ok for some, but not others….

OK, so I have just moved into my new apartment.

The development consists of 5 buildings all sitting behind the original art deco facade. None of our terraces/balconies can be viewed from the street, all are well hidden behind the facade.

The buildings are separated by a common walkway. There are 12 apartments that have terraces that front onto this common walkway, 56 apartments have terraces or balconies that do not front the common walkway.

The 12 apartment owners that face the walkway (of which I am one), seem to have to follow a different set of rules to everyone else – e.g.

We have to have neutral coloured blinds on the doors leading to our terrace, those with rear terraces do not.

We can’t have shutters on our doors – the others can.

We have to ask permission for screen doors etc – the others do not.

We can’t install an awning on our terrace, but the others can.

I can’t have a low-visibility cat enclosure on part of my terrace – a rear facing terrace owner can.

We can’t place any laundry to dry on our terrace (forcing us to use the one star rated clothes dyer) – those with rear terraces can hang their laundry outside.

The list of what we can’t do & what others can do, is quite large.

Another issue with the 12 ground floor apartments is privacy. The front terrace wall is considerably lower than any of us were told it would be. It was supposed to be 1.75m high (according to the contract), but only sits at 1 metre high. 

As we face the common walkway & the buildings opposite – everyone has a birds eye view into all the ground floor apartments (including the bedroom which sits at the front of the apartment), unless you have your blinds down all day – and who wants to do that.

The development is quite industrial in its aesthetic with lots of structural steel etc. 

The ground floor owners would like to install metal privacy screens (at our cost & exempting the OC of all responsibility) to our front terraces, raising the height to about 1.8m. We have employed a landscape design company to up with a design. The design they have come up with exists elsewhere in the development so suits the aesthetic perfectly.

At our first AGM when we raised the privacy screen issue, the developer (who owns 7 apartments), was against the idea, but said he would take the design back to the architects to see if they agreed it could work & if not, ask them to come up with a design that would. he seemed to be supported by everyone other than those of us on the ground floor.

The developer & I are part of the 9 member EC.

The EC consists of 2 of us on ground level, the other 7 (most of whom don’t live there) come from the apartments with total privacy, who can do whatever they like on their terraces.

Yesterday the developer got back to the strata manager, saying that we would not be allowed the privacy screens – no reason was given for this.

We have an EC meeting on January 30, to discuss all this & have the EC decide if the screens can go ahead. 

It was quite apparent from the AGM that most owners & most of the EC are following the developer’s lead.

How can we make the other EC members see that the one rule for some and a different one for others, simply isn’t fair?

Also, how long can this developer keeping using the “I need to check with Architect” excuse for every decision he doesn’t want to let through. As soon as he mentions the word “architect” everyone just falls behind him.

I would understand, to some extent, all this carry on if our terrace fronted an actual street – but the only people who can see any on this our our fellow residents. 

As I have already stated, we have gone to a lot of trouble & expense to create a design that will not only fit in with the aesthetic,  but once our terrace makeover is complete will actually enhance it, by turning a barren, bland terrace into a visually appealing one – with lots of plants, built in seating and industrial features.

We, more than any other owners, have truly embraced the industrial aesthetic on the building (and the developer is well aware of the lengths we have gone to with our apartment) – we would do nothing to detract from it.

I don’t know how to make these people see sense!

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks