Pot Plants on Balcony Cap

I’m not sure what you mean by “balcony capping”? is this the balustrade or roof? Anyway, speaking generally I am not sure if you can do anything about this, under the Strata laws, at any rate. You might have by-laws that apply, so you should check those carefully. But if you have the default by-laws, I doubt if any would apply to this situation. And in reality, there is always some risk of objects falling from balconies. While pot plants on the top of the balustrade might increase the risk, whether this is actionable depends on several factors – if the balcony and capping are strata property or owners property, on the design of the balustrade and balcony, if other residents are doing or have ever done something similar, and what is below that area, for example.
I would suggest you raise the issue at the next strata committee meeting – ask your strata manager or strata secretary to add an item on the agenda about the problem, and see what the discussion results in. Also, in that agenda item, ask that the residents be put on notice in writing that they are responsible should any damage or injury results from a pot from their apartment falling on something or someone below.

It’s a bit of a long shot, but most strata schemes have a bylaw relating to not installing anything visible from outside the lot.

I’d give this bylaw a go and issue a notice to comply.

A specific by-law is probably the way to go, that way there can be no quibbling over what rights the owners corp has to manage common or lot property.

Flame Tree (Qld) wrote:

sure a plant might fall but unlikely to do so, unless say the weather is harsh, and the chance of hitting someone is realistically very remote.

A plant has already fallen from there but that aside, I think insurers work on possibilities rather than than only likelihood.  So yes it’s possible that a plant pot might fall and even if it’s highly unlikely that someone will be walking underneath at that precise moment, it’s possible.

As for extreme weather, this very day scientists have declared that extreme weather events are the biggest threat to Australia when it comes to disasters.  If a gust of wind can pick a gas cylinder up and drop it on to a hapless pedestrian, killing him, (as happened in Sydney withing the last year) another blast could easily knock over one or more pot plants.