These lot owners are concerned about installing floorboards in strata units in Canberra. Is this allowed?
Table of Contents:
Question: Would removing carpet and/or ceramic tiles and installing a floating timber/laminate floor be considered an alteration or an addition? I would think the carpet is “affixed”, as would the trim securing the floor.
Answer: Owners corporation approval is not required for the installation of floating timber/laminate flooring.
In accordance with NOLAN & ANOR v OWNERS UNITS CORPORATION NO 369 (2014), The Tribunal determined that the removal of carpets and the installation of a floating bamboo floor is not an erection or alteration to the structure as provided in default rule 4(i)(a) in Schedule 4 of the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011, and the removal and installation does not require the approval of the owners corporation where the flooring is not nailed or glued to the concrete slab.
Notwithstanding, the Default Rules still apply insofar as a unit owner must not use the unit, or permit it to be used, in a way that causes a nuisance or substantial annoyance to an owner, occupier or user of another unit.
So whilst owners corporation approval is not required for the installation of floating timber/laminate flooring, there remains an obligation to ensure that the alteration does not cause a nuisance or substantial annoyance to another unit.
In the event that another unit owner or occupier is adversely affected as a result of the alteration, an application may be made to ACAT (by the affected party) seeking an order to cease creating a nuisance or substantial annoyance, which may result in an order to reinstate original flooring.
Nina Cannell
Signature Strata
E: nina@signaturestrata.com.au
P: 02 6185 0347
This post appears in Strata News #451.
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Read next:
- ACT: Q&A Process for Obtaining Strata Legal Advice
- ACT: Q&A What is the Definition of an Addition or Alteration?
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I believe you should get an acoustics report paid for by all owners, and once you have the findings, you should take the matter to the Tribunal (in Victoria, it’s VCAT) and have this noise problem rectify.
Sick of lot owners putting low grade timber floors in and believing that they can do whatever they like.
It’s a noise pollution issue.
The cost of the acoustics report can hopefully be claimed back from the Tribunal finding that the lot owner must pay for the report. Though the lot owner should be provided the option first to pay for the acoustic report and you should have their refusal in writing. (The tribunal will require this proof).
Floating floor layed 2016
Noise jumping dropping items constant movement of furniture and what sound like a ball bouncing. Two years am I become oversensitive . No longer amicable . Not their problem , between owner and me
Am I unreasonable
Hi Rosemary
We have received the following reply from Jan Browne, Whittles Strata Partners:
In this instance, the removal of soft furnishing and installation of a hard floor does not require the consent of the Owners Corporation. Unless the Owners Corporation has registered House Rules identifying this issue and determining conditions.
This is in line with a previous ACAT ruling –
Nolan & Anor v Owners Units Plan No. 369
“The Tribunal determines that the removal of carpets and the installation of a floating bamboo floor is not an erection or alteration to the structure as provided in default rule 4(i)(a) in Schedule 4 of the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 and the removal and installation does not require the approval of the owners corporation”.
However, if nuisance or substantial annoyance to an owner, occupier or user of another unit results from the installation of the hard floor, the affected person can take action through the owners corporation or an individual action through ACAT.
There may also be an option for the 2 owners to mediate the situation and suggest that the owners above install large mats etc. which may alleviate the noise transference.
We have received the following comment from Christopher Miller, Vantage Strata:
Many have taken the view that installing floorboards would constitute an “alteration” and therefore would automatically require approval pursuant to default rule 4 ‘Erections and Alterations’.
However, the definition of what constitutes an alteration to a ‘structure’ has been considered by the ACAT on a few occasions now, notably Nolan v UP369.
In that matter, ACAT found that.. “the removal of carpets and installation of a floating bamboo floor (which is not nailed or glued to the concrete floor) is not an erection or alteration to the structure..”
In coming to its conclusion in Nolan, ACAT made a distinction between structures which require owners corporation approval, and cosmetic improvements to a unit (such as a change in floor covering) which do not require approval. In Nolan, ACAT noted that because the “bamboo flooring will not be nailed or glued to the concrete floor” it was not an erection or alteration to the structure of the unit.
It is fair to say that if installing a ‘floating’ floor, it is not automatically assumed that permission is required.
However, and Owners Corporation may choose to adopt a specific rule in relation to hard surface flooring, especially in order to deal with potential noise impact.