Senior Lawyer, Adrian Mueller reminisces…

“In 1980 my parents took me to the Gold Coast for a holiday. It was my first adventure in Queensland. I was 2 years old. We stayed at the (in)famous Iluka hotel.

The Iluka was built in the 1970’s. It was an iconic building – one of the Gold Coast’s first high rises. It had 72 luxury apartments and was a stone’s throw from Cavill Avenue.

It held fond memories for me and, I imagine, many families who enjoyed wonderful times together at the Iluka.

You can imagine my horror when I recently discovered that the Iluka has been demolished. Why? Because of concrete cancer.

You see the owner of the building was faced with a dilemma. Repair the concrete spalling which had been left untreated for decades at exorbitant cost or demolish the building. The owner chose to demolish.

A leading architect Professor Holden, Head of Architecture at the Griffith University in Qld, has said that high rises built in the 1970’s have an average lifespan of 40 years.

That is a sobering thought for apartment owners many of whom cannot afford special levies to repair widespread concrete spalling.

So what is the solution? For some buildings, it may simply be too late. The Iluka is a case in point.

For other buildings, the key is preventative maintenance. As unpalatable as it might be, apartment owners need to realise that spending a little to detect and treat concrete spalling at an early stage saves money in the long run.”

Adrian Mueller also acknowledges that the challenge for strata managers and other stakeholders is to convince owners to invest in proactive maintenance to protect their investment by spending a little in the short term to save big money down the track.

Says  Adrian “Convincing owners to spend now to save later is no mean feat. But it is achievable. And doing so can avoid potential disasters.

I will miss the Iluka.”

Adrian specialises in strata law and those areas of the law that particularly deal with building defects.

“An apartment is someone’s home and most valuable asset. That is something worth protecting and knowing where you stand is vital” says Adrian.

For more information on concrete cancer, visit the following websites – Concrete Cancer or Remedia Structural Repairs

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

Short term lettings might void strata insurance policies leaving no cover for property damage caused to strata apartments and common property by unruly tennants.

This issue came to the fore again last month when a Canadian couple returned to their property to discover it had been wrecked by visitors who had booked the property via the popular Airbnb site.

Unfortunately, short term lettings of strata units are becoming a major contributor to building disharmony with the current law not providing effective solutions.

At JS Mueller & Co we believe each building is different and that the problem of short term lettings can only be dealt with properly by way of specific by-laws giving owners corporations greater powers to deal with the problem.

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

Strata law reforms in NSW will be further delayed with changes now not due to come into place until July 2016.

The plan to reform the state’s 50-year-old strata laws was first flagged in 2011 but a series of ministerial changes have hampered the process.

For further information see – SMH and Strata Law Reforms

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

Bruce Bentley, partner JS Mueller & Co presented recently at a Legalwise Seminar ‘Strata & Community Title Law Reform’ and Complex Group Title.’

For more information read the paper here – Strata & Community Title Law Reform and Complex Group Title

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

Cantonese speaking, JS Mueller & Co Lawyer, Clifford To, talks Strata Law with SBS Cantonese Radio, nation-wide.

If you understand Cantonese and/or have Chinese Cantonese speaking clients listen to the full radio interview here – Chinese Property Owners in Australia

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

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About JS Mueller & Co

JS Mueller & Co has been servicing the strata industry across NSW for almost 40 years. We are a specialist firm of strata lawyers with in depth and unmatched experience in, and comprehensive knowledge of strata law and levy collection. We are there to assist you every step of the way.

JS Mueller & Co Headquarters
Level 1, 240 Princes Highway
Arncliffe Sydney Australia 2205
www.muellers.com.au

Media inquiries: Contact Julie Schoneveld on 02 9562 1266 or 0435 939 491

Short term tenancies have long posed problems for community living.  The problem most commonly arises in communities where there is a mixture of permanent residents and short term tenants.  Issues of noise, damage to common property and inappropriate behaviour are often attributed to short term tenants.  Short term tenants vary from backpackers to holidaymakers to short term workers.

Strata schemes have tried to both regulate short term tenants and prohibit short term tenancies by use of by-laws.

Effectively regulating the behaviour of short term tenants has proved difficult.  Short term tenants are exactly that, short term, and are not generally around long enough to be effectively subjected to the laborious and lengthy procedures set out in the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (“the Act”) for enforcement of by-laws.

Click below to download the presentation and full paper on Short Term Tenancies from our April 2015 seminar:

• JS Mueller & Co Forum Short Term Letting Paper_Apr15
• JS Mueller & Co Forum Short Term Letting Presentation_Apr15

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

How are most strata disputes resolved? What is the difference between strata mediation and strata adjudication? How long does the process take? How much does it cost?

The NSW Government wants most strata disputes to be resolved quickly, cheaply, and out of court. For this reason an entire Chapter of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (“Strata Act”) outlines, in considerable detail, a process for resolving most types of strata disputes.

This process typically involves, first, strata mediation, followed by strata adjudication, and then an appeal to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Click below to download the presentation and full paper on Strata Adjudications and NCAT from our April 2015 seminar:

• JS Mueller & Co Forum Strata Adjudications and NCAT Paper_Apr15
• JS Mueller & Co Forum Strata Adjudications and NCAT Presentation_Apr15

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

What sort of renovations require a by-law?

Renovating an apartment, as opposed to a house requires a different set of approvals, the most obvious is the fact that you have a share in the land along with the other residents. Everything you do inside your own apartment has some effect on everyone else.

There are laws, rules and regulations governing this, known as strata title, and owners corporation so it pays to ensure that you understand what type of renovations require a by-law.

Click below to download the presentation and full paper on Renovation By-laws from our April 2015 seminar:

• Renovation By-laws_Paper Apr15
• Renovation-By-laws_Presentation_Apr15

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

• 11 Steps to Combat Short Term Letting

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

As the notion of living a healthy lifestyle continues to become increasingly prominent within contemporary society on a global scale, smoke-free environments are now being enforced in the form of strata by-laws.

While it is clear that Australia adopts strict smoke-free regulations within public areas and indoor workplaces, restrictions within apartment buildings and/or other multi-unit residencies are a fairly new phenomenon. This can be attributed to the increasing growth of community concern in relation to the harmful health effects that arise as a result of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Should strict by-laws be adopted?

One of the primary justifications as to why smoke-free strata by-laws have come into effect is due to the drifting of second-hand smoke into non-smoking residential property. The Cancer Council NSW offers a ‘Smoke Free Apartment Living Kit‘ and  substantiates such claims by informing community members that their concerns are valid by stating “Scientific studies have measured significant levels of tobacco smoke contaminants in the apartments of non-smoking residents who live in a building where people smoke in other parts of their building”.

Smoke has a tendency to drift throughout a building within apartment lots and common property. Drifting may occur through various mediums including but not inclusive to air conditioning systems, stairwells, balconies and elevator shafts. Resultantly, individuals living within apartments and other multi-unit residencies are placing pressure on owners corporations to pass strata by-laws to prohibit smoking and encourage living in a smoke-free environment.

If smoke-free strata by-laws do come into effect there is no doubt that various positives are apparent. For example, non-smoking individuals will have a reduced exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke and thus reduce the possibility of encountering potential health risks such as asthma. Financial benefits are also evident as smoke-free environments contribute to a reduced risk of fire and cigarette related damage including burn marks on furniture, benches, carpets and walls; equating to reduced cleaning and maintenance costs. Most importantly, individuals living within a smoke-free environment may feel peace-of-mind within a residency that takes preventive measures to improve the health of all.

Or…should people have a right to smoke?

On the contrary, smoke-free by laws have sparked a great deal of fury, particularly towards individuals who prefer to adopt a smoking lifestyle. Smokers believe that such by-laws take away a right of one group at the expense of another and feel it is a denial of their legal rights, believing they should have a right to smoke within the boundaries of their lot. Subsequently, many questions raised include: Are my legal rights infringed? Will a designated smoking area be provided? Can a balance between smokers and non-smokers be struck? & How do I know if I live in a smoke-free environment?

Adrian Mueller, specialist strata lawyer with JS Mueller & Co, says, Strata buildings have the ability to enforce by-laws prohibiting smoking. Existing strata schemes that do not have smoke-free by-laws can bring them in, but only if a 75% majority vote is obtained ”.

Adrian continues by saying, “There are available options to address the problem of smoke drift within apartment blocks. The level of detail within a strata by-law prohibiting smoking will vary due to individual circumstances.  The by-law might ban smoking on any or all of the common property, a lot’s outdoor areas and even a lot’s indoor areas.”

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