shoes and personal items being left on common property at front doors

› Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Current Page

  • Creator
    Topic
  • 25/01/2017 at 7:19 pm #10849
    Susanp
    Flatchatter

      Hi

      I was wondering if is there anywhere in the Strata Legislation where it says that personal items are not to be left or stored on common property?

       It’s a problem when one resident starts leaving shoes and other personal items on the common property then other residents follow. In our block all our townhouses front doors are very close to each other making it untidy and messy and fairly easy to trip over.

      Also the common footpath runs along where the shoes are being left out. So I was wondering if there is some legislation of sorts that says no personal items to be left on common property?

      Thanks.

    • Creator
      Topic
    Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
    • Author
      Replies
    • 25/01/2017 at 10:19 pm #26255
      Stevecro
      Flatchatter

        The legislation doesn’t prevent a person leaving personal items on common property however your by-laws may. In terms of a breach of a by-law, this will depend on your current by-laws and how creative the owners corporation can be interpreting whether leaving shoes outside ones unit is a problem. The following by-laws may relate to your issue:

        9   Depositing rubbish and other material on common property

        An owner or occupier of a lot must not deposit or throw on the common property any rubbish, dirt, dust or other material likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot or of any person lawfully using the common property.

        17   Appearance of lot

        (1)  The owner or occupier of a lot must not, without the written consent of the owners corporation, maintain within the lot anything visible from outside the lot that, viewed from outside the lot, is not in keeping with the rest of the building.

        25/01/2017 at 11:06 pm #26257
        Sir Humphrey
        Strataguru

          Most places have a catch-all rule/by-law/article about not doing anything on the common property which unreasonably interferes with the reasonable use and enjoyment of the common property by other residents. If enough people think the shoe issue is serious enough that could be made to apply. 

          26/01/2017 at 6:17 am #26262
          Susanp
          Flatchatter
          Chat-starter

            Thanks for your quick replies. It got to a state where there were more shoes being left out than the number of units. It’s not everyone of course, just a few residents  with an awful lot of shoes. I don’t have any problems if the occasional pair is left neatly at the front door, but I do when one unit alone ends up with about 14 pairs. Shoes are being left there as a permanent storage place.  

            Also if personal items are being left out continually on the common property, does this become the property of the OC. Can the OC remove them?

            the other issue I am aware of is that where the shoes and personal things are being left is also one of the common property footpaths and the only undercover footpath for the residents to walk under if they choose to.  We do have one elderly resident who uses this footpath and i worried this could be a trip hazard for her. I consider that this could also fall under the WH&S side of things. There is another smaller footpath closer to our driveway but its in direct sunlight most of the day, so I notice the older resident likes to walk under the protected footpath.

            When the particular owners of the tenants leaving the shoes out were asked if they would ask their tenants to remove their personal things off the CP, these owners have said they don’t have a problem if shoes are left out and we have to accept it’s ‘community living’. (These particular owners are the aggressive owners of the block).

            I view it that if there is a common property footpath, everyone has a right to walk there in safety, even if it’s just one owner.

            But we have just adopted our new set of by laws! Is it too late to request a clause be included in?  We do have by-laws 9 & 17 (as above) in our bylaws, so do you think these two By-Laws are applicable enough if the OC don’t want to change anything more in the adopted By-Laws?

            I asked our strata manager if we could do up a small welcome kit to new residents, even just a small one page with general information of our block, but the SM wasn’t interested in this and dismissed it.  Is there a small ‘welcome pack/kit’ template anywhere that I could take along to our next meeting? 

            In my case the biggest problem I have in my opinion with all my issues  is that our SM has an overly aggressive and controlling way of managing, this makes the nicer owners just ‘go along’ and the aggressive owners ‘fight harder’. 

            Thanks.

            26/01/2017 at 8:45 am #26263
            Jimmy-T
            Keymaster

              I know of one chair who sent out a letter saying the shoes left outside doors were a safety issue, especially in the event of a fire and they would be removed. It had immediate results.

              Remember, you don’t have to wait for people to comply.  Issue a warning then go round one night and collect the shoes and leave them in a bin where people can retrieve them.

              If the shoe owners have a problem, let them take the committee to NCAT, not the other way round.

              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.
            • Author
              Replies
            Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
            • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

            › Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Current Page