This article discusses strata air conditioner installation, explaining whether a neighbour can install an air conditioner on another lot’s wall and what steps owners can take if approval was not given.
Question: The neighbour upstairs is installing an air conditioner on our wall. We’ve never been asked about the installation. How do we have it moved?
Our upstairs neighbour is installing an air conditioner. Although there appears to be room on their wall to install the unit, they’re installing it on the exterior back wall of our apartment. We have not received any information or request for this installation.
The owners of the unit refuse to reconsider. Do they have the authority to install the unit on this wall? How can we have the unit moved?
Answer: Clarify the ‘ownership’ of the wall and the surrounding lot boundaries with your OC Manager before considering your next steps.
I suggest clarifying the ‘ownership’ of the wall and the surrounding lot boundaries with your OC Manager before considering your next steps, along with receiving confirmation as to whether the OC Committee approved the installation.
Although you’ve said it is ‘your’ wall, it is often the case that the outer half of a wall is the property of the Owners Corporation. If this is the case and the OC Committee has provided approval for the installation, you would need to submit a formal OC complaint seeking its removal/repositioning. If the OC Committee has not approved the installation, they should be informed and the OC Manager will help them arrange removal or repositioning elsewhere. Please note, however, that there have been instances where OC’s have tried to order removal/repositioning of an air conditioner and failed because the courts deemed it unreasonable to have to do so. Unless you can prove the air conditioner is genuinely impacting your peaceful enjoyment of the property, you and/or the OC may have difficulty attaining your desired solution.
If the wall is private (entirely owned by yourself and/or within your private lot boundary), you are entitled to arrange the air conditioner’s removal from your property however I recommend being careful not to damage it. If you wanted to proceed down this route, I’d strongly recommend giving the owner of the air conditioner a written warning to give them a final opportunity to remove it.
If in doubt or neither of the above suggestions are fruitful, I recommend seeking independent legal advice.
This post appears in the February 2023 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.
Callum Wilson The Strata Shepherd E: info@thestratashepherd.com.au P: 0431 925 908