Sydney Couple win Two-Year Battle to move Dog into Apartment Block
Posted 04 July 2015
Category: Strata
Designer dog Oscar Wylde has become the pin-up pet for animal-loving apartmentĀ dwellers everywhere after winning his two-year legal battle to be allowed toĀ move into one of Sydney’s most prestigious buildings.
His owners, Simon Jordan and Bernie Coates,Ā have lived in theĀ internationally-renowned, heritage-listed Wylde Apartments in PottsĀ Point for five yearsĀ and hailed it a victory forĀ common sense.
TheĀ three have becomeĀ the touchstone for apartment residents denied the chance to keep a pet by building bylaws.
“We’ve now being approached by people in other apartment buildings that don’t haveĀ pets asking us how we did it,” Coates says.
“We always try to help them. We just believe that people living inĀ apartments should have the same opportunity to own a pet as people in houses.”
Jordan agrees. “There’s been so much research done about how keeping petsĀ improves human health, decreases isolation, strengthens communities and, notĀ least, increases property values in buildings that are pet-friendly,” he says.
“So it’s bizarre that some buildings don’t allow pets. We’re now trying to break downĀ the barriers against them.”
The coupleĀ applied to the board running the distinctive, 1950s Aaron Bolot-designed block forĀ permission to keep a dog.Ā The bylaws of theĀ co-operative-titled buildingĀ were complicated and vague, neitherĀ explicitly permitting pets, nor banning them.
There was already one dog who’d been secretly smuggled into the building, and aĀ couple of covert cats. Jordan, 40, a community service consultant, and Coates, 65, aĀ community regeneration consultant, backed up their argument with a dossier ofĀ information about the benefits of keeping animals in apartments.
After a postal ballot of all owners, the refusal of their application, its overturning onĀ legal advice, more legal opinion, intense lobbying and a second ballot, the pair finallyĀ won permission. They picked a puppy, named itĀ Oscar Wylde, and moved himĀ in.
Their lawyer, David Bannerman from Bannerman Lawyers, says ifĀ anĀ apartment building doesn’t have a clearly statedĀ position on pets and neither bans nor permits them, a challenge can be successful.
“If a building has made valid rules to prohibit animals, then there may be little chanceĀ in those circumstances to have pets,” he says. “But when the rules are vague and noĀ one understands them, then there can be openings there. It’s about what do theĀ details hold, and what can you press for? These guys had a good position, especiallyĀ as other people in the building had pets.”
Cavoodle Oscar –Ā a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and miniature poodle cross –Ā has (mostly) won the hearts of hisĀ neighbours, who regularlyĀ dog-sit and take him out for walks and coffee. The building now also has aĀ comprehensive policy on the management of pets, overseen by anĀ electedĀ pet committee. The trio couldn’t be happier.
“It was a lot of work, and a lot of discussion, including one person’s idea of having aĀ $10,000 pet bond!” Jordan says. “But we always tried to keep it amicable, as you liveĀ with your neighbours. And Oscar is a very popular dog now.”
Author: Sue Williams
Date: 04/07/2015
Source: SMH
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Section: Domain
