s public liability insurance cover.

Maybe it may be worth looking at the block out blind option or similar?

Mr S

Mr Strata said:

2. Safety – if your building was designed and built with specific lighting to comply with particular BCA requirements, then the OC is taking a massive amount of liability in altering this lighting. This could cause problems with the oc's public liability insurance cover.

Could you tell us more about this?  That the BCA has particular requirements in this area?