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We purchased a unit in a block of 4 last year.
3 of the units had security screens at the time and 1 had ordinary fly screens.
The owner of the unit with fly screens sent us a solicitors letter to remove our security screens at our own cost.
The owner of 1 of the other units removed her security screen as she does not like the look of it. She has said via email that they are her screens and she can do what she likes with them. At a subsequent strata committee meeting it was decided that each owner would be responsible for their own screens. Ourselves and the other unit with the security screens do not want them removed.
The block was apparently a company title and then was changed to strata sometime this century as far as I can tell.
So I have 3 questions
1) is it easy and worthwhile to look up when the building became strata?
2) If all the screens and security screens were on at the time the building became strata, does the OC have to replace them all? If so, can the owners be forced to remove the security screens. There is a by law which says it it OK to have them.(I think)
<u>“ 5 Damage to Common Property </u>
i) An Owner or Occupier of a lot must not mark, paint, drive nails or screws or the like into or otherwise damage or deface any structure that forms part of the common property without the approval in writing of the Owners Corporation
Note: This by-law does not prevent an Owner or person authorised by an Owner from installing
(a) Any locking or other safety devise or structure for protection of the Owner’s lot against intruders, or
(b) any screen or other devise to prevent entry of animals or insects on the lot, or
(c) any structure or device to prevent harm to children
iv) Any such locking or safety devise, screen, other devise or structure must be installed in a competent and proper manner and must have an appearance after it has been installed in keeping with the appearance of the rest of the building
3) One of the owners send abusive emails constantly- sometimes 6 a day. Is there any way we can put some boundaries around his behaviour so that we can stop it? Everyone is exhausted by it and seems to be just agreeing with him to stop the emails but there is always more.
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I’m going to deal with email harrassment as it seems to me that your by-law allows screens provided they are in keeping with the look of the building.
To deal with the emails, just block that email address with an automatic response that says something like “This email address has been blocked due to abuse. Your email has not been read but has been retained for future reference.”
How you do that will depend on which email software you use. Google “block email addresses on (Gmail or whatever). Get everyone else to do it too and it will soon stop the nonsense.
If that doesn’t work, and the emails truly are abusive or even worse, threatening, you can seek an apprehended personal violence order through a local court. That order would be for the person not to contact you except through their lawyer.
Or you could hold a meeting at which you can pass a motion of censure against the miscreant. That might quieten them down or it might make them worse.
Unfortunately, strata is fertile ground for obsessive nutters who have nothing better to do than harass their neighbours over imagined slights and non-existent breaches.
The easiest way to deal with them is not deal with them at all until they are the ones breaching by-laws, then you come down on them like a ton of bricks.
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.
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