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Topic
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There have been some recent posts on that well-worn topic of improper carparking and strata-imposed parking fines, and it’s been suggested that Owners Corporation’s (O/C) have been given too much autonomy to create and register any By-Law that they choose in an effort to guide the behaviour of Residents.
I don’t entirely disagree, but that “autonomy” is limited by the fact that such Special By-Laws have to be properly discussed and resolved by a clear majority (>75%) of Proprietors at a General Meeting, they are subject to an appeal to the Consumer, Trader, and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) and they can’t be in conflict with any Commonwealth or State Laws.
Once those hurdles have been negotiated, the matter of whether this limited “autonomy” is necessary, and if so why needs to be addressed?
I shall address the “why?” first.
On the basis of my personal experience, one of the main people-problems within Strata Schemes relates to the fact that there are increasing numbers of people within Australian Society who are quite simply dysfunctional. When these people live in a stand-alone dwelling, there’s a degree of physical space between the neighbours and themselves which acts as a buffer to the impacts of their chosen lifestyle, but that’s not the case when these people choose or need to live within a strata community.
Instead of leaving excess rubbish on their own property these people leave it around the common property, instead of parking their excess vehicles in their own yard they choose to park them undercover in any vacant carspace, and whilst loud music and voices have limited impacts upon neighbours when they reside in stand-alone dwellings, that’s not the case in a strata community where the neighbours are the thickness of a poorly insulated wall away!
So just as Governments deem it necessary to create Laws in an attempt to manage the behaviour of the increasing numbers of dysfunctional people within Australian Society, O/C’s find it necessary to create Special By-Laws for precisely the same reasons.
Is this approach necessary?
Frankly I wish is wasn’t at all levels, but with regard to a strata community that by its nature comprises a microcosm of the broader society, it seems that when people won’t talk to each other and/or those who are spoken to respond with belligerence, an O/C has no choice but to create its own “laws” in an effort to guide dysfunctional people along a better path, and to give that O/C the basis for initiating action/s in the CTTT and through the Local Court System against those who choose to persist with dysfunctional behaviour.
I sincerely wish that there was a better way (I’m now off my soapbox).
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Well said Whale!
Sad but true Whale.
I have noticed that parents teaching their children to respect the rights of others are in the minority now.
Many are not taught from childhood to respect the rights of others, or encouraged to be polite.
Everyone has a different definition of dysfunctional. Punishing someone because of a lack of tolerance for the most minor inconvenience or non compliance qualifies as dysfunction for me.
pedro said:
Everyone has a different definition of dysfunctional. Punishing someone because of a lack of tolerance for the most minor inconvenience or non compliance qualifies as dysfunction for me.
I applaud your tolerance and understanding pedro, but if you read more than just the posts that show on the side, you will see that many people are terribly affected by “non compliance”.
What if it was your elderly mother or aunt who was not able to move their car, or mobility appliance out of their garage, because another person refused to move the car that should not have been in the way?
I don't disagree with either of you but I would say this, if by-laws are too restrictive, then we should make an effort to have them changed.
However, by-laws are in place with the tacit approval of the majority of residents so they should be respected. (Yes, Pedro, I know there are StrataFascists for whom “no-no notes” are a hobby – just as there are selfish morons who think everyone else should adjust to what they want.)
Railing against by-laws is a popular sport in these here parts but, like governments and newspapers, we only get what we deserve.
Seriously, there are very few mandatory by-laws in NSW and they are just common sense (like, you can't ban guide dogs or children). So if you think your executive committee is too domineering, vote them out. If you think your by-laws are too oppressive, change them.
What we shouldn't do, however, is encourage a culture of ignoring by-laws because we think they they are stupid or unreasonable. Sadly there are too many people already who think their ownership of their home entitles them to behave as if the entire block is their domain.
Being a member of an owner's corporation (which all owners are whether they want to be or not) is the most profound and direct form of democracy we'll ever get. We get to collectively choose the rules, who enforces them and how diligently they are enforced.
And if we are consistently out of kilter with the majority, we have the choice of either sucking it up or moving on to somewhere more in keeping with the lifestyle we wish to have.
Yes, there are some people in strata who over-react to minor infractions but strata is a system that has plenty of mechanisms to rectify dysfunction – all that's required is the time and energy to fix the problem.
And if we can't find the time or summon the energy, maybe the problem isn't as bad as we thought.
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.
I personally chose to live in my current strata residence not only because of price (cheaper than a house) size (smaller therefore easier to look after than a house) but also for the added protection of the strata bylaws.
If I wanted to have trouble getting into my driveway/garage due to neighbours cars parked all over the place, if I wanted to walk out my front door and see garage/rubbish/rusted cars/overgrown weedy gardens, if I wanted to come home and find my neighbour had constructed a lean-to out the front and painted it purple, I would have bought a house. I am protected from this by living in strata – or so I hoped. So if the “rules” of strata weren't there I wouldn't be here. And so say lots of us.
struggler said:
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If I wanted to have trouble getting into my driveway/garage due to neighbours cars parked all over the place, if I wanted to walk out my front door and see garage/rubbish/rusted cars/overgrown weedy gardens, if I wanted to come home and find my neighbour had constructed a lean-to out the front and painted it purple, I would have bought a house……….
You could have bought a house and you could have also bought a property in my SP; you describe the vista so well.
I am glad your by-laws protect you because they do not work here. We have some extreme by-laws and an EC that picks and chooses when it wants to pursue a by-law. CTTT have dome nothing but endorse the poor management practises and so being dysfunctional is now the authorised norm.The entire system has failed in this SP but the SP goes on.
I did not say they the by laws work here, I said that I moved into such a place for the added protection of strata by laws. And so do many others. But we, like many strata complexes, have residents who believe strata by laws are for everyone else but them and those who believe it is only them breaking the laws so it shouldn't matter. But one sees apartment X doing it so apartment Y does too then apartment Z starts.
From reading your posts I read that you live in a type of strata which has distance between you and your neighbours. This would be luxury to some of us who are living within metres of each other. When rubbish, junk and cars are left right outside my neighbours door, they are also right outside mine. When living in medium/high density strata, others actions directly affect your life visually and physically.
My point being, if I wanted to live next door to someone who likes to leave things lying around, I would prefer to live in a house where there is that little bit more distance between me and their stuff and not here where their stuff is arms reach away.
I understand your point.
To go back to whales original post – the concept is floated that by putting dysfunctional people in close proximity then any buffer, that is a consequence of separation, somewhat disappears.We do indeed have large buffers but large buffers do not overly negate the impact of the dysfunctional. It just modifies how the dysfunctional impact.
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