If you sit on a strata committee long enough, you will meet the big three. The owner who wants a dog. The neighbour parking in the wrong bay. The unit that started a renovation without asking. Pets, parking and renovations cause more friction in NSW strata schemes than anything else.
The reason is simple. All three sit at the point where one owner's wishes meet the shared interests of everyone else. By-laws, the rules of the scheme, exist to manage exactly that tension. This guide walks through how each issue is generally handled, and where committees need to tread carefully.
The rules here are described in general terms, and they have shifted over the years. The exact position depends on your scheme's by-laws, so confirm the current rules with NSW Fair Trading or your strata managing agent. For the bigger picture on by-laws, see our guide to NSW strata by-laws.
Pets
Pets are the classic strata battleground. An owner sees a loved family dog. A neighbour sees noise and mess in a shared building. By-laws govern the keeping of animals in a scheme, and the way pet decisions are made has changed over time.
The general direction is that decisions about pets are expected to be made reasonably, rather than as a blanket refusal with no thought behind it. What that means in practice depends on the scheme's by-laws and the current rules. The key point for a committee is to deal with pet requests fairly and on their merits, keep a record of the decision and the reasons, and confirm where the rules currently sit before relying on an old assumption. This is an area where the position has genuinely moved, so do not rely on what a scheme did years ago.
Parking
Parking disputes turn on one question: whose space is it? The answer usually comes down to whether the parking forms part of an owner's lot or is common property.
Where a parking space is part of a lot, the owner generally controls it like the rest of their property. Where it is common property, such as visitor bays, shared driveways or unmarked areas, it is governed by the scheme's by-laws and managed by the owners corporation for the benefit of all. The usual flashpoints are visitors who overstay, owners who use visitor bays as their own, and vehicles left in shared spaces. These are handled through the by-laws, and persistent breaches follow the dispute pathway. The committee's role is to apply the by-laws evenly, not to play favourites.
Renovations
Renovations cause trouble because owners often assume that what happens inside their own unit is entirely their business. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it affects common property or the structure, and then the scheme has a stake.
In NSW, renovation work is commonly grouped into three levels. Cosmetic work is the lightest, things like painting or hanging fittings, and usually needs the least approval. Minor renovations sit in the middle. Major works are the heaviest, affecting common property, waterproofing, or the structure of the building, and need the most approval, often a decision by the owners. The trick for owners is knowing which category their project falls into before they start. The trick for committees is making sure work that affects the building or common property gets the approval it needs. Always confirm the current categories and approval levels with NSW Fair Trading.
The common thread: get it in writing
Pets, parking and renovations all come back to the same discipline. Decisions should be made on the merits, applied consistently to everyone, and recorded clearly. A committee that approves a renovation verbally, or lets one owner break a parking rule while pulling up another, is storing up trouble.
Clear by-laws, fair application and good records are what keep these disputes manageable. They also protect the committee, because they show the owners corporation acted reasonably if a matter ever escalates.
When a dispute will not settle
Sometimes a by-law is breached and the owner will not budge. NSW has a clear pathway for that: a notice to comply, then NSW Fair Trading mediation, then NCAT if needed. We walk through the whole process in resolving strata disputes in NSW. Knowing the pathway exists takes the heat out of a tense moment, because the committee has a calm, structured response rather than a stand-up row.
Your next step
The big three by-law battles are far easier to handle when you understand the rules behind them. Archer Institute's Strata Members CPD course covers by-laws, common-property rules and the duties of a committee under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. It is online, self-paced, and written for the volunteers who run NSW schemes. For the wider role, see our strata committee member guide.
