New NSW laws set to allow more apartment owners to keep pets

TV presenter and dog owner Scott McGregor plans to celebrate Tuesday’s change in the law about keeping pets in apartments by bringing home a puppy to keep his – currently illegal – miniature fox terrier Jimmy company.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “And the people who run our building have been so busy trying to fight the rights of people to have pets [that] they haven’t even gone to the trouble of putting any rules in place on how to manage them now we can have them.

“They’ve been so short-sighted about this, even though they knew this was coming.”

The laws that come into effect this week mean bylaws that unreasonably forbid the keeping of pets in strata buildings will be invalid.

That will come from the passing into law of the amendment to the Strata Schemes Management Act about the keeping of pets in apartments.

It’s hoped it will bring to an end the years of controversy, with tribunal rulings, appeals and then court rulings and appeals, between pet lovers and buildings that wanted to ban animals.

In August last year, Animal Justice Party member Emma Hurst proposed an amendment to strata laws to stamp out such bans. That was followed by a landmark NSW Court of Appeal decision in which dog owner Jo Cooper successfully challenged a blanket no-pets bylaw at her Darlinghurst building Horizon.

• Related: Apartment pets saga takes new twist as tribunal rules Camperdown unit dwellers can keep cats but not dogs
• Related: Pets now allowed in Sydney apartments as blanket ban on animals lifted by NSW Court of Appeal

Following negotiations led by independent MP Alex Greenwich, Hurst’s amendment was eventually passed in February by both Houses.

Lawyer Rebecca Moufarrege, a partner with Sachs Gerace Lawyers, said the new section “will mean that by-laws which unreasonably prohibit the keeping of an animal on a lot will have no force or effect. It will be considered reasonable to keep an animal on a lot unless that unreasonably interferes with another resident’s use and enjoyment of their lot or the common property.”

McGregor, 63, last year lost his bid with partner HR executive Bernadette Eichner, 61, to have their pet Jimmy live in their Camperdown City Quarter apartment after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled that, while a no-pets bylaw was illegal, its no-dogs bylaw was acceptable because it didn’t ban all animals.

Now, however, that’s going to be overturned by the law change. “It is a victory,” said McGregor, who owns the Railway Adventures tour company. “We will be celebrating that, but we do fear the fight isn’t over yet.

“There’s still a lot of grey areas over what constitutes ‘unreasonable’.”

Regulations defining such terms are being issued by the office of the NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson.

He said on Monday that the regulations will prescribe a limited list of specific grounds on which apartment residents can be refused permission to have pets, including damage of the common property, menacing behaviour, persistent noise and odour. Buildings will also be able to set ‘reasonable’ conditions through their own bylaws, like where they can enter and exit, or use a specific lift.

“As a dog owner myself I understand how important pets are for families in this state, and their companionship cannot be understated, particularly during the current pandemic,” Mr Anderson said

“Living in strata is becoming more popular and while we don’t want strata residents deprived of the benefits of owning a pet it’s also important the amenity of neighbours and others in the building isn’t impacted. Our new laws have been designed to strike the right balance for everyone living in strata communities, putting an end to blanket bans on pets while giving owners corporations clear guidance on how they can set rules to ensure other owners aren’t impacted.”

But Emma Hurst is still worried about the exact detail of the regulations. “We know that blanket bans on pets will no longer be allowed, but we’re nervous about how far the regulations will go, and what kind of exemptions they’ll allow,” she said. “We want to make sure the laws are able to protect pet-lovers as well as their companion animals.”

Sourced from Domain.com.au