Help Centre
All information is general of nature and should not be taken as advice. Legislation varies by state and territory. If you are unsure, please contact us.
Pets
Key Information
Yes, you can have a pet in your community. Some things to note:
- You may need to inform the owners corporation before you get a pet.
- Each community has their own rules for pets, make sure to check your by-laws.
- By-laws banning pets altogether are not valid
- An owners corporation cannot stop you getting or owning a pet, as long as it does not disturb other residents.
- An owners corporation cannot charge a resident a fee or bond, or require insurance to be taken out for a pet.
- Tenants may need to get approval from a landlord before getting their pet.
- If you need to complain about someone else’s pet, read your scheme’s rules and speak to them first before contacting the owners corporation.
- Assistance animals cannot be banned from living in a strata scheme and by-laws cannot affect the ability of assistance animals to perform their duty.
Unreasonable Interference of a Pet
This is the official name for what is essentially a pet behaving badly, to the point where it siginificantly impacts the wellbeing of others in the community. This includes things like:
- making constant noise that unreasonably affects the peace, comfort or convenience of another resident
- repeatedly running at or chasing another resident or animal
- attacking or threatening another resident or animal
- repeatedly causing damage to common property or someone else’s property
- risking the health of another resident, through infection or infestation
- causing a constant unpleasant smell in common property or someone else’s property.
Rules for keeping your pet
This covers a lot of common sense topics when it comes to owning a pet. Each community will have its own by-laws, but it will cover things like:
- Keeping your pet within your lot boundaries
- Watching your pet when it is on common property
- Cleaning up after your pet, especially on common property
By-laws for pets may not require a fee, bond or insurance for keeping a pet.
Making a complaint about a pet
Always, always try speaking with the pet owner first. It is crazy to try speaking face-to-face in the age we live in, but often this will improve things. The pet owner may not be aware of the issue, such as if their dog is barking while they are at work.
Always be friendly and solution oriented with your community. I know of people that would evict their own family members before their pet, so be respectful of how much your neighbour's pet may mean to them.
If this doesn't solve the situation, then you can escalate to members of the committee, failing that, there are channels within your state/territory you could go to, such as the office of fair trading.
Can me or my pet be evicted?
You may not be evicted, but if your pet has been behaving in a consistent 'unreasonable interfering' fashion then the community could potentially remove your pet.
Again, this is a common sense rule. Only if your pet is behaving extremely poorly or dramatically impacting the wellbeing of your neighbour would this be a potential course of action.
Always try work together as a community before escalating anything with official notices in writing or to your local state authority.
However, in the event of constant poor behaviour from a pet, the community can issue a 'notice to comply' asking you to improve your pet's behaviour. If that doesn't rectify anything, then there are official channels available, such as the office of fair trading in your state/territory.
Assistance Animals
Assistance animals cannot be banned from living in a strata scheme. Nor are by-laws that impact the animal's ability to perform their duty on common property or elsewhere in the community.
The community is permitted to ask for evidence that the pet holds an accreditation within that state/territory to perform its duty. The community is not permitted to ask for evidence regarding medical records.
Pet Application Forms
Key details that should be included in a pet application form include:
- A photo of the pet
- Description of the pet
- Information on the pet’s breed and age
- The pet's vaccination and microchip status
- If possible, references from previous landlords, building managers, or veterinarians