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My wife has just purchased a ground floor unit in NSW in a small block and we have a newborn.
The kitchen and bathroom are in a filthy run down state infested with cockroaches, black mould and the meter box in the kitchen cabinet has friable asbestos.Consequently we put in application of our intention to do a standard renovation.
The SM has come back with a list of demands basically wanting to know every nut and bolt including all appliances bathtub, vanities, shower screens, tiles, lights stating they are all connected to common property in some way.
Additionally, If we want timber floating floors he will only except gold standard underlay with a silicon bead around the walls or they will take us to teh tribunal.
We have mentioned that the top floor unit has timber floors as we can hear them and asked for the details of their flooring and a copy of their renovations including all plans vanities basins etc but he won’t provide them stating that he can’t give out other owners information.
He stated that if they agree the SC will aprrove our renovations, not the OC at a GM
Upon checking the by-laws there are no renovation or flooring by- laws nor any by law stating the SC can approve or disprove our renovations or that we need to give specifications of fixtures.
Does anybody know if we can we have the kitchen condemned as a health and safety risk and have the strata pay to fix it as its connected the common property as he states and original condition. Also do we really need to provide a list of fixures inclusings brands models etc?
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Just because there are no by-laws does not mean that you have no obligations. These obligations are contained within the SSMA 2015, mostly contained within [s109 – 110].
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/index.html#s108
The committee can only approve certain types of renovations if they have been delegated this power by the OC under a by-law. Ask your SM whether the committee have been delegated this power.
Some of your scope of work will not be able to be approved by the Committee regardless of whether or not the committee has been delegated this power. The items not permitted to be approved via the delegated power must be approved at a General Meeting.
It would be unreasonable for the OC to demand an extremely particularised scope of work i.e. types of fixtures and fittings, except for the flooring and the acoustic underlay.
The following information may be applicable for your renovation:
A kitchen renovations with appliances remaining in the same location now only requires an Ordinary resolution at a General Meeting and no by-law (and can be decided by strata committee if power delegated (s110(6)(b)) under a by-law).
A kitchen renovation with exhaust or plumbing changing requires an Ordinary resolution at a General Meeting and cannot be approved by the committee.
A bathroom renovation with no change to waterproofing e.g. changing vanity and shower screen requires an Ordinary resolution only at a General Meeting. A Special resolution and by-law is required if there is a change to waterproofing.
Installation or replacing wood or other hard floors requires an Ordinary resolution only (and can be decided by strata committee if power has been delegated under by-laws (s110(6)).
NB: A bead of silicone is not the only way to prevent lateral noise transference. There are other options worth exploring. A good acoustic underlay will prevent the possibility of you being ordered to rip up your flooring at a future time if it is causing a nuisance to your neighbours and is unreasonably interfering with the quiet enjoyment of their Lots.
Work involving reconfiguring of walls requires an Ordinary resolution only (and can be decided by strata committee if power delegated under by-laws (s110(6)) (except if structural walls).
Installation of bathroom exhaust fan requires an Ordinary resolution only (and can be decided by strata committee if power delegated under by-laws (s110(6)) (except if structural walls).
The following work requires a Special resolution at a general Meeting under [s108(2)]:
- structural work (internal walls and making openings in structural walls for exhaust fans and air conditioning);
- work changing the external appearance (pergolas, awnings and possibly solar panels and skylights);
- work involving waterproofing (most likely in waterproofing of bathrooms)
https://dealawyers.com.au/works-works-by-laws-under-the-the-strata-schemes-management-act-2015/
@dingo said:
Will it be a better job if it’s approved by way special resolution or standard resolution?Probably – because special resolutions must, by law, attribute ongoing repair and maintenance to someone (or if not, then it defaults to the owners corp).
So you would think that the person or body named in the special resolution would make sure it wasn’t going to come back and bite them on the bum.
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.
Dingo – I understand and empathize with you and your point about acoustic underlay and a ground floor apartment. I too have a ground floor apartment which I have approval to renovate with a timber flooring. My scheme’s by laws are sensible. They have relaxed the flooring by-law conditions for only the ground floor apartment flooring due to there being no apartments underneath. All other apartments except ground floor apartments floors must have carpet in bedrooms and must conduct acoustic tests on their flooring.
My ceilings are ‘popcorn’ ceilings. What are yours?
Perhaps your scheme too can also see the sense in not requiring the same level of acoustic underlay for the ground floor apartments as those on the floors above the ground floor. It would be difficult for anyone to mount an argument that your flooring is causing a nuisance or is interfering unreasonably with the enjoyment of their apartment if you have no one living below you.
In your situation, if there is no by law about acoustic underlay, and the Act does not specify a particular type of acoustic underlay, then I would not feel compelled to use the ‘gold standard’ underlay. I wouldn’t use the cheapest underlay either but would use a mid priced underlay. A good acoustic underlay rather than the best acoustic underlay should suffice in your situation.
You could argue that being a ground floor apartment with no apartments underneath makes it unreasonable for you to be compelled to use ‘gold standard’ underlay.
Dingo – The OC cannot unreasonably reject your request for the waterproofing of your bathroom. You may appeal to the Tribunal (NCAT) if the owners corporation unreasonably refuses to approve the work or imposes unreasonable conditions.
I wouldn’t concern yourself too much about the OC refusing your request for waterproofing. This is unlikely to happen if you fulfill your obligations under the Act , in particular that you would comply with conditions suggested in
The new rules for renovations to a strata property #3 – Major work
for waterproofing, which are contained in the following link:
Don’t underestimate lateral noise transfer. In many modern apartment blocks, all the units on each floor, sit on the same concrete slab. But the best rule is the simplest – does the flooring cause a problem for neighbours?
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.
Waterproofing in a bathroom is required in accordance with the Building Code of Australia and AS 3740 – “Waterproofing of Domestic Wet Areas”; a kitchen is specifically excluded from the definition of “Domestic Wet Areas”. Waterproofing must be carried out and certified by tradesmen specifically licensed to do waterproofing.
Section 110 (1) applies to “work” for the purposes of minor renovations to common property in connection with the owner’s lot. “Work” is a collective noun and means that for each minor renovation, as listed in s 110 (3) and in regulation 28 of the SSMR 2016, all the works required for the purposes of each minor renovation are included.
The work involved in a kitchen renovation would including disconnecting the lot owner’s plumbing from the common property stack and then reconnecting the new plumbing to the common property stack.
The exclusion, under s 110 (7) (d), of “work involving waterproofing” is only applicable if there is already waterproofing in the bathroom and that waterproofing is common property.
For waterproofing to be common property it must have been in existence when the strata plan was registered.
In old residential flat buildings there was no requirement for waterproofing in bathrooms if there was only a shower over the bath, and no shower recess.
In such a situation, s110 (7) (d) would not apply, as there is no common property waterproofing.
S 108 does not apply to building works which fall within the provisions of s109 and s110.
S110 (1) specifically states that a special resolution is not required to authorise minor renovations.
The requirement, by some owners corporations, of a common property rights by-law in order to approve minor renovations is a contravention of the SSMA 2015. These owners corporations seek to abrogate their statutory duty in respect of common property to the lot owners concerned.
An example of why even ground floor units should have to abide by acoustic underlay standards:
For the past six months our building manager and a number of Strata Committee members have been trying to track down noises being heard by a resident on the 1st floor of our complex. After the resident on the first floor accused the unit above, and to each side of making the noises, we finally established it was the unit below causing the excessive noise.
A previous owner of the unit on the ground floor had installed floorboards with only minimal underlay. The current residents of the ground floor unit had a hobby where there were building things on a table that was sitting directly on the floor boards. All their pounding etc was being transferred into the floor > slab > presumably up the walls.
On a related note of noise travelling in buildings – a few weeks ago I would have sworn the unit above was doing concrete drilling directly above my bedroom (during the day). It was in fact three floors down, one unit across on the outside of the building. Noise travels in funny ways, and it is all owners responsibility to not make it worse for those around them when they renovate etc, even if others in the past did not care.
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