This week the pod is lighting up (but not inhaling) the smoking ban placed on a Queensland apartment resident who’s been ordered to take her habit inside and off her balcony because her smoke is a hazard to the neighbour upstairs.There are so many aspects to this, not least that her block has a designated smoking zone and her committee has been rapped gently but firmly on its knuckles for declining to enforce its own by-laws.Why does this mean for Queensland smokers? Are they retreating to the toilets where the fans can deal with their fumes? Or will they be trying to amend their by-laws to force the neighbours to put up with smoke, like freshly caught salmon.The resistance is already fired up (ouch!), according to a comment on the end of the original story.While we were on the topic of by-laws, I tried to find the “model” by-law on smoke drift that Victoria was bringing in. I couldn’t locate it before we recorded the podcast, but after chasing down broken links and hidden entrances, I tracked it down. In schedule 2 of the Victoria owners corporation regulations, it says:1.4 Smoke penetrationA lot owner or occupier in a multi-level development must ensure that smoke caused by the smoking of tobacco or any other substance by the owner or occupier, or any invitee of the owner or occupier, on the lot does not penetrate to the common property or any other lot.Interesting! It’s says nothing about nuisance or hazard, just that the smoke from tobacco or “other substances” must not penetrate other lots or common property.Moving on (while we casually flick our ash off the balcony), we also discussed the apparent contradiction between hosted properties as per Planning NSW regulations and principal places of residence, as in Fair Trading’s short-term letting rules.Planning said there is none, we disagreed and they’ve gone off to check.And finally, the strange case of the attempt to overturn a no-pets by-law which failed because there was no pet.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00There's been a few very interesting developments in various Tribunals, in the past week or so. Smoking has been dealt with in Queensland, in a very interesting way. There's also been an instruction about the too-hard basket; I think we're seeing the death of the too-hard basket.Sue 00:22Surely not!Jimmy 00:23Well, you never know!Sue 00:24I mean, that rules supreme in strata, really!Jimmy 00:27And, in New South Wales, a very strange decision from a Tribunal, about a no-pets by law, where an adjudicator decided not to overturn a no-pets bylaw, for a very strange reason. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:46And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 00:49And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. [MUSIC]JimmyUp in Queensland, they like their personal freedoms...Sue 01:08They certainly do.Jimmy 01:10And there's been a Tribunal decision, which reminds people that they have personal responsibilities as well, when it comes to living in apartments there.Sue 01:19Oh yes? Tell us about it.Jimmy 01:21A woman (and this started last January), complained about the neighbour below her, who was constantly smoking on her balcony. She was sayi
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Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
