Procedures for External Painting of Units

The Committee maintains a register of approved paint colours.

Bylaw 29
29.1 An owner, mortgagee or occupier of a lot shall not, whether by himself, his/her servants or agents, alter the external colour scheme of any building of structure (including fencing) or part of a building or structure contained within that owner’s lot or on the boundary thereof without prior consent in writing from the Body Corporate pursuant to a resolution of the Body Corporate.

Step 1

When an owner wishes to paint their property, they must request permission of the Body Corporate as stated in By-law 29.1

If the colour is not already on the register of approved paint colours, the applicant should provide a board painted with that colour as a sample for other owners to view.

Owners should discuss this between themselves, this discussion does not require a formal Body Corporate meeting.

Step 2

The Committee must consider the request and either approve the application or not.

If:
A. If the Committee approves the request, other owners have 7 days to lodge a “Notice of Objection” to the Secretary with signatures of at least 50% of the owners giving reasons for their objection (eg colour, type of paint or finish)
B. If the Committee denies the request, they must inform the owner who made the request with reasons. That owner has 7 days to lodge a “Notice of Objection”

Step 3

If a “Notice of Objection” is lodged from either party, the committee must meet and decide whether to accept the Notice of Objection as valid.

If the Committee accepts a “Notice of Objection” from the other owners, they must tell the requesting owner that they do not have permission to paint. The owner who requested to paint then has the option of applying for Adjudication.

If the Committee rejects a ” Notice of Objection” from the other owners, any one of the signatories of the original Notice of Objection can apply for Adjudication.

If the Committee rejects a ” Notice of Objection” from the owner who applied to paint, that owner can apply for Adjudication.

The Adjudicator’s decision is final.

What this means in Practice

Owners are responsible for painting their properties and they have the right to choose the colour. They should negotiate with any adjoining properties on the boundaries for painting, and neighbours could even decide to get painting done at the same time.

If the colour proposed is an outlandish colour, the Committee is likely to deny approval.

If the colour proposed is a standard house colour then the Committee is likely to approve (it need grounds not to approve) and that colour will be added to the approved colour register.

As more owners paint their homes, we expect many will use one of the colours which are already on the approved colour register. The approved colour register will provide all owners the details of paint colours for painting or touch-ups.

This reinforces the autonomy and control that owners have over their own properties and helps differentiate Willowbrook from the plethora of cookie-cutter townhouses built in the area in recent times. It also means that owners can paint their properties according to their own timetables (eg in preparation for a sale.)

We live in a multicultural society and there are bound to be variations in taste. Owners can, and already do, express their taste in the styles of their screen doors and planting in their front gardens. No owners, or Committee members, have the right to use this process to impose their taste on other owners.

As owners, we all have a vested interest in maintaining the value of our properties. Nobody is likely to paint in a colour that would detract from that.

We all also have an interest in maintaining a co-operative community by not going beyond Step 3 above.

These are the currently approved colours

References