This Q&A is about pet approval and the correct process for seeking approval.
Jump directly to the QUESTION you are after:
- QUESTION: How does a Body Corporate manage visiting pets? Is it usual to require permission prior to visiting? Can we enforce a time limit?
- QUESTION: We have pet approval for two dogs. One of our dogs has passed and we have a new dog of the same breed. Are we required to apply for pet approval even though we still have no more than two dogs?
- QUESTION: We have moved into our apartment, with our dog, prior to receiving pet approval. It is another two months before a committee meeting. Our dog is very well behaved. Are we doing the right thing?
- QUESTION: A lot owner is seeking pet approval. They have had a dog previously and paid no heed to the bylaws. Will it assist to have a condition setting out our right to rescind permission?
GET NOTIFIED WHEN WE PUBLISH NEW Q&As, NEWS AND ARTICLES TO THE SITE
Question: How does a Body Corporate manage visiting pets? Is it usual to require permission prior to visiting? Can we enforce a time limit?
Can you advise or direct me to the legislation (if any), which shows how a Body Corporate can manage visiting pets?
Is it usual to require permission prior to visiting? Can visiting pets stay for a specified time period e.g. 1 hour, 1 day or 1 week etc?
Can a Body Corporate actually refuse visiting pets. There is an approval process for owner pets, just wondering about visitor pets.
Answer: Pet management is usually regulated by a strata scheme’s by-laws.
Pet management is usually regulated by a strata scheme’s by-laws. These will differ from site to site so you need to review the laws for your complex and determine how to approach the issue on that basis. Whatever rules you have in place a good first step would be to raise the issue at a meeting to review the current by-laws and how they are being applied. If the existing by-laws don’t provide the coverage required you could look at changing them to suit the needs of your scheme.
It is possible for by-laws to have restrictions on visitor’s pets. For example, the model by-laws for buildings built after 1997 state that occupiers must not permit an invitee to bring or keep an animal on the lot or common property without written permission from the body corporate. How such a law gets applied in actuality will likely depend on the overall pet-friendliness of the building. Is it really practical to receive and process an application for a visitor with a dog to visit the site for an hour? At the least, visiting pets would be expected to adhere to the same rules regulating resident pets. Putting up clear signage about pet behaviour may help people understand the rules and expectations.
If a visiting pet is causing a nuisance then it is possible that the occupier would be in breach of not just any by-laws relating specifically to pets but also those referring to noise, behaviour of invitees or damage to the common property. The legislation also prohibits occupiers from using or permitting the use of their lot in a way that causes a nuisance or interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of another lot or common property. Section 167 of the Body Corporate a Community Management Act states:
The occupier of a lot included in a community titles scheme must not use, or permit the use of, the lot or the common property in a way that—
- causes a nuisance or hazard; or
- interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of another lot included in the scheme; or
- interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of the common property by a person who is lawfully on the common property.
Taking action on that basis may be more productive than by simple reference to the prevailing pets by-law.
Remember that if the animal is a guide, hearing or assistance dog no permission is required to bring the animal onto the common property.
William Marquand
Tower Body Corporate
P: 07 5609 4924
E: [email protected]
This post appears in Strata News #413.
Question: We have pet approval for two dogs. One of our dogs has passed and we have a new dog of the same breed. Are we required to apply for pet approval even though we still have no more than two dogs?
One of the dogs has passed away and we have adopted another of the same breed.
Are we required to apply to our Body Corporate for the new approval for the pet even though we still have no more than two dogs.
Answer: Approvals are usually linked to a particular animal, so I think the safest bet is to ask again.
Subject to the terms of the original approval you may or may not have to.
My experience though is that approvals are usually linked to a particular animal, so I think the safest bet is to ask again.
Frank Higginson
Email Hynes Legal
Visit the Hynes Legal Website
This post appears in Strata News #318.
Question: We have moved into our apartment, with our dog, prior to receiving pet approval. It is another two months before a committee meeting. Our dog is very well behaved. Are we doing the right thing?
As we had to move in with our pet prior to pet approval being granted is there any way they can force her out either before or after the vote if the application is rejected. We do expect the pet approval to be rejected as they don’t want pets in the building.
Over the past months, I have been harassed by a person claiming to be a member of the committee, saying “we don’t allow pets here”.
We carry our little King Charles Cavalier on and off the property through the basement car park. She is professionally groomed every 6 weeks, vaccinated, and basically sleeps all day.
Are we doing the right thing keeping our dog at the property even though we do not have pet approval?
Answer: In a sense, you have gone for the ‘it is easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission’ path!
No, you are not doing the right thing. You have breached the by-laws by keeping a pet without approval.
Having said that though, what you should do is make your formal application and then wait. If the committee is going to have a VOC to issue a by-law breach notice to you, they can consider the application at the same time.
In a sense, you have gone for the ‘it is easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission’ path!
Frank Higginson
Email Hynes Legal
Visit the Hynes Legal Website
Question: A lot owner is seeking pet approval. They have had a dog previously and paid no heed to the bylaws. Will it assist to have a condition setting out our right to rescind permission?
An owner in our scheme is seeking pet approval to keep a cat and a dog. The cat is already in the unit, and the dog has been purchased and will be arriving soon. We are in the process of casting our vote.
My concern is that this owner has previously had a dog which is now deceased under very similar conditions but during the ownership, the body corporate was completely ignored. In the most likely event that they get permission for the pet approval, could you please have a look at the condition and tell me what happens if indeed the Body Corporate has to exercise this condition. What are the implications for the Body Corporate and committee and would what happens to the animals?
Motion
The Committee for the Body Corporate for […] shall be entitled to rescind permission for the dog if it reasonably considers that the occupier has not complied with the conditions of approval and has failed to respond/react appropriately to the two warning about the concerns.
Answer: It is simply a matter of the body corporate enforcing bylaws and revoking pet approval if the breaches are not remedied.
The first thing is that you cannot shoot first and ask questions later. In financial planning terms, past performance is no indicator of future performance.
If the pet does break the rules, like anything else, it is a matter then for the body corporate to enforce the by-laws. The process here would be to notify the owner about the issues, give them a chance to remedy them, and the revoke the approval. If the pet was not removed, you would need to go to the Commissioner to seek an order that it be withdrawn.
Frank Higginson
Email Hynes Legal
Visit the Hynes Legal Website
This post appears in Strata News #211.
Have a question about pet approval in QLD or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
Read More:
- QLD: The golden rules of by-law enforcement
- QLD: Oppressive or Unreasonable – QLD Strata Bylaws
- QLD: Q&A Is it unreasonable for our body corporate to ban dogs over 10 kgs?
Visit Strata Pets Living in Apartments OR FactSheet: Strata Legislation Queensland
Looking for strata information concerning your state? For state-specific strata information, try here.
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.
Courts have decided that by-laws cannot stop pet approval. Under body corporate act but they can be controlled through the enforcement of nuisance by-laws-in the complex in which I am concerned we require pet applications to be made and these can be approved by the Chairman and then confirmed at the next committee meeting
Hi Bob,
The below response has been provided by Chris Irons, Hynes Legal:
Just to clarify Bob that the court case everyone is talking about lately is in NSW, not Queensland. I should also clarify that decisions shouldn’t be made by a single committee member.
Your replies make it sound simple to remove pets that annoy. The process is far from simple. Any resident complaining about a constantly barking dog, for example, has to produce evidence of the dog barking and causing a nuisance. That evidence is recommended to comprise a written record of when the dog barks and how long for or, alternatively, record the periods when the dog is barking. Neither requirement is realistic. No one is going to stop doing whatever they are doing to pick up a pen or a recorder to record a dog’s barking. Having to do over a period of time e.g. two weeks is onerous and more so if a dog barks at night when everyone is in bed asleep. Dog barking is not confined to daytime.
Even if a By Law Breach Notice is issued there follows mediation so the chances of a barking dog being removed from the complex are low. Often the problem is not the dog but the Owner who does not exercise control over their dog. I suggest your response to Pets needs to be more realistic.
Hi Len,
The below response has been provided by Chris Irons, Hynes Legal:
I appreciate it’s not a straightforward task. That said, this is the process we have to work with at present and I know for a fact that adjudicators have ordered the removal of animals from a scheme. Remember also that other agencies (e.g., the RSPCA) might be called upon if there are concerns about the animal.
Your point about the issue being with the human, rather than the animal, is a fair one. Then again, how do regulate human behaviour? There are plenty of instances I encounter every day of humans demonstrating that they do not know how to properly manage an animal. What’s the answer – require all humans to be licensed to have a pet?
We are having our AGM at the end of October. One of the Motions is to possibly replace the Strata management Company. Is there not a “conflict of Interest” if the AGM is held in the Office of the Strata Management company and there are no observers to ensure the count of votes are correct and Proper. Shouldn’t this be held in a community Building with a few observers (Lot owners) to ensure validity??
Hi Edward,
You may have meant to send this question to a different part of the site but I’m happy to answer. I don’t see an issue with the location of the meeting provided it was approved by the strata committee and is accessible to owners. Votes cast (not in a secret ballot) are part of the body corporate records so any declared vote can be checked if required and challenged if incorrect. Owners, including yourself, should attend the meeting to vote and help ensure a transparent process is followed.
We are in the process of buying an apartment on the Gold Coast.
The Body Corporate has agreed that we can have 2 small dogs.
Their by-laws say that we can enter, level the building with the dogs on a leash…restrained…carried or in a carrier.
We feel that that means we can take our dogs out of our apartment into the elevator and out thru the foyer or basement car park, but understand not pool or other common areas.
But the Strata Manager insists that all dogs are to be carried or in a carry cage on common property.
Why does the Strata Managers have the right to address this when it is not in the apartments by-laws?
Kind regards,
Roger
In Melbourne, new law on pets have been introduced. If the pet is a nuisance (ie, barks all hours of the night), it is the onus of the Owners Corporation to provide their reasoning and evidence to the Tribunal for the pet to be removed. The Tribunal may instead require that the dog be sent to training school.
Dogs are allowed on common property but must be on a leash at all times. If owner is shown to be irresponsible, ie, allowing dog off leash on common property, then this could be grounds for the Tribunal to approval Owners Corp application to disallow owner’s dog at property, as risk of dog biting someone is huge if owner is not taking said responsibility.
Current findings are that it is working well. More and more families with young children live in apartments and pets are a common source of satisfaction to the well being of tenants and owners.
I believe there is a misunderstanding that dog needs to be carried or housed in a carrier. If dog is on a leash, then this should meet the requirement that pet owner is in control of its dog.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-06/tenants-union-welcomes-vcat-body-corporate-pet-ban-ruling/7818656
Good on you, wish I had the courage to do the same. We have a nasty group on sc and they will revenge and deny us and rig votes. Ones pets are ones kids.
What you have inside your property is nobody else’s business. If your pet is carried on common property, then they cannot do much about that either. Your pet must be well behaved and annoy no one. We had a similar problem, went to court and won. Even though the bylaw said no animals. The court ruled that times have changed, that the removal of pets should only occur, if the pet disturbed others, is neglected, or allowed to wander on common property. I would be saying to your neighbor, see you in court. You won’t.