NSW Court delivers landmark ruling for pet owners.
In a decision handed down on 12 October 2020, the New South Wales (“NSW”) Court of Appeal decided an attempt by one of Sydney’s most famous apartment buildings to ban animal was a breach of the law. The ruling means no apartment building in the state of NSW will be able to enforce blanket bans on pets.
Three Court of Appeal judges struck down the attempt from building The Horizon in Darlinghurst to bar unit residents from keeping animals, overturning the right of apartment blocks to pass bylaws restricting pet ownership.
The unanimous verdict from all three sitting judges comes after a four-and-a-half-year legal battle from Ms. Cooper, a devoted pet owner in the building to keep her Miniature Schnauzer Angus there.
The Court of Appeal held that banning animals breached strata scheme legislation which provides that by-laws can’t be ‘harsh, unconscionable or oppressive’, and that the bylaw also restricted the lawful use of each lot on a basis which lacked a rational connection with the enjoyment of other lots and the common property.
Ms. Cooper collapsed in tears after the final verdict was delivered since the legal battle was reported to have cost her $250,000. “She’s delighted but is totally unable to speak,” said one supporter. The Court also ruled the Horizon building should be liable for the cost of the legal battle, which could be as much as $500,000.
The blanket ban of pets in apartments has long been criticised by pet owners and animal lovers with one pet owner complaining that “the huge list of apartments you had available to you becomes slim pickings, all because of that small fluff ball.”
In a related case, the Elan building in the famous Sydney suburb of Kings Cross has also been involved in a similar legal battle, after challenges were made by pet owners in the building wanting to keep their dogs in their apartment. The latest Court of Appeal judgment has meant there will now be a meeting of the strata committee of the Elan building to decide what to do next.
Chairperson of the Elan building, Gisela Ramensky, was not pleased with the Court’s decision: -
“The decision affects everybody. It’s a surprising decision and the reasoning for the decision we find surprising, but there it is. It’s too early to say what we’ll do next.”
The Elan building had been pursuing costs in the region of AU$30,000 (HK$165,000) against one of its owners, Bob Roden, who applied to the NSW Civil Administration Tribunal “NCAT” for permission to keep a dog at some point in the future.
Mr. Roden had initially been successful before the NCAT but the decision was subsequently overturned by the NCAT’s appeal panel. This latest decision has since overturned the NCAT’s appeal panel decision and has reinstated the original NCAT finding that a bylaw prohibiting pets was “harsh, unconscionable and oppressive”.
Having been asked how he felt about the Court of Appeal’s judgment, Mr. Roden said:
“The judgment shows that they don’t have the right to interfere with what people want to do in their own apartments as long as they don’t affect others. I think everyone in the buildings that previously banned animals will now discover that the world won’t end, and that no one will be greatly inconvenienced by some of us owning animals.”
The only possible avenue of appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision is now the High Court of Australia, sitting in Canberra. There has also bee a petition circulated to the Australian Parliament from pet lovers nationwide with more than 13,000 signatures collected thus far, asking to outlaw blanket bans on pets in the whole of Australia.
Courtesy of Marco Poon