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FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Media Release - 12 November 2011

Keeping a full-sized horse in an inner city strata is just one of the cases NSW Fair Trading had to mediate on. During Fair Trading Week 14-18 November, SMS Strata Management Group has sourced the top five strata disputes and it seems the man’s best friend features strongly.

In 2010-2011 the top 5 reasons for strata dispute through NSW Fair Trading were:

  1. Noisy neighbours
  2. Water penetration repairs taking too long
  3. People keeping pets without permission
  4. Owners removing carpet which leads to noise disturbance
  5. People being refused permission to keep pets

NSW Fair Trading archives have revealed some other interesting cases:

Owners complained about water leaking from the unit above them. An above-ground swimming pool was found in the upstairs bedroom full of trout being bred for sale.
Owner undertook to remove the pool.

A complaint was raised about a woman who hung laundry and watered the garden in the nude. The strata owners had a meeting which ended in deadlock because the women voted to take action against her for breaching the by-laws while the men voted not to take action, in the interest of maintaining community harmony. After some heated discussions, it was decided, again in the interest of community harmony, to take action against the woman to remain clothed at all times on common property.

An owner complained about the owner above who could distinctly be heard urinating in the toilet bowl at all hours of the night. The Tribunal ordered the man to urinate on the side of the bowl so as not to make splashing noises.

“Most strata disputes are settled by reasonable people at meetings, with the aid of a good Strata Manager. Sometimes, people want their issue raised at a higher level and seek the aid of NSW Fair Trading, but the numbers are very small,” said Colin Dennis, CEO of SMS Strata Management Group based on the NSW Far North Coast

“We understand that across the State, with the hundreds of thousands of strata plans that exist, there were only 1400 applications for mediation last year. More than half of these were mediated and settled. I think this is a good sign that most people want to work things out and get on living peacefully,” he said.

SMS Strata Management Group now manages more than 1000 buildings and representing 10,000 owners between the Byron Bay/Ballina and Coffs Harbour offices, making this a significant business growth story on the NSW Far North Coast with 18 staff between two offices.

Media Enquiries:   

Karen Lewis
Strata Manager
02 6659 9600


Source: Peter Palazzi, Fair Trading Media, Sydney, 7 November 2011