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It ever there was a group of people who deserved to be called the silent majority, it’s strata tenants.
Tenants make up more than half the population of strata units but do they make half the noise? I don’t think so and I wish tenants would complain more.
See, when tenants have problems with neighbours, too often they think no one cares, no one is listening they don’t want to cause trouble and they can move as soon as their lease is up anyway.
I knew three tenants whose next door neighbour was a selfish brat who thought he had the right to make as much noise as he wanted, often coming home in the early hours and playing music at top volume.
The guy below him – another tenant – was also copping it. I only found out about this after the brat had started partying at 4 am and the police had to be called.
But it turned out this had been going on for years and the tenants had never complained. That’s why when I asked the Executive Committee to issue a notice to comply, they responded as if I was the only person who had any issues and they were doing me a huge favour.
The problem has been resolved now but it could have been dealt with sooner. So please, renters, speak up.
The battle in strata isn’t between owners and renters, it’s between decent people and dickheads.
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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I totally agree with you on this Jimmy. I was a tenant for 12 years in various Sydney apartments, Most of the time I found the owners to be pleasant, however there was always the unspoken “understanding” that owners had all the rights and power in the complex and tenants were merely renters with few rights.
When owners would have late night parties, it was frowned upon for any of the tenants to raise the fact that they were disturbed, however if a tenant had a party the resident owners were all over them with threats of contacting the landlord and getting you evicted.
Now I am an owner I strongly believe that the tenants have the same rights and responsibilities as the owners in our building do. Some owners in our building feel that they have sway of how the building should be run regardless of what tenants and some owners may think. You are right Jimmy the battle is between decent people and dickheads.
andyj said
… however there was always the unspoken “understanding” that owners had all the rights and power in the complex and tenants were merely renters with few rights…If you were in the ACT the wording of the default rules (aka by-laws, articles) is, for example, “A unit owner must not use the unit, or permit it to be used, in a way that causes a nuisance or substantial annoyance to an owner, occupier or user of another unit.” Similar wording is used for other rules about use of the common property, hazardous use etc.
Under definitions, the default rules have “In these rules: … owner, occupier or user, of a unit, includes an invitee or licensee of an owner, occupier or user of a unit.”
I take this to mean that pretty much everything applies equally to owners and tenants. The only exception I can think of potentially gives tenants additional freedoms not available to owners in as much as a rule has no effect if it is inconsistent with any legislation, including legislation that give protections to tenants.
Perhaps the wording is similar in other states or territories. If not, by-laws/rules can be changed at a general meeting to explicitly apply fairly and equally to owners and tenants (and guests and any other user of a unit) and it would probably be in the interests of owners to make it so. I expect it would be easy to add one rule to say “All rights and obligations imposed in these rules apply equally to owners, tenants and any other occupier or user of a unit, including their invitees and licencees.” That would be useful both to make explicit that tenants have the same rights as everyone else to enjoy their unit and the common property safely and peacefully etc but also that they have the same constraints on poor behaviour as anyone else, no more, no less.
Love that last comment, oh so true.
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