‘Absurd’ fee may see family choose between their home and pet
A Sydney woman who applied for permission to keep her dog in her apartment has left her with a $2000 fee she may have to pay, after she was told of a new bond that could be introduced for pet owners.
Georgia Dawson’s two-and-a-half-year-old son Rafy has become devoted to her Staffy named Fav, but she said her family may have to choose between their home and keeping the pair together.
“It’s a huge amount of money and it’s very upsetting,” Ms Dawson told Domain. “We want to stay in our home and we don’t want to be put in a position where we have to choose between our home and our family.”
The 32-year-old has been living in the apartment complex in Sydney’s lower north shore with her family for the last seven months, and feels they’re being punished for doing the right thing.
“Pets are family for many of us, especially after getting through Covid and maybe not being able to afford another child. But now it feels like we’re being punished - and for doing the right thing and applying for permission,” she said.
The family’s shock discovery comes as the latest in the pets-in-apartments saga that has seen legal battles play out between residents wanting to live with their pets, and buildings that want the choice to prevent them.
In August, a change in state law made it illegal to forbid pets in strata buildings. The change was the result of a four-and-a-half year litigation between resident Jo Cooper and her Darlinghurst building, Horizon, that saw a blanket ban on pets get overturned.
A later judgement by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), however, found that buildings did have the right to charge pet-owners fees of up to $300 to the “administration cost” of applications.
But the notification Ms Dawson received, alerting her that her building was debating levying the $2000 bond on pet owners at its January AGM and news that other buildings are considering similar policies, has angered many animal-lovers.
Emma Hurst, an Animal Justice Party MP who helped create the pet-friendly legislation, said she is raising concerns about Ms Dawson’s case and pushing for additional regulation.
“It is outrageous that strata schemes are attempting to charge huge bonds and application fees in what appears to be an attempt to stop people having an animal in their home,” she said. “It clearly goes against the spirit of the recent changes to strata laws championed by our party.
“These were designed to ensure stata complexes are animal-friendly but this is a blatant attempt to get around the new laws, and effectively block people from sharing their home with an animal by making it financially prohibitive. This affects the ability for families to rescue animals in pounds, or for victims of domestic and family violence to seek new accomodation with their companion animals.”
Having recently published a review of state strata law, the NSW government has said it has “become aware of some practices that may defeat the purpose of the reforms and produce unjust outcomes”.
It has recommended that its Department of Customer Service continues to monitor the use of the new pet-friendly laws to “determine whether further legislative change is necessary” to prevent unfair outcomes.
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