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Topic
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Dear Jim
I and my wife are living in an apartment on the lower ground floor facing the public pavement and grass lawn. Every morning there are pet owners walking their dogs which may poo or urinate at random. Our strata scheme is responsible for cleaning the pavement and lawn at our strata scheme expense.
There is a particular woman dog owner who likes to bring her dog to poo and urinate in the lawn/pavement though she takes the poo with a plastic bag afterwards. Last month our building manager issued a directive asking residents not to let their dogs to do it in the lawn or pavement as dog urine and poos breeds and attracts flies and mosquitoes which creates a health hazards to all our residents. I therefore politely requested the woman to avoid letting her dog to poo and urinate on the lawn and pavement in front of my apartment. However, she responded angrily and said she had the perfect legal right to do it as the pavement and lawn are council property and used a lot of abusive and foul languages against me.
Since then, every morning between 7:30am and 8:30am, she carries her dog to the lawn in front of our apartment, then puts it down and wait for the dog until it has finished the pooing and urinating. It become a daily routine which appears to me that this is an intentional malicious act by her to create nuisance and health hazards to adversely impact on my peaceful living conditions. As it is apparent she does it daily to defy my advice and provoke me. This morning I could not endure anymore of her challenge and asked her not to intentionally treat the public lawn as her dog’s toilet. She again reiterated that she had the legal right to do it and would do it again. It appears she may not be resident of our strata scheme. I had taken a photo of the woman and the dog. Could you please advise what legal avenues options could I have to stop such malicious act if
(1) she is a non resident
(2) she is a resident
Could I make a complaint
(1)our strata manager
(2) our local council
(3) engage a lawyer to sue this woman?
Please note that the lawn and pavement are COUNCIL PROPERTY.
Your good advice is much appreciated and anticipated.
Regards,
fight4justice
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Replies
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Is it possible to set up a sprinkler on a timer?
fight4justice – If I was in your situation I would immediately contact your local council and ask for their assessment of the situation. However, you may be disappointed by their reply.
From the NSW Government Companion Animals Act 1998 No 8720 Dogs defecating in public place(1) If a dog defecates in a public place:
(a) the owner of the dog, or
(b) if the owner is not present at the relevant time and another person who is of or above the age of 16 years is in charge of the dog at that time—that other person,
must immediately remove the dog’s faeces and properly dispose of them.
Maximum penalty: 8 penalty units.If the lady picks up the dog ‘poo’ then she may be abiding by the laws.
As a long shot if the dog urine is substantially killing the grass on the Council property or is causing a health hazard then it may be considered a ‘nuisance dog’ under [s(e) and s(f)] of the NSW Government Companion Animals Act 1998 No 87:
Division 1A Nuisance dogs32A Nuisance dogs(1) For the purposes of this section, a dog is a nuisance if the dog:
(a) is habitually at large, or
(b) makes a noise, by barking or otherwise, that persistently occurs or continues to such a degree or extent that it unreasonably interferes with the peace, comfort or convenience of any person in any other premises, or
(c) repeatedly defecates on property (other than a public place) outside the property on which it is ordinarily kept, or
(d) repeatedly runs at or chases any person, animal (other than vermin and, in relation to an animal, otherwise than in the course of droving, tending, working or protecting stock) or vehicle, or
(e) endangers the health of any person or animal (other than vermin and, in relation to an animal, otherwise than in the course of droving, tending, working or protecting stock), or
(f) repeatedly causes substantial damage to anything outside the property on which it is ordinarily kept.
In the olden days you might have chosen that moment to hurl the contents of your bedpan out into the street!
Seriously though, is the grass part of the strata common property or public land? If it is common property, the owners corp might be able to put up a low fence to delineate it as private. It could be as little as 30cm high and the sort of garden bed border edging that just pushes into the soil and costs little. Your dog walker would have to be bold to lift the dog over.
I was about to write sprinkler but someone beat me to it. Perfect time to water your garden as well in all seriousness.
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