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Our Q&A posts this week:

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Latest Articles

NSW: Q&A Can the committee lock the gates outside of pool open hours?

NSW: Q&A Can the committee lock the gates outside of pool open hours?

 
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata
Question: Our swimming pool open hours are between 8 am and 9:30 pm daily. Can the committee decide to lock the pool gates outside of these times? Our Strata Manager says "No"!
 
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Strata Vault
Strata & Airbnb: How to stop airbnb in your building

Strata & Airbnb: How to stop airbnb in your building

 
Reuben Schwarz, BnbGuard
Airbnb and other short-term letting sites have taken Australia by storm. Unfortunately, these rentals often negatively affect the neighbours around them. Find out how to stop airbnb in your building.

 
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QLD: Q&A What changes can you make to an apartment?

 
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal 
Question: What changes can you make to an apartment? The contract between the developer and a purchaser contained a clause empowering them to frost the glass surrounds on their private rooftop terrace.
 
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SA: Q&A Repairing exhaust fan to stop cooking smells from my unit

 
Tony Johnson, Horner Management
Question: It seems my exhaust fan needs replacing as the neighbour is complaining of cooking smells. Is the repair/replacement my cost or up to the strata to fix?

 
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Property Audit & Assurance

NSW: Q&A Water damage on my ceiling from the apartment upstairs

 
 Leanne Habib, Premium Strata
Question: Who is responsible for the water damage on my ceiling and the white goods in the kitchen caused by the apartment upstairs? Their laundry upstairs is in a cupboard and is not plumbed in properly. This has flooded my kitchen numerous times.

 
Read More

QLD: Q&A Short Term Letting Insurance in Far North Queensland

 
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal and
Lia De Sousa, Whitbread Insurance Brokers 

Question: I am an owner occupier of one half of a duplex in FNQ. The other half is used solely for short term letting. I feel it is not fair that I need to pay more for my share of strata insurance due to the need for short term letting insurance.

 
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NSW: Smoking in Strata Buildings

NSW: Smoking in Strata Buildings

 
Bannermans Lawyers
Smoking is one of the major sources of disputes in strata schemes. It can cause numerous problems for strata schemes, potentially undermining the amenity of the building, increasing common property repair and cleaning costs and causing fire hazards. It can even result in compensation orders being made against owners of tenanted strata lots owned as an investment property.
 
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NSW: Democracy is stuffed in Strata Management

NSW: Democracy is stuffed in Strata Management

 
Bailey Compton, Leverage Group – Academy & Solicitors
The amendments to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, introduced in December 2015, have made strata schemes totally undemocratic. I know the legislation was designed to stop proxy harvesting; however, the new legislation has been drafted in such a way that two people can control an owners corporation.

 
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Last Edition's Star Article

NSW: Q&A Overruling Strata Committee decisions

NSW: Q&A Overruling Strata Committee decisions

 
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata
Question: What are deemed as justifiable reasons for an owner’s corporation to call a vote to overrule its strata committee decisions? What proportion of the vote is required to overrule strata committee decisions?
 
Read More

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Quick QLD Q&A

We sometimes receive interesting questions into the site which aren't quite long enough to create into a post. We thought we'd share some here. We recently received the following question:
QLD: Past body corporate members in the strata title standard format plan put in place at an AGM that future tenants/ owners should be over 55 yrs age as the current occupiers were aged persons.
Is that regarded as a preference and not legal? There is no signage to indicate any reference to 55 yrs.
One of the units is on the market for sale and I am endeavouring to produce some informative documentation for potential buyers. 

Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal replied: 
There is simply no way you can restrict occupants by age under the BCCM Act. Section 180(4) covers it with a specific example.
The only way it could be done is a planning approval condition issued by the local authority.

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Strata Living in Australia: It should not be just a complex, it should be a community!

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NSW: Are your windows safe?

QLD: Solar energy apartments thanks to panels built-in to new Brisbane block

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VIC: The City of Melbourne is partnering with the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) to rate 20 apartment buildings in water and energy use efficiency


ACT: The ACT Government mimics the banks by gouging unit owners

WA: High-rise storm brewing again in Cottesloe


TAS: Airbnb extending to Hobart's outer suburbs, tenants' union says, as housing crisis continues

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