How do we tighten loose reno laws?

At a recent SCA NSW Owner’s Seminar, informed speakers advised owners of a flaw or omission in Fair Trading’s Model By-laws.  

Minor Renovations are now permitted within individual lots under certain fairly loose conditions. These renovations, although requiring plans and qualified tradespeople to do the work in most cases, do not require a by-law to be lodged with Land and Property Information. The problem seems obvious to anyone who has had problems with unauthorised work being done on the sly within their strata scheme. Over the years, with changes of lot ownership, repairs to these ‘renovations’ become the financial responsibility of the Owners Corporation.

Minutes of meetings where Minor Renovations are approved by ordinary resolution inevitably become buried over the years, and as memories fade, having no by-law registered, the same problem of who pays, may well occur with these authorised renovations. New owners will be unaware that they are responsible for cracks and leaks that later develop within their lot; it would be a pretty amazing conveyancer who might go the extra yards to dig that deep.

In the following draft by-law, I have deliberately not included hard flooring, because another speaker at the SCA Owners Seminar spoke to us of the flaws in flooring laws (pun intended).  If you are not comfortable with the sounds emanating from your neighbours’ lot, it is incumbent upon you to pay for an acoustic engineer’s report. This will only tell you if the decibels are too high. It doesn’t cover the doof doof sound of stocking feet or the startling sound of cutlery dropped on the hard floor or dining chairs pushed in and out from the table. Not loud noises, but nonetheless not how it was before the soft flooring was removed; over your bedroom, it’s hard to escape if you are recuperating from the flu or having trouble sleeping. The truth is, if the lot owner knew before they installed the so-called ‘insulated’ timber flooring that you would be able to track them around their flat and be aware of their comings and goings, they’d probably have thought twice about it.

The suggestion was, to have the lot owner pay for their own tests so the OC is aware of the impact on all occupiers. That’s a whole other kettle of fish, . . . but in the meantime . . .

How does this additional by-law sound to cover responsibility for minor renovations? I am not a lawyer and didn’t finish high school. Don’t run with this without having it checked by a grown up.

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Minor Renovations By-law

On the conditions set out in this by-law and with prior majority approval by ordinary resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the corporation by a majority of the votes of lot holders present and voting on the resolution, each Owner has the authority to carry out Minor Renovations to the common property in connection with the Owner’s lot and, once installed, to maintain the approved Minor Renovations.

The owners corporation, when considering an Owner’s proposal to conduct Minor Renovations may impose conditions on any approval and must not unreasonably withhold their approval.

The lot owner must submit a by-law outlining their proposal for approval by a simple majority of the votes of lot holders present and which will be lodged, at the lot owner’s expense, with Land and Property Information.

Before obtaining the approval of the owners corporation, an owner of a lot must give written notice of proposed minor renovations to the owners corporation, including the following:
(a) details of the work, including copies of any plans,
(b) duration and times of the work,
(c) details of the persons carrying out the work, including qualifications to carry out the work,
(d) arrangements to manage any resulting rubbish or debris.

An owner of a lot must ensure that:

(a) any damage caused to any part of the common property by the carrying out of minor renovations by or on behalf of the owner is repaired, and
(b) the minor renovations and any repairs are carried out in a competent and proper manner.

The by-­laws of a strata scheme may provide for the following:

(a) additional work that is to be a minor renovation for the purposes of this section,
(b) permitting the owners corporation to delegate its functions under this section to the strata committee.

This section does not apply to the following work:

(a) work that consists of cosmetic work for the purposes of section 109,
(b) work involving structural changes,
(c) work that changes the external appearance of a lot, including the installation of an external access ramp, (d) work involving waterproofing,
(e) work for which consent or another approval is required under any other Act,
(f) work that is authorised by a by­law made under this Part or a common property rights by­law,
(g) any other work prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.