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Topic
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Sometimes you have an idea that is so brilliantly simple you know it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of ever seeing the light of day.
I was thinking the other day about the kind of people who live in strata but really don’t want to. I call them strataphobes.
They hate living in apartments and despise the rest of us who actually like it. Presumably they really want to live in a house but their financial circumstances don’t allow it.
Maybe it’s because more than half of people in strata are tenants and they are still treated like second-class, no make that third-class citizens. That has to cause some resentment.
Whatever it is, there is a tiny minority of strata residents – tenants and owners – who seem to relish breaking the rules. And they do include owners too, make no mistake. The noisiest, most selfish, entitled and disruptive person I have encountered in my current building is an owner.
Anyway, I have come up with a simple, brilliant solution that would solve all our problems with bad neighbours. It’s a way of dealing with the worst of the worst and you can read all about it on Title Online.
But before you go, have a look at the current crop of apartment living posers from the Flat Chat Forum.
What do you do when a generous resident wants to pay for an interior design … but there are strings. That’s HERE.
Is there a cure for door-slamming kids? That’s HERE.
How can you tell when your levies have been paid. That’s HERE.
Painting the outside of the building has been approved but it’s the wrong colour. What do you do? That’s HERE.
In a pre-1974 block, who pays for repairs in the lintels in the wall separating the flat from the balcony? We got it wrong before we got it right. That’s HERE.
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.
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There are definitely people who live in strata who have a chip on their shoulder for some reason. Rather than being pleased to have a roof over their heads, it is like they are resentful that this is where they have to live. They want to do what ever they want without rules or regulations, as if it were their own home (which is ironic as there are also rules and regulations for houses too).
So they tear down walls, use common property as their own, and my favorite was the owner who dug up all the plumbing in the common property outside of his unit and redirected water runoff to go underneath the slab! And then, when it all goes to crap – that’s when they turn to strata. Because, of course, when you live in strata someone else pays for everything. Especially when it goes wrong! Right?
I have also struck those who don’t want to knock down a wall or change the common property – because they want to strata to do it, and pay for it. If I had a dollar for each downsizer or retiree who moved into strata believing that they never had to pay for anything or do anything again in their lives! That all they had to do was pick up the phone and tell someone to fix their tap while they were out to lunch. “well what do I pay levies for then?” they say when told no. I still hear people saying to me they can’t wait to move into strata so they don’t have to do anything!
And yes, renters I believe are treated like second class citizens. This has to change as the number of renters will out number owner occupiers soon. In my old complex it was the owners we had a problem with. The tenants were happy in their homes and loved where they lived!
There is good and bad with anything. Where and how you live is no different. In the end – we should all be grateful for having a roof over our heads. Many people do even have that!
I think a variant of the strataphobe is the person who probably has rather strong libertarian tendencies who is affronted by the fact that an EC or OC can have any sort of say in what they do. On one hand they appreciate the integrated architectural design. On the other hand they think that people should be allowed to do whatever they like with the appearance of their unit. I suspect the two halves of their heads are not talking to each other!
21 units split between two blocks – half tenanted and only 5 members on the committee for years, including me – the treasurer.
Permission not given for one dog in the building about 6 years ago but she still has it. One year ago permission given for another dog in the building – same block and permission granted.
Owner allowed the dog to urinate on the grass outside killing it.
A tenant now wants to permission to have a beagle which will be opposite the unit containing one of the dogs. They’ll probably bark at each other all day.
Vote an earlier BC meeting was 3 against and 2 for allowing the tenant to have a dog.
Tenant took it to the tribunal and we agreed to disagree so he decided to apply for an adjudication which is pending and should be sometime in December.
Two existing dog loving owners, residents of many years (the one without the dog permission) have not attended an AGM in years and did not attend the AGM in September but put in proxies and asked to be elected to the committee.
This was orchestrated by the two existing BC dog loving members. Branch stacking at its best. Who says politics is a dirty game. Try BC’s.
All very confusing for you I know.
Now the tenant has reapplied for permission for a dog even though we are still supposedly to go to adjudication for a final decision in December. Bearing in mind, I realise he would probably be given permission to have one). Totally unethical in my book and nothing we can do about it because I phoned the NSW Office of Fair Trading and they say there is nothing in the ACT that prohibits the tenant from reapplying.
Talk about a Strata hater. If I win Powerball tonight I’ll be out of there like a flash.
Aw cmmon Jimmy. I hate being in apartments because I am an artist who needs space and I like music that pounds and I hate being near people.
These ones are government emergency housing and most of us here are pretty miserable. We had to give up a lot to squeeze into the tiny spaces we were driven to by the bloom of investment greed. As the really greedy insist we love our smaller and smaller apartments we watch olur hopes of escaping rental tyranny slip away.
I dont dislike my other apartment dwellers though. Nor do I actually give in to the urge to make everyone miserable with loud music or power tools. I make myself miserable with their lack.
Just thought I would mention it
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