Hi guys,
(Bought a new place to renovate, in a complex, townhouse, built in the early 90's)
I have an annoying problem.
My body corporate by-laws state that my verticals must be 'sympathetic' to the overall appearance of the complex. They have notified me that their interpretation of this is that they must be EXACTLY the same type, and colour. It just so happens this colour is baby pink.
Do i have to abide by this? or can my interpretation, just like any normal person, of 'sympathetic' mean, that they match? – like a beige or something neutral..
They said that they will threaten legal action if I do not make them exactly the same – what can they actually do if i put up a neutral tone rather than this discusting 80's pink? Can the body corporate, run by dinosaurs, really take me to town over the colour of some blinds? I understand if i made them bright green that that wouldn't match the overall theme and be contrary, but something matching? common..
Please help!
Joe
I am not a lawyer but I have dealt with body corporate before.
They can take you to arbitration over any breach of the by laws but if the wording only says sympathetic then you have a case to do what you want as long as it does not clash. If the wording says you must seek approval before you can change the curtains then you are in a tighter spot.
The other strategy is to ask the body corporate to lay out a plan for rejuvernating the look of the complex to use netural backed curtains so people are free to have what ever internal colour curtains they wish. You may find their is more support from the residences for this. It will allow the complex to have two approved curtain types.
Verticals should never be used in complexes only cream backed fabric curtains should be used as these cause the least amount of trouble.
This is why I made sure I bought a house without BC when I moved, just to get away from this foolishness. With body corporate you might as well be a renter for all the things you can't do to your own home.
Sympathetic doesn't mean the same as 'same' !! look it up in a dictionary and see what you think. I would think that as long as they were close to neutral or pink it should be ok.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Yea ok Great. I went with an off-white/cream.
It fits in perfectly. I guess now that i've stirred the pot we'll see what happens.
To quote the law exactly in my BC : "Window coverings must be of a type and colour sympathetic to the overall scheme of the complex'
In my words, cream is fine…
J
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