The owners of a penthouse apartment in my building have their air conditioning condenser on the roof of the apartment building (common property). They bought the apartment of the plan 11 years ago and the air conditioner was put there by the builders. The air conditioner is for their sole use.

The condenser sits on my ceiling and for the past 3 years we have been subjected to an on going noise from the vibration of the machinery – this is purely from the condenser sitting directly on the roof. I contacted the owners corporation who have been in touch with the owners. They have denied that the problem is from the air conditioner.

Apart from myself, the committee members and a report from an air conditioning company there is no doubt that this is the culprit. The strata manager issued a breach of by law notice and asked that something be done to rectify it. This should have been “fixed” in September 2018. The owners have ignored the notice, as has the strata manager and owners corporation.

I am now being told by the owners corporation that as the noise only affects my apartment I will have to pay to have it rectified or failing that take the apartment owner to a tribunal. I have had several emails with the owners of the apartment to try and get this sorted and they have said while there is a noise they don’t think it’s an issue!!

I was able to have an informal consult with a solicitor who said that this should be dealt with by either the strata manager or the owners corporation and that I shouldn’t be paying or doing anything. I’m truly at my wits end. Any suggestions? Or am I going to have to do this all myself??