Question: As part of the approval process for changing carpet to hard flooring, my body corporate has issued me with a list of requirements. While I do intend to install appropriately flooring, as we have no bylaw regarding these requirements, do I have to follow them?
I wish to change the flooring in my unit from carpet to hard flooring. Our body corporate states I need to lodge an application for them to approve the scope of works, appearance of flooring product, and acoustic characteristics. After installation, I will also need to pay for testing to ensure the flooring has an acoustic rating below a certain db level.
What concerns me is that none of the above requirements are listed anywhere in our bylaws, other than a general provision to not cause excessive noise. While I do intend to install appropriately flooring, if there is no bylaw regarding these requirements, do I have to follow them?
Answer: The by-law is not the only issue at play.
You raise an interesting question. On the face of it, if the by-law is not detailed about what is expected of you for compliance, then you literally cannot comply with what is not stated and it is arguable the committee has no basis to ask it of you. That said, the by-law is not the only issue at play. There is a provision in Queensland legislation regarding nuisance and it is reasonable for the body corporate to take that into account. Again though, we run into the same issue, namely, the lack of specificity.
Looking at the issue from a process perspective: you have been asked to make an application and supply certain information. It’s not clear if you have made your application as yet. If not, when you do so, you might like to inform the body corporate of your intention to install ‘appropriately quiet flooring’ and you hopefully can objectively articulate what that means. At that point, the committee will either accept your application or ask you to supply more information. You then have a decision to make: do you go ahead and comply with their request regarding db levels, noting what I’ve said above, or do you decline to do so? If you choose the former, there’s a cost to you (as well as effort). If you choose the latter, the committee presumably will refuse your application and you are then left with the next decision, whether to challenge that refusal.
This is not the yes/no answer you were hoping for. From experience, I can tell you that hard flooring ‘issues’ are both commonplace and challenging to resolve. I can also tell you from experience that the inverse – noise disputes arising out of hard flooring – are equally commonplace and challenging. My suggestion: negotiate with the committee now, while you can. Ask questions about the decibel levels, where they come from and on what basis they are being required. Be clear about you would be willing to do to mitigate noise. Then, depending on results of those negotiations, make a cost/benefit analysis of what your next move will be. There can be literally months and years of dispute, and significant expense, which might follow.
This post appears in the May 2022 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
Chris Irons
Strata Solve
E: chris@stratasolve.com.au
P: 0419 805 898
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