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I have a question about dogs and toileting. We have had a dog in our unit for more than two years now. He has always urinated in the gardens of the common property, maybe a couple of times a day. He also goes out onto the street. He never defecates. About three weeks ago, the building manager began sending us emails of complaint about the urinating, claiming that it was damaging plants. I’ve made inquiries and the complaints are originating from one person who is an EC member and on the garden committee. Now we have received an email from the strata manager noting that the by-laws state that we must ‘clean up after your animal’ and ‘ensure your animal is under control’. He now claims that the Community Association has ordered us to not allow the dog to urinate in the common grounds, but there are no written orders as such, just his email.
We are owners and none of this was raised when we were first given permission for a dog, which incidentally was verbal only. They said they’d follow up with written permission but it never came.
My questions are, how reasonable is this? How are we supposed to clean up urination? He is a small dog, and male, so the amount is slight. Does ‘under control’ mean bladder control? And can the strata manager just make up Community Association orders when it pleases him via email? We don’t want any conflict but we love our dog, he never barks or bothers anyone. There are other pet owners in the complex but we seem to be being targeted. Thank you.
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Couple of points – ‘ensure your animal is under control’ – implies that your dog is not on a leash? As far as I understand the term, any dog not on a leash is viewed as not being under the control of its owner – so the strata manager may have a point.
“that we must ‘clean up after your animal’ – how about taking a bottle of water with you on your walks and ‘flushing’ the area urinated on? Shouldn’t need a large bottle for a small dog.
Certainly in our strata, unleashed and unaccompanied animals are at risk of being removed and owners served a breach notice. You don’t say whether you allow your dog to wander on its own.
By the way, I used to love sitting on the lawns of a local park, resting against a beautiful large tree and reading a book – but the smell of dog urine has driven me away.
As Secretary of a large strata, I have found that rarely do people complain over absolutely nothing, so you need to find a way to resolve the issues, rather than argue they are not a problem in the first place.
Good luck.
Well said Pamela. The strata/community manager (assuming you live in a strata scheme within a community association) doesn’t make up rules as he/she goes along. They do however enforce the by-laws of the scheme/association. You need to make yourself very familiar with the wording of your by-laws. If your dog urinates on common property gardens, and the urine damages the plants, that certainly may be a breach of a very common by-law called ‘Damage to common property’.
By letting your dog off a leash near garden beds and plants you are taking a risk of being in breach of the above mentioned by-law. I understand this was not raised when you requested permission to keep an animal, however it is common sense that an owner should not allow their animal to damage the common property. You are responsible for your dogs actions, especially while the dog is not on a leash.
I think that a question like this highlights why Body Corporations are reluctant to allow some animals and if they do have to allow them, to set out highly detailed standards of behaviour from the owner and their animal.
If, as it appears your dog isn’t on a leash then you have an immediate risk of attack. I smell of (indoor) cat and dogs are naturally drawn to me.
I dislike free running dogs ostensibly under control of their owner and am scared of dogs. In my BC there would be immediate action taken just for being off leash.
As for urinating on the plants well our resident gardener would be most displeased and make another complaint.
Many owners corporations have by-laws forbidding pets from roaming unleashed on common property, for a variety of reasons such as peeing, pooing and scaring residents. If your dog thinks your apartment block is its home, it will defend it against “intruders” – like other residents.
Interestingly, there is a discussion elsewhere on this website about who is liable if a dog running free on common property injures or kills a roaming cat.
The law says, if it was in a residential backyard, the cat has entered the dog’s territory at its own risk. But if it’s a public area (like common property) the dog and, by extension, its owner, is at fault.
All dogs should be on a leash in common property (if allowed at all) for the safety and peace of mind of other residents. If owners are too lazy to walk their dogs to somewhere they can run free, then they should think about moving somewhere else.
There are more bad dog owners than there are bad dogs.
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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