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Topic
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I live as a tenant in a block of units with balconies. My adjacent neighbor continually smokes some noxious stuff on the balcony and the foul smoke usually drifts into my unit, often throughout the night. The body corporate & my agent are not interested in my compliant, is there anything I can do ?
My lease has a clause prohibiting smoking in the unit. I asked the strata agent and my agent if this applies to other units and smoking on balconies and common property but got no reply. My agent did not disclose the no smoking clause in my unit this before the signing the lease. If smoking is allowed on balconies but in not the unit , is this a serious non-disclosure and grounds to terminate the lease.
In new developments the smokers took to keeping dogs on the balcony which barked all night, resulting in the strata manager taking action on both issues
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Watchman, in short, they don’t have the right to allow their toxic ‘smoke drift’ to spread to other people’s dwellings even balconies. You will have to find the part in the NSW Strata Titles Act mentioning ‘dangerous nuisance’ which second hand smoke definitely is (even if not tobacco smoke). You will have to ask your Owners Corporation and or Strata Manager in writing to order them to stop via a Notice to Comply and if they refuse or refuse to talk to you within your urgent timeframe, go straight to the NSW Office of Fair Trading using the mediation form on their web site.
Interestingly, they are also disturbing your ‘peaceful enjoyment’ under the Act. ‘Peaceful enjoyment’ isn’t just about noise so look that up in the Act too.
You’ll probably have to go in hard, Watchman, and keep your skin thick. You know what most smokers are like!
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