In a recent case, NCAT has decided that a landlord falls under no obligation to ensure that their tenants comply with the by-laws in a strata scheme.

The Case
The case of Filetti -v- Eales; Eales -v- Filetti [2018] NSWCATCD 66 involved a dispute about noise between owners and residents in an apartment building in Vaucluse, Sydney.  Ms Filetti owns and lives in an apartment in that building.  She claimed that the tenants who lived in the apartment above hers created excessive noise. Ms Filetti applied to NCAT for orders against the tenants and the owner of the apartment above, Mr Eales, to require them to treat the floor space of their apartment to prevent the transmission of excessive noise. Ms Filetti also sought an order to compel Mr Eales to require his tenants to comply with the by-laws concerning the noise, and an order to require Mr Eales to compensate her for breaches of the by-laws committed by his tenants.

The Decision
NCAT dismissed Ms Filetti’s claim.  NCAT was not satisfied that Ms Filetti had proven that Mr Eales’ tenants created excessive noise.  NCAT accepted that it had power to make an order to require a lot owner to comply with the by-laws.  However, NCAT did not consider that it could make an order requiring an owner to ensure his or her tenants comply with the by-laws.  NCAT observed that the strata legislation does not impose an obligation on landlords to ensure their tenants comply with the by-laws (although NCAT did find that a landlord had capacity to require his or her tenants to comply with the by-laws).  For that reason, NCAT dismissed Ms Filetti’s claim for an order for Mr Eales to ensure that his tenants complied with the by-laws.

The Claim for Compensation
Ms Filetti also made a claim for compensation against Mr Eales for a breach of the by-laws by him.  NCAT expressed doubt that it had power to make an order for compensation in the circumstances.  NCAT considered that the decision of the Court of Appeal in The Owners Strata Plan 50276 -v- Thoo [2013] NSWCA 27 suggested that compensation is not available in respect of a breach of a by-law either in NCAT or a court of general jurisdiction.

Conclusion
Ultimately, Ms Filetti’s claim was unsuccessful because she did not prove that Mr Eales’ tenants were making excessive noise in breach of the by-laws. However, the more interesting aspects of the case are the findings by NCAT that it cannot make orders requiring a lot owner to ensure his or her tenants comply with the by-laws or order one lot owner to pay another owner compensation for a breach of the by-laws.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

To contact us during this period please leave a message and we’ll get back to you on our return.

Thank you for your continued support. We’re looking for a new team member and reaching out to our strata community to help find one.

We’ve been servicing the strata industry for almost 40 years and as our business and the strata industry continue to grow, so does our team of strata experts.

We’re Hiring!

Do you know of a Strata Lawyer looking for a new opportunity who would love to:

• Work with an established and highly regarded law firm
• Learn from leading lawyers who are making new law
• Work across a wide variety of matters
• Progress their career
• Enjoy flexible working conditions
• Enjoy a great salary package

Confidential

If you know of a strata lawyer looking for a new opportunity please contact partner, Adrian Mueller, direct on adrianmueller@muellers.com.au

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Thanks strata for attending our recent forum. In the busy and hectic world of strata, we appreciate you taking the time and effort to join us.

We hope you enjoyed the forum as much as we did presenting and sharing our knowledge.

As promised, please find below copies of all presentations and papers.

If there is anything we can assist you with please do not hesitate to contact us here or one of our lawyers below.

How have the New Laws Shaped Up?

Warwick van Ede 
The Dawn of a New Era  I  Strata Renewals  and Collective Sales  Presentation and  Paper

Daniela Terruso 
How to Avoid the Pitfalls and Correct the Mistakes  I  By-law Reviews  Presentation and Paper

Faiyaaz Shafiq
The New Procedures and Traps for Young Players  I   Levy Recovery  Presentation and Paper

Adrian Mueller
Goodbye, Thoo  I  Novel Compensation Claims Against Owners Corporations Presentation and Paper

Adrian Mueller
How to Make You Look Good  I  The 5 Most Useful By-laws Presentation and Paper

Helen Amanatiadis
The New Regime  I  Building Bonds and Inspection Reports  Presentation and Paper

Adrian Mueller
The Good, Bad and Ugly  I  The New Strata Laws Presentation and Paper

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

JS Mueller & Co has been serving the strata industry for almost four decades, since 1979, and as our business grows, so does our team of strata experts. As such, we’re proud to announce the addition of three new strata lawyers to our team.

Adrian Mueller partner JS Mueller & Co said “our team of strata lawyers is growing fast and we pride ourselves on recruiting experts with the right mix of experience and knowledge helping us to continue to expand our presence as a leader in the strata industry. We’d also like to thank our existing clients for their ongoing support.”

“In my 40 years as senior partner of our firm I have not experienced a team of lawyers as proficient as the team we have today. I am proud that we are able to provide unparalleled service to our clients from the best strata lawyers in NSW”, said Jeffrey Mueller.

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to our newest team members.

Warwick VanEde I Lawyer I 28 Years I Strata Law I Property Law I Litigation
Warwick is a NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in property law who has significant experience advising on strata and community title developments. He has a focus on providing assistance to developers and owners corporations including drafting by-laws, community and strata management statements, conveyancing and all aspects of strata law. He is also an accomplished litigator having appeared as advocate in most senior courts in NSW. Full profile.

Helen Amanatiadis I Lawyer I 20 Years I Strata Law I Property Law I Litigation I Construction
Helen has extensive experience acting for owners corporations, particularly in relation to construction related matters. Her experience includes building contract negotiations, preparing payment schedules and adjudication responses in security of payment claims by contractors against owners corporations, and acting in building contract and defects disputes. Helen also advises on insurance claims, easements, compulsory acquisitions, strata disputes and by-laws. Full profile.

Daniela Terruso I Lawyer I 15 Years I Strata Law I Property Law
Daniela has significant experience in providing legal services to owners corporations and developers in a wide variety of areas. Her background includes working on the acquisition of development sites and preparation of off the plan contracts, by-laws and management statements for vacant land, housing and strata and community title developments. Daniela also specialises in drafting complex by-laws. Full profile.

Our Team
We are continuing to build our team. In our view, there is no substitute for experience and that is why we have assembled a team of lawyers that have real expertise in strata law. As our firm further grows, you can expect that we will continue to keep you up to date with all of the latest developments in strata law.

If you are interested in working for JS Mueller & Co Lawyers please send us a covering letter and resume.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Illegally parked vehicles taking up visitor parking spaces in strata blocks are becoming more and more of an issue as the Sydney community grows and creates more demand for parking. 

It’s reported that residents and non-residents are taking up visitor car parking with their extra cars, strangers dumping unregistered vehicles and apartments near major centres or transport hubs being targeted by commuters, all ignoring the rules and causing grief across Sydney’s high-rise strata communities.

So, what can be done?

Are owners corporations powerless to remove illegally parked vehicles from visitor parking spaces in strata blocks? A recent article in SMH Domain suggests this is the case.

But what is the true position? Download to find out what can be done about Illegally Parked Vehicles in Strata. 

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

The Supreme Court has rejected a proposal by an owners corporation to upgrade its common property in a way that would have impeded access to an owner’s car space.

The building is a residential strata scheme in inner Sydney containing 80 residential apartments, 27 car space lots and common property.

A particular car space, not attached to any apartment lot within the building, was purchased as an investment.

The owners corporation of the building proposed to change the use of and upgrade an area of common property adjacent to this car space. This upgrade, if implemented, would have impeded the ability of the owner or tenant to drive a standard size vehicle into and out of car space.

What are the broader implications of this case? Read our case paper to find out Common Property and Supreme Court

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

13 March 2018, was the deadline for every owners corporation in NSW to have installed compliant window safety devices on applicable windows throughout their strata schemes.

Recently, NSW Fair Trading updated information on their website concerning window safety devices for high rise strata blocks.

However, it’s important to note that the information uploaded is incorrect on the NSW Fair Trading website.

This is resulting in some incorrect conclusions that it is possible for an owners corporation to relieve itself from the responsibility for installing window safety devices.

As a result of the incorrect window safety device information on the NSW Fair Trading website it has raised a number of questions:

1. Can the installation of window safety devices be delegated to each individual lot owner?
2. Who is responsible for the maintaining, repairing and replacing window safety lock devices after they have been installed?
3. Can a window lock by-law be put in place to relieve the owners corporation of responsibility?
4. Why is the NSW Fair Trading window safety device information incorrect?

What is the correct information for window safety devices? Our paper will explain – Window Safety Devices and By-laws.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Short term accommodation, can it be stopped?

Does short term accommodation require Council approval or is it prohibited in most local government areas in NSW?

Is a by-law still an effective way to prohibit short term accommodation in a strata scheme?

We’ve prepared a short paper to help you understand the ins and outs of this area of strata law Short Term Accommodation.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

It’s widely accepted that holiday lets have a more profound effect on apartment blocks than stand-alone dwellings, for obvious reasons.

Late last year, the Privy Council in London ruled on a piece of overseas strata legislation that was basically a cut-and-paste of NSW strata law, section 139 (2), which says that by-laws can’t interfere with owners letting their units.

But what do the ‘legal eagles’ think…

Adrian Mueller of JS Mueller & Co says that rather than a by-law restricting the number of days a property could be let I would… “Advise the owners corporation to make a new by-law that would prohibit an owner or occupier of a lot using the lot … for unlawful short-term accommodation”.

To read the full Australian Financial Review (AFR) article click here  Strata Lawyers Dissect Anti-Airbnb Rules.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.