A NSW Lot Owner is wondering whether garages can be used exclusively for the storage of items. Leanne Habib, Premium Strata provides the following response.
Question: Does a resident’s right to peace and quiet in a lot (as stipulated in a bylaw) mean that people using a carpark area right outside a lot must keep their noise to a reasonable level?
GET NOTIFIED WHEN WE PUBLISH NEW Q&AS, NEWS AND ARTICLES TO THE SITE
Does a resident’s right to peace and quiet in a lot (as stipulated in a bylaw) mean that people using a carpark area right outside a lot must keep their noise to a reasonable level?
In this instance the exclusive use of the carpark is governed by a bylaw that says “The car space shall not be used except for the purpose of parking a motor vehicle, motorcycle or trailer, in any case, the property of the resident of the proprietor’s lot”.
Instead, delivery trucks, tradie trucks, and anybody who has ‘permission’ from the owner of the carpark comes and goes all day, making slamming doors and reverse beeping. I would have thought the bylaw limited the use of the carpark to the resident’s car only.
Our Strata Manager and committee refuse to help.
Answer: In our view, noise must be kept to a reasonable level.
The standard noise by-law covers this, so yes, in our view they must keep their noise within reasonable levels:
6 NOISE
An owner or occupier of a lot, or any invitee of an owner or occupier of a lot, must not create any noise on a lot or the common property likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot or of any person lawfully using common property.
The fact that your particular by-law states “the property of the resident” suggests that the car space may only be used for storage of the vehicle/property of the resident’s lot, so, provided that these truck are delivering the resident’s property, they might be in compliance with the by-law on that front but in breach of the standard by-law for the excessive noise being caused. The noise may also constitute a “nuisance” under the strata legislation.
This post appears in Strata News #297.
Question: A Lot Owner uses their garage for storage and parks their car on the street. The garage is below my apartment and they are constantly removing items and opening and closing the door. Is this nuisance?
The Strata Complex where I reside has individual garages for each apartment. Unfortunately, there’s one Lot Owner who has decided that they’re ‘entitled’ to store all their personal effects and household items in the garage and leave their motor vehicle parked on the street.
The issue I have with this is that their garage is directly below my apartment. And the Lot Owner in question seems to have a habit of consistently (every day) opening and closing their garage door at all hours. This is now becoming rather annoying and a nuisance when I’m trying to sleep. I would have thought that this may be a breach of the Owners Corporation By-Laws concerning ‘noise’.
Moreover, according to the definition of a ‘garage’ as supplied by the many dictionaries that are available online, the consensus is that a garage is defined as:
- A building for housing a motor vehicle or vehicles;
- A shelter or repair shop for automotive vehicles;
- A garage is a building in which you keep a car.
None of the dictionaries mentions that a garage is a storage facility for any other items other than a car.
I would like guidance on what can be done and if they are breaching any law/s.
Answer: Check your by-laws to determine if you have a “Storage” By-law which basically states that only motor or other vehicles may be stored in a garage.
Check your by-laws to determine if you have a “Storage” By-law which basically states that only motor or other vehicles may be stored in a garage and that other household or other items may not. If the items are visible from outside the garage, they may be in breach of the In-Keeping with the appearance of the building by-law. It may be that the actions of the garage owner constitute “nuisance” under Section 153 of the Schemes Management Act, 2015 (NSW).
You should also check your strata plan and the common property certificate of title because garages are considered “utility lots” under the legislation. From that definition, the garage owner may not be in breach:
- “utility lot” means a lot designed to be used primarily for storage or accommodation of boats, motor vehicles or goods and not for human occupation as a residence, office, shop or the like.
Have a question about noise from a garage area, storage or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
This post appears in Strata News #248.
Read next:
- NSW: Q&A Can I Display a ‘For Sale’ or Political Sign On My Apartment?
- NSW: Q&A Is Living in a Garage Illegal? How Can We Stop This?
- NSW: Q&A Is piano playing for hours a day a breach of our peaceful enjoyment?
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
P: 02 9281 6440
E: [email protected]
You can connect with Leanne & Premium Strata on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn.
These articles are not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.
Visit Strata Noise & Neighbours OR NSW Strata Legislation.
After a free PDF of this article? Log into your existing LookUpStrata Account to download the printable file. Not a member? Simple – join for free on our Registration page.
I live next door in a house to a block of 6 strata units.
One of the owners has a son who visits and stays with his parents. He recently harassed and displayed threatening behaviour towards me when I watered the nature strip and it’s trees whilst his car was parked next to the nature strip, stating that it threw dirt onto the lower part of his car door.
I was screamed at by both he and his wife in unison whilst he displayed threatening behaviour towards me. I was unable to see any likelihood of dirt on the door at all.. His father and other members of the family watched this attack from the footpath outside the unit complex and said nothing.
As they are preventing my peaceful enjoyment of my lot, is there some recourse I can take through Strata Law and his father’s Lot number to prevent this happening again? My family bought this house in 1966 and have never experienced this before. I rang the police but they said they could not do anything.
I am an elderly lady with mobility and medical issues and no one to advocate for me.
Kind regards
Hi Helen
We have received the following response from Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:
You should explain your situation to your strata manager (if you have one).
The “screamers” may be in breach of the by-laws applicable to your scheme, so you should review them. Strata buildings commonly have the following by-laws:
Behaviour of owners and occupiers
An owner or occupier of a lot when on common property must be adequately clothed and must not use language or behave in a manner likely to cause offence or embarrassment to the owner or occupier of another lot or to any person lawfully using common property.
…
Behaviour of invitees
An owner or occupier of a lot must take all reasonable steps to ensure that invitees of the owner or occupier do not behave in a manner likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot or any person lawfully using common property.
Depending on the extent of your fear or harassment, and provided you have adequate evidence, you may be able to apply for a personal violence order against the offenders through the police or your own independent lawyer.
I think half the problem is, modern day units simply don’t have enough storage for just normal stuff, and consequently Owners/ Renters, are forced to use whatever space they can in the garage, squeezing it in beside the car, or leaving the car outside completely. If purchasing in a new block, check the storage, if it is not enough for you, it’s not enough for most, and the problem will never go away.
Most strata by-laws also have a noise nuisance provision. This should prohibit any noise that unreasonably interferes with your use and enjoyment of your lot. That may be a more effective way to approach the issue.
I am an owner occupier/occupier in a small block of 8. The garage for the unit above me is directly under my unit. The garage door is motorised & takes forever to go up/down & the noise vibrating through my floor becomes inbearable. The tenant of this unit can some days go in/out 5 times a day & sometimes within. 30 minute intervals. I have contacted the owner regarding maintaining the motor & his reply was to ‘deal with it’ & to contact the real estate handling his unit because that is what he pays them for! I have done this, but, nothing.
Please i need some help.
Thanks
the odds of there being a by law as discussed in the answer here are pretty low.
the best approach is to ignore that and attack this issue from the standpoint of it being a breach of the noise by law as noise is a pretty standard by law and im sure your building will have a by law for that.
Hi Steve
Thanks for your comment. We have received the following response from Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:
Many schemes have “storage” by-laws which regulate whether or not items may be stored in a garage. Similarly, many residential leases restrict garage use to that for a motor vehicle only.
If the stored items are visible from outside the lot this might constitute a breach of the “Appearance of the Lot” by-law where you must not keep anything in the lot which is visible from outside the lot is not in keeping with the rest of the building.
Depending on the nature of the items stored, their storage may contravene the “Storage of inflammable liquids and materials” by-law ie an owner or occupier must not keep such items without the prior written approval of the owners corporation.