Renovations

Kerrie

This is what happens when an Executive Committee doesn't enforce its own rules and/or treats tenants like second-class citizens. Contact your landlord or estate immediately and demand that they either do something about this or give you a rent reduction for the duration of the work. 7 am may be a reasonable time to start on a building site or a free-standing home but it is definitely not OK in an apartment block. Any EC that's on-the ball would have made a more civilised starting time a condition of their approval of the work and access to common property for builders etc. You might also check the building's by-laws to see if they are being breached by this – again, take it to the landlord/agent. It's their responsibility to make sure you get what you've paid for.

We seem to be talking slightly at cross-purposes here. There is a requirement to notify the Owners Corporation (or Executive Committee, more likely) 14 days before any work that affects common property (which would be likely to be just about anything that was going to make noise). The EC has a window of opportunity then to ask questions like, what’s happening with the rubble, are you planning to use the lifts etc etc and, in so doing, ask the renovator to limit the hours of work in exchange (for instance) for allowing them to use the lifts to move materials in and out.

Ironically, I got a note yesterday saying there would be work starting in two days on one of our top-floor apartments. That said, we have by-lawed restrictions on when drilling and power-hammering can happen and that has to be done in one four-hour block per week. It’s up to the renovators then to organise their work schedule so that the noise, though unavoidable, doesn’t end up starting and stopping for days and people like me can escape to local cafes.