Robbiejuve

Hi All.

It’s been a while but I thought I would update this thread with the final outcome of this issue. A huge thanks to all that replied.

I had a sit down with the EC and was very courteous, thanked them for their time and laid out my argument for having a cat. This was not formal mediation, just a meeting I asked for and to which they agreed.

They stuck to their guns and didn’t want a bar of it so push came to shove and I told them that I was keeping the cat and if they had a problem with it, THEY could take me to tribunal but I warned them that they had unreasonably withheld permission so they should expect to lose.

Thats the last I heard about it, no issues since and my cats are happilly living in my unit. 2 cats now, back then it was 1. I actually foster cats so a revolving door of cats actually.

Thanks all.

Thank you for all your excellent replies.

You are correct in that it was wrong of me to obtain a cat without permission and I did apologise for this in my letter to strata management, the same letter I then went on to officially asks for permission and which was subsequently denied.

Also note that in our notice to comply we were asked to seek alternative arrangements for the cat and we actually did this and there is no cat on the premises at this very moment, so right now we are not breaching that particular law.

My next move is what confuses me. The strata manager told me to go down the mediation path if I wasn’t happy with the decision but Jimmy and Blue’s replies suggest I ignore the notice, get the cat back in the apartment and wait for them to take me to mediation?

I was under the impression that if I didn’t comply with their notice to get rid of the cat they could immediately enforce the $550 fine (or whatever the amount is) ? If there is no risk of that fine then I will happily have to cat back.

I think it is totally unfair that I have to pay for mediation just to get a proper reason from EC for not having a cat but I don’t want to risk a larger financial cost by having a $550 fine enforced on me.

Thanks again for your time, much appreciated.