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NSW: Q&A Can the committee lock the gates outside of pool open hours?
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: Our swimming pool open hours are between 8 am and 9:30 pm daily. Can the committee decide to lock the pool gates outside of these times? Our Strata Manager says "No"!
Strata & Airbnb: How to stop airbnb in your building
Reuben Schwarz, BnbGuard Airbnb and other short-term letting sites have taken Australia by storm. Unfortunately, these rentals often negatively affect the neighbours around them. Find out how to stop airbnb in your building.
QLD: Q&A What changes can you make to an apartment?
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal Question: What changes can you make to an apartment? The contract between the developer and a purchaser contained a clause empowering them to frost the glass surrounds on their private rooftop terrace.
SA: Q&A Repairing exhaust fan to stop cooking smells from my unit
Tony Johnson, Horner Management Question: It seems my exhaust fan needs replacing as the neighbour is complaining of cooking smells. Is the repair/replacement my cost or up to the strata to fix?
NSW: Q&A Water damage on my ceiling from the apartment upstairs
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: Who is responsible for the water damage on my ceiling and the white goods in the kitchen caused by the apartment upstairs? Their laundry upstairs is in a cupboard and is not plumbed in properly. This has flooded my kitchen numerous times.
QLD: Q&A Short Term Letting Insurance in Far North Queensland
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal and
Lia De Sousa, Whitbread Insurance Brokers Question: I am an owner occupier of one half of a duplex in FNQ. The other half is used solely for short term letting. I feel it is not fair that I need to pay more for my share of strata insurance due to the need for short term letting insurance.
Bannermans Lawyers Smoking is one of the major sources of disputes in strata schemes. It can cause numerous problems for strata schemes, potentially undermining the amenity of the building, increasing common property repair and cleaning costs and causing fire hazards. It can even result in compensation orders being made against owners of tenanted strata lots owned as an investment property.
Bailey Compton, Leverage Group – Academy & Solicitors The amendments to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, introduced in December 2015, have made strata schemes totally undemocratic. I know the legislation was designed to stop proxy harvesting; however, the new legislation has been drafted in such a way that two people can control an owners corporation.
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: What are deemed as justifiable reasons for an owner’s corporation to call a vote to overrule its strata committee decisions? What proportion of the vote is required to overrule strata committee decisions?
NSW: Keeping You Connected
We can help you with just about everything you may want to do with your phone and internet service. We are based in the south of Sydney in the Sutherland Shire and we service most of Sydney and the surrounding suburbs.
NSW: “when experience matters”….
Based in the heart of the Sydney CBD, our experienced team of lawyers and solicitors achieve commercial results in a timely and practical manner through our affordable and professional legal services.
Quick QLD Q&A
We sometimes receive interesting questions into the site which aren't quite long enough to create into a post. We thought we'd share some here. We recently received the following question: QLD: Past body corporate members in the strata title standard format plan put in place at an AGM that future tenants/ owners should be over 55 yrs age as the current occupiers were aged persons.
Is that regarded as a preference and not legal? There is no signage to indicate any reference to 55 yrs.
One of the units is on the market for sale and I am endeavouring to produce some informative documentation for potential buyers. Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal replied: There is simply no way you can restrict occupants by age under the BCCM Act. Section 180(4) covers it with a specific example.
The only way it could be done is a planning approval condition issued by the local authority.
