NSW lot owners are wondering about dealing with rubbish and rubbish bins in strata. Who do the bins belong to?
Table of Contents:
- QUESTION: Can I place my wheelie bins in the common area allocated for the bins in my apartment complex? I’ve been directed to store them in my garage, though I don’t have the space. I feel like I’m being harassed for not complying.
- QUESTION: Due to a safety issue, residents are not allowed to access the garbage room. Rubbish in our large scheme is stacking up and blocking access to roadways and fire equipment. Surely this is a safety issue?
- QUESTION: Does every strata unit have its own designated bin or do the bins stored in the common area belong to everyone?
- QUESTION: I left rubbish on common property for a short period of time. An executive committee member collected the bag and went through the contents to identify the owner. Is this a breach of my privacy?
Question: Can I place my wheelie bins in the common area allocated for the bins in my apartment complex? I’ve been directed to store them in my garage, though I don’t have the space. I feel like I’m being harassed for not complying.
I have been renting an apartment in Tweed Heads for five years.
I have been told to keep my garbage wheelie bins in my garage rather than in the allocated bin area.
I’ve recently bought a new car. It takes up more space, and my bins do not fit in the garage with my car.
I have placed the wheelie bins in the allocated bin area, and someone keeps putting the bins in front of my garage door. I’m confused because other residents place their bins in the allocated bin area.
Is it illegal to place my wheelie bins in the common area allocated for the bins? I feel like I’m being harassed.
Answer: You will likely have a by-law that requires you to use the allocated bin area with guidelines on rubbish disposal.
It is unclear who has directed you to store your bin within your garage. Most strata schemes prohibit the storage of items (other than cars) within their car space. You should check your by-laws to confirm if you have such a by-law. It is unusual that you would be required to keep your bin in your garage (not to mention unsanitary).
You will likely have a by-law that requires you to use the allocated bin area with guidelines on the disposal of rubbish, which you should also confirm.
In our view, you are not doing anything illegal by storing your bin in the allocated area.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: [email protected]
P: 02 9281 6440
This post appears in the February 2024 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Question: Due to a safety issue, residents are not allowed to access the garbage room. Rubbish in our large scheme is stacking up and blocking access to roadways and fire equipment. Surely this is a safety issue?
Residents are not allowed to access the garbage room in our 2 year old 150 unit complex due to a safety issue. Should this have been rectified by the developer?
We are placing large bins outside the double garbage room doors on our roadways. Residents also dump rubbish ranging from general waste to lounges or fridges adjacent to the garbage bins. Sometimes the rubbish is piled up so high the fire extinguisher is hidden. Pedestrians have to walk around the rubbish on the roadway to access visitor parking.
Is this acceptable and are there any laws being broken by continuing this practice? Could it this situation cause an insurance claim to be the responsibility of the owners corporation?
Answer: Ask the strata committee in writing what has been done to address this matter plus whether there is an estimated timeline for this to be resolved.
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Section 80 (effective 30 November 2016), it became mandatory for developers to supply all the new owners with an “Initial Maintenance Schedule”. The IMS sets out a schedule of what frequency of maintenance was required for the owners to undertake, ensuring that the building item performed as was intended. Section 115 of Act states that the initial maintenance of the common property of a strata scheme must contain maintenance and inspection schedules for any item that is on common property if the maintenance and inspection is reasonably required to avoid damage to the item or a failure to function properly for its intended purpose.
I’m making the assumption that the chute malfunctions and is the safety issue. In this instance the garbage room, if maintained as per the schedule, should work as intended for the lifespan set out in the schedule. Unit owners in a new strata scheme probably don’t even know there is a maintenance schedule. Or that they are required to follow it so as not to void any warranties. That’s the first step.
The second step is that the builder is required to lodge a bond (2% of contract price) to cover any defects that arise within the first 2 years. They also need to appoint a building inspector within the first 12 months of building work completion. The owners corporation then needs to appoint their own building inspector (independent of the developers inspector) within the first 2 years of occupancy. If no claims are made, the developer gets back the 2% bond. So, one can see how this system would help protect owners and developers from blaming each other for who’s responsible for building defects. If the garbage room safety hazard is not defective due to poor installation or building practices but has arisen from not being correctly maintained, the owners must address this themselves.
Although I have not been advised if there is a Building Manager, one would think so for a scheme of this size so I’ll make that assumption. Firstly, the building manager must address any safety hazards located within the common property. If the garbage room safety hazard is fixable, it should have been fixed to remove the hazard. If the hazard cannot be rectified immediately then it should be removed. Failing that, warning signs should be placed and access to the area restricted until such time as it can be rectified, and it sounds like this is where the owners corporation is at.
On finding out that there is a safety hazard on the common property, the building manager would arrange for contractors to attend the site, provide quotes and pass these onto the strata manager. The strata manager would supply all quotes to the strata committee and seek their direction. The strata committee must approve one of the quotes to fix the issue.
Thanks to the pandemic, Australia is still witnessing a shortage of contractors and building materials. Maybe the process I’ve outlined above is already in place and, due to the lack of contractors available, this work cannot be addressed yet. Alternatively it could be as simple as a machine part that the developer or building manager is waiting for because the manufacturer is out of stock. Regardless, it is not acceptable for the building management/strata committee to allow for access to the building’s Fire Safety Installations to be blocked, as this creates fire safety issue. If damage is caused by a fire emergency, this could affect the building insurance.
I recommend your first course of action is to ask the strata committee in writing what has been done to address this matter plus whether there is an estimated timeline for this to be resolved. If the strata committee doesn’t have wheels in motion then contact your strata manager in writing. Make sure that both parties have been informed of the lack of access to any firefighting equipment or blockages to the paths of travel to a place of safety in the event of an emergency evacuation.
Peter Berney
Solutions in Engineering
E: [email protected]
P: 1300 136 036
This post appears in the February 2023 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Question: Does every strata unit have its own designated bin or do the bins stored in the common area belong to everyone?
We are new owners in our four units strata building. Does every strata unit have its own designated bin or do the bins stored in the common area belong to everyone?
We seem to be the only unit without a bin area and I’m not sure where to put our rubbish?
Answer: Speak to your strata manager to find out how rubbish works in your strata. Normally bins are common property and the residents share common bins together.
Rod Smith
The Strata Collective
E: [email protected]
P: 02 9879 3547
This post appears in Strata News #616.
Question: I left rubbish on common property for a short period of time. An executive committee member collected the bag and went through the contents to identify the owner. Is this a breach of my privacy?
I recently left a small household garbage bag on common property to run back and retrieve my entry fob.
While I was gone, someone from the executive committee collected the bag and went through its contents to try and identify the owner, which they did.
I received an email as a “friendly reminder” not to repeat the offence. I find this quite disturbing and have concerns regarding privacy implications. I fully respect the by-laws and the Act provisions but at the same time I feel that this was overzealous behaviour.
Answer: We would hope that the strata committee member simply wished to identify the owner of the rubbish to ensure compliance with the by-laws rather than to intrude into your private life.
While we are not lawyers, generally speaking, privacy is the expectation that confidential personal information disclosed in a private space will not be disclosed to third parties when that disclosure might cause eg distress, to a person of reasonable sensitivities.
Though we agree that this action was “over-zealous” in an inordinately short period of time, the question seems to be whether you expected your “garbage” to be private.
We would hope that the strata committee member simply wished to identify the owner of the rubbish to ensure compliance with the by-laws rather than to intrude into your private life and misuse information.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: [email protected]
P: 02 9281 6440
These articles are not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.
This post appears in Strata News #332.
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I would think that the rubbish bag, once left on common property, was technically “abandoned goods” and that there was no right to privacy.
Technically, had they wanted to, the committee member could possibly have not immediately checked the bag’s contents to confirm it was rubbish. Instead they could have stored these items for the requisite period and and subsequently sought recovery of storage costs from the person who abandoned the bag.
Moral of the story – don’t leave things lying around on common property?
It never ceases to amaze me the level of privacy people think they have when in fact they actually have very little in the way of a right to privacy.
THERE IS NO COMMON LAW RIGHT TO PRIVACY.
That means that if there is some right to privacy in some particular situation then there is some piece of legislation somewhere giving you that right.
You have no right to privacy outside of these pieces of legislation; and there aren’t a lot of them.
More than 3/4 of residents in my apartment block have ripped up their carpets and replaced them with tiles. Not one of them has sort permission from the OC.
Am I able to take a photo of one example from outside a unit? That is, not entering their property?
If you are on the common property when doing so then technically you can’t.
If you are on someone elses lot then, again, no.
If you are on your own lot then yes.
It’s all about the permission (consent) of the property owner.
Surveillance Devices Act
8 Installation, use and maintenance of optical surveillance devices without consent
(1) A person must not knowingly install, use or maintain an optical surveillance device on or within premises or a vehicle or on any other object, to record visually or observe the carrying on of an activity if the installation, use or maintenance of the device involves:
(a) entry onto or into the premises or vehicle without the express or implied consent of the owner or occupier of the premises or vehicle, or
(b) interference with the vehicle or other object without the express or implied consent of the person having lawful possession or lawful control of the vehicle or object.
I think this may be incorrect.
It’s not illegal for someone to take photos or videos of your home, unless….
they trespass on your land,
they are recording your private activities,
it amounts to stalking or domestic violence, or
if it causes a substantial and unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of your land .
As such, to play it safe, make sure no person is recorded in the photos, and it’s legal.
Any “right” to privacy is dependent on realistic expectations of privacy.
Photographing something or someone which/who is in plain sight (ie not in private) therefore cannot be a breach of privacy.