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We have a new owner soon to take possession who has advised our SM to tell ‘strata’ that they are installing safety netting around their balcony to keep their active 2yr old child safe.
At least they were told by the SM that they would need permission to do this.
I understand that they now have legal advice on this – the details they provided were photos of other balconies with this netting installed and also that the netting met standards in South America.
Does anyone have any experience with this type of renovation. Of course they will be adding to common property etc and will need an SBL to do this. Personally, I would not like the OC to approve this as it won’t meet ‘appearance of building’ by-law and if the OC approved and the child or someone else fell through the netting then the OC would be held responsible. Would they also need council approval?
Also we have been told that they are going to change ‘a few rooms like the kitchen around’. I see big dangers in this too eg, if they decide to swap the kitchen with the dining area then any noise transmitted through the floor could not be dealt with as it is an ‘exempt’ area.
Thoughts please.
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With regard to the safety netting, there’s a school of thought suggesting that parents of small children should be proactively installing devices on balcony facing windows and doors to restrict the opening width of those such that their children cannot access the balcony area at all – unsupervised.
Then there’s another suggesting that child-proof netting may be classified as a “child safety device” (CSD) which may be installed by notification only to the Owners Corporation after installation under the provisions of Clause 64A(6) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act…… but that only applies IF that type of CSD is prescribed in a regulation, where right now Clause 31 of the current Regulation (2010) states:
(3) A screen, lock or any other device is a complying window safety device for the purposes of section 64A of the Act if it:
(a) is capable of restricting the opening of a window so that a sphere having a diameter of 125mm or more cannot pass through the window opening, and
(b) is capable of resisting an outward horizontal action of 250 newtons, and
(c) has a child resistant release mechanism, in the case of a device that can be removed, overridden or unlocked.
….. clearly none of the above would be satisfied by child-proof netting!!
This is a difficult issue, where I’d suggest that your Strata Manager advises the Owners concerned that child-proof netting is not at this time a complying child-safety device under the Regulation (2010), that they might in the interim (or instead) consider fitting complying devices to the balcony facing windows/doors where notification only is required to the Owners Corporation (O/C), and that the O/C will be soon drafting a generic Special By-Law (SBL) to manage all existing installations and any that may in future occur.
Then as I don’t think that an outright refusal of this or similar “notifications” could be sustained if even on purely emotive grounds, you need to have your Executive Committee meet to consider the suggested SBL and what it should be encompass – including (but not limited to) the need for O/C consent, the appearance issues that you’ve raised, product specifications / certifications (in Aust.), indemnifying the O/C, and on-going maintenance responsibilities incl. for all points of attachment to the common property.
With regard to the internal renovations proposed, the Strata Manager should know what to do – including advising the Owners to, prior to any works commencing, supply details of precisely what is proposed and when, including tradespeople’s details (incl. licenses and insurance) so that it can be properly considered by the Executive Committee initially, and perhaps by the O/C if the renovations are to incorporate any changes and/or additions to areas of common property within the Lot.
Further to Whale’s post, there is also a school of thought that installations such as these would be covered by the model by-law 5 whereby an owner can drive nails or hooks etc into the inside of common property walls (for instance) for the purpose of installing insect screens or in this case a child safety device. Of course this would need to be in keeping with the look of the building but a dark coloured netting can appear to be almost invisible from the outside so may not detract from the look of the building.
The changes to the regulations noted by Whale relate to new guidelines for window openings so I would not consider this relevant in this case.
Having lived in Hong Kong where many balconies are netted for child safety I think it is time that properly tested, approved and installed netting was exempt from needing strata approval provided it is unobtrusive which it was in the buildings I lived in.
Many apartments these days have large balconies with furniture on them set up for entertaining so that keeping children off the balcony is unfeasable at times. While off course the children are supervised if a plant pot or lounge chair is close to the rail an accident can happen even with a parent there.
Another solution I saw in Hong Kong was to add a higher temporary railing to the inside of the balcony rail using an expandable system like the security barriers used to shut off areas by security staff. This had the benefil that it was removable and so only used when entertaing on the balcony. The owners corporations may find this more acceptable than netting. They are not chaep but they are moveable so can be sold when no longer needed.
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