Every so often I get the feeling that there must be a strand of DNA that makes people both nit-picking and want to live in strata.
Take the post from a Flatchatter this week who has discovered that the repainting of his block’s common property won’t cover the units’ front doors because they are varnished, not painted.
Really? Don’t you wish there was an over-riding strata regulations that said, forget the letter of the law, go with the spirit or the intent?
For instance, we know visitor parking was not intended to accommodate somebody’s girlfriend who stays five nights a week and goes home to mummy at weekends (taking her Mazda 3 with her).
We shouldn’t have to hire lawyers to prove it at a tribunal.
And we know that just because you can see clothes drying INSIDE someone’s apartment, doesn’t mean they have breached a by-law about laundry being visible from outside the lot.
And we get the fact that laughing and joking on your balcony at 3 am is just as disruptive to neighbours as playing loud music – even though the by-laws say nothing about laughter.
Overdependence on the letter of strata law – rather than its intent – is turning us all into bush lawyers and it’s time we spent less time trying to win and more time trying to get the right result.
You can read about the varnish versus paint conundrum HERE.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Forum (in a similar vein), who’s allowed to send out letters on official strata scheme headed notepaper? That’s HERE.
If a by-law isn’t registered by the designated date, and the committee just changes the date on the document, is it still a valid by-law? That’s HERE.
Our committee has passed all the office-bearer functions – chair, secretary and treasurer – to the strata manager. How can we force them to take them back? That’s HERE.
What documents relating to the strata committee and it’s dealings with owners am I entitled to see? That’s HERE.
And one of our stratagurus explains how NSW is way behind the ACT when it comes to the Coalition’s plans for solar energy in strata. That’s HERE.
You’ll find good advice (and examples of new forms of nit-picking) on the Flat Chat Forum every day.
