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I have recently bought 'Off the Plan'. Once completed my apartment will have a 20sqm front terrace (entry into the apartment is via this terrace).
The contract states that up to two pets are allowed. I have two cats.
My front terrace will be split level with a 3 step height difference between the two sections. I would like to partition off a section at the beginning of the stairs (approx 8sqm) and enclose it in low visibility cat mesh (https://www.catmax.com.au/clearnet-enclosures.php), in order to allow my cats some outdoor space, but so as not to allow them to bother neighbours or soil common areas (I already do this at my current home so my cats are used to this).
The plan is to have the entire terrace (cat section included), “designed” sympathetically, by a landscape design company so that the mesh is as unobtrusive as possible, with lots of planting etc to help disguise it.
I am in NSW and wonder how likely it will be that the Body Coporate will refuse this?
Also, as this is a new development & I would like to do this as soon as I move in, is it the developer I approach? Are they in essence the 'Body Corporate' until the owners move in & take over?
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There's a debate going on over HERE about 'safety nets' to prevent children falling off balconies. I wonder if pet lovers would have an opinion.
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.
At least this mesh is almost invisible, and for pets, it probably could be installed lower down and almost out of sight on a balcony, or in a section of a balcony or terrace.
deliria1 said:
The plan is to have the entire terrace (cat section included), “designed” sympathetically, by a landscape design company so that the mesh is as unobtrusive as possible, with lots of planting etc to help disguise it.
I am in NSW and wonder how likely it will be that the Body Coporate will refuse this?Also, as this is a new development & I would like to do this as soon as I move in, is it the developer I approach? Are they in essence the 'Body Corporate' until the owners move in & take over?
The developer is, to all intents and purposes, the Owners Corporation in the initial period up to the point when the first AGM is held. However, they are severely restricted in what they can and can't do in that period as regard contracts and by-laws. They can't, for instance, “make, amend or repeal a by-law in such a manner that a right is conferred or an obligation is imposed on one or more, but not all, owners or in respect of one or more, but not all, lots.”
Any proposed contracts and by-laws have to be confirmed (or not) at the first AGM.
So, in short, sooner or later you are going to have to sit down with your new neighbours and get their approval. Just to give you an example, I once bought into a building which was pet friendly according to the model by-laws but the newly-elected chairman tried to push through a by-law banning pets at the first AGM. He failed but the ensuing battle ripped the building apart (and led, indirectly to the creation of Flat Chat).
So I would scan the proposed by-laws and see if there's anything you might fall foul of. The one that springs to mind is that the appearance of your terrace may have to be in keeping with the rest of the building. If you don't have that or can find a way around it, you could be OK.
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.
Had a chat with someone from Fair Trading about this and basically the Owners Corporation exists right now, even before the first AGM, but the developer is obviously the majority voter (for want of a better term).
Have a look at the proposed by-laws (which should have been registered with the Strata Plan) and see if there's anything you might fall foul of. You may want to sit down with the developer (and any other owners who want to participate) and agree on a way forward.
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.
As a strata manager & strata owner I am very impressed that you care enough about your animals & especially your neighbours to want the best for both. There is nothing worse than cats fouling other people's property & wandering the complex.
A majority of people like to have an animal & your solution would have me recommending it to my owners corporations for approval
You're obviously prepared to go to a lot of effort and expense in order to do the right thing, and whilst I admire that approach, it may all be for naught if your Owners Corporation (O/C) or the Developer, as they who hold the majority Unit of Entitlement, does as you suggest, just say no!
Why not limit your expense by purchasing a suitably-sized freestanding cat enclosure, and place that on your terrace together with the screening/landscaping you have suggested, but again freestanding in pots/planters?
In that way you don't need to seek the consent of your O/C as you're not altering or fastening anything to the Common Property (CP), and you’'re limiting your expense whilst you “test the waters” with your neighbours and your O/C.
Then if the worst happens and you receive complaints, you can offer to remove everything freestanding with little effort and with no damage to CP, and concurrently propose to replace that with the gold-plated option that you're considering now.
In that way, your O/C could claim a “win” – and that may well be just what you need; as they say “slowly, slowly catchy monkey”.
And here’s a couple of options to be going on with: https://www.catmeshenclosures.com.au/cat-enclosures.html
https://www.catsafe.com.au/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.
There is a lot of flexibility in Strata living … it just doesn't seem to have reached you building … yet.
Do you have the standard by-laws that include this clause:
5 Damage to common property
(1) An owner or occupier of a lot must not mark, paint, drive nails or screws or the like into, or otherwise damage or deface, any structure that forms part of the common property without the approval in writing of the owners corporation.
(2) An approval given by the owners corporation under subclause (1) cannot authorise any additions to the common property.
(3) This by-law does not prevent an owner or person authorised by an owner from installing:
(a) any locking or other safety device for protection of the owner’s lot against intruders, or
(b) any screen or other device to prevent entry of animals or insects on the lot, or
(c) any structure or device to prevent harm to children.
If you have, I can't recommend that you go ahead and install the net as a child safety measure … however it might be what I would do.
But seriously, if you really, really think your cat net isn't a major intrusion on the look of the building – and I mean if you think you could prove that at a tribunal – why not go ahead and install the net and let them prove otherwise? Let them make the running – IF you really think they have no complaint.
This Forum is awash with stories of people who have done the wrong thing and got away with it. If you think you're doing the right thing, then do it.
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.
(3) This by-law does not prevent an owner or person authorised by an owner from installing:
(b) any screen or other device to prevent entry of animals or insects on the lot, or
If such a screen also has the “unexpected” bonus effect of keeping your animals IN as well as others out, wouldn’t this be an acceptable installation.?
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