Urgent advice sought re Strata Titles Act & By-Laws

S

Shiraz

Hi All,
This is my first post/request for information on Somersoft. I am an owner-occupier in a survey strata (2 lot plot) and am encountering difficulties with my neighbours.

My neighbours are enterprising and adding capital value by way of extension on their property. The issue is not the extension but rather the unexpected announcement on Friday by their builder that they intend to rip up their half of our shared pitch roof (which is cement tiles in terracotta) & install colorbond roofing in charcoal. The steel sheets have already been delivered.

I am looking for guidance on how to proceed, what action steps are available to me and recommendations for lawyers for additional clarity.

Many thanks.
 
For 2 lot survey strata schemes, there's a lot of leeway given to each owner to do work on their lot without the permission of the other owner.

Broadly, unless there is something that the council is concerned about in the planning sense, you might not have much else you can do in a strata scheme sense.
 
Well I would be very unhappy about that change myself :mad:

Did they discuss this with you when in the planning stages ?

I would definitely be talking to council about the streetscape as well as seeking an assurance that waterproofing is of the best quality.

I would probably engage my own roofer/plumber to check their work, waiting for the first storm is not recommended when mixing roof types.
 
thatbum said:
For 2 lot survey strata schemes, there's a lot of leeway given to each owner to do work on their lot without the permission of the other owner.

Broadly, unless there is something that the council is concerned about in the planning sense, you might not have much else you can do in a strata scheme sense.
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rightfully so, they are separate lots
 
vaughan said:
Shared pitch roof: suggests to me that they are not separate lots.
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Shared roof doesn't mean anything in a title sense. I recently subdivided my duplex pair into 2 survey strata lots - there's just a shared wall easement on the dividing wall.

I've even seen green title done that way - and one owner subsequently demolish their half.
 
thatbum said:
Shared roof doesn't mean anything in a title sense. I recently subdivided my duplex pair into 2 survey strata lots - there's just a shared wall easement on the dividing wall.

I've even seen green title done that way - and one owner subsequently demolish their half.
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ooh interesting...could you please advise your thoughts on this?? I have a survey strata 2 lot property (one side of it). There is a roof going from one house to the other house that forms a garage with no dividing wall in the middle. If I were to put a dividing wall in the middle so that I could demolish my side of the roof then there would be no room for the neighbour to get a car into his garage anymore as it would be too narrow (currently for him to open his car door the door needs to swing over my boundary line). Can he stop me from pulling that roof down?
 
Ausprop said:
ooh interesting...could you please advise your thoughts on this?? I have a survey strata 2 lot property (one side of it). There is a roof going from one house to the other house that forms a garage with no dividing wall in the middle. If I were to put a dividing wall in the middle so that I could demolish my side of the roof then there would be no room for the neighbour to get a car into his garage anymore as it would be too narrow (currently for him to open his car door the door needs to swing over my boundary line). Can he stop me from pulling that roof down?
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Shrug, he probably can't if its a generic 2 lot survey strata scenario.

There's a lot of possible exceptions to the above though. There might be some sort of garage boundary easement for example. Or there might be some other weird titling of the lots - 2 lot survey strata is actually quite rare on those older style duplexes in WA.
 
thatbum said:
Shrug, he probably can't if its a generic 2 lot survey strata scenario.

There's a lot of possible exceptions to the above though. There might be some sort of garage boundary easement for example.
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will check the title again, can't recall it and it's not like someone would envisage this when the survey strata was created

thatbum said:
2 lot survey strata is actually quite rare on those older style duplexes in WA.
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interesting, I thought it was common place. At one time there was a significant arbitrage with this sort of title, particularly thru Wembley Downs I believe. Haven't researched it for a few years now. Punters didn't get that it was basically green title and they treated them as some sort of built strata. When I demolish and build there will be a significant uplift in value on this site
 
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