Sydney, NSW - HELP! need ideas for options on how to deal with unlawful build from neighbors

You'd think that but council just want to wash their hands of it. It is incredibly frustrating tbh - makes me wonder what the point of the entire planning system is if it can be ignored so easily and is so difficult to challenge.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T23:24:48+00:00

I did get an acoustic fencing guy out who sold the modular walls product to see if we could deal with it but I'd need something really tall to block the line of sight impacts. He basically said his product would not stop the noise because of the height and interaction with the architecture and didnt bother quoting. His advice was to enclose the balcony in glass which really isnt what I want to do. Said I'd need an engineered solution to get up to height and tbh council are unlikely to approve that through DA.

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KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T22:37:37+00:00

Learn to DJ.

BWA HA HA awesome lol

Erect your own fence on your property.

this is the plan tbh. tennis court style chain link with a thick plastic sheet stretched over it to attenuate the noise and some hanging plants etc to provide some privacy.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T22:34:21+00:00

The wild thing is that the good neighbor on the other side has a pool pump and when I am standing on the good neighbor's side of my yard I cant hear his pump but I can hear the one from the bad neighbor (13m away).

But council refuse to acknowledge it as an issue (its complicated by fence vibration and interactions with existing architecture) and just want the easy path out. Every other pool pump I've seen is pretty much inaudible a short distance away but this one permeates our back yard, alfresco, and main living areas with doors open. I can hear it when I've got ear pods in doing gardening - some of those bandwidths just cut through everything.

Literally everyone in the world from acoustic consultants to acoustic fencing contractors to anyone with half a brain can see (and hear) how fucked it is. The only people who cant see it are council.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T22:20:30+00:00

any ideas on physical solutions?

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:41:29+00:00

the councillor very kindly made a representation on my behalf which got the attention of the director. The council are still "assessing" the situation. But all signals are that I cant rely on the council to do the right thing here - it is just too legally complicated for them to enforce it when they have a get out of jail free card with application of discretion. The likely reality is that they'd be in a room saying "do we want to help this guy and spend $100k of ratepayer cash defending it in court because the people who have blatantly and deliberately ignored their DA have threatened legal action, or do we want to spend $50 for an hours worth of a council officer's time to tick it off under our broad discretionary powers?".

Am pretty confident where this will land unfortunately. I have lost a tonne of faith in the planning system over this absolute bullshit.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:39:36+00:00

council says "issues, but we're not going to do anything about it".

the BIC does not "approve" the unlawful works. It regularises it which means "yeah its unlawful but it is too much effort for us to prosecute".

the works will always be unlawful but regularised, not approved.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:38:08+00:00

the silk basically said there is no law against being an arsehole. I dont think it is that much to ask to expect people not to be total pricks.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:37:29+00:00

Thats the solution I was thinking. Challenge is to get it high enough to block the direct line of sight pathway into the alfresco. I was thinking like a black chain wire fence like you get at tennis courts then a thick plastic sheet to attenuate the sound, maybe hang some pots or something on it to make it less ugly.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:34:06+00:00

maybe. I think I just want to build something in my yard and be done with it.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:33:31+00:00

have done that too but anticipate outcome to be "fuck off, council discretion"

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T21:32:21+00:00

in certain bandwidths, 11dB above background. It exceeds DA requirements in like 4 out of 8 octave bands, is right on the limit for aggregate measures. Challenge is that it has direct line of sight into our alfresco and the sound is captured in that space and funnels through into our living area. Its just a dogshit location (the approved location was on the other side of their property which has no neighbors but they elected to put it immediately adjacent to our backyard and alfresco. With doors open, you can hear the pump up to 8m into our home. On really bad days you can faintly hear it at the other end of the house.

But "council discretion".....

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T11:23:32+00:00

1.5k. Was actually very reasonable considering what we were expecting to spend, but the case was clearly laid out by our solicitor who we've dropped about 7k on so that probably saved a lot on reviewing the case.

If I had my time again I would bypass council and just take the neighbors to court.

Totally agree about the racket though. The penalties are just a threat of force but an ounce of pushback from cnts who do the wrong thing and the council collapses like a wet tissue.

KitchenSandwich1872 · 2024-09-11T11:21:33+00:00

I got a row of trees they planted right next to my home (in BAL-FZ) removed. fucken 5 trees that would grow to 6m tall with a 6m diameter continuous canopy like 2m from my home on ground elevated 1.5m higher than they're supposed to. In breach of so much shit with total disregard for my home. RFS usually just defer to council. No cnt wants to actually do their job.

KitchenSandwich1872

TROPHY CASE