No Cops Allowed in this Strata Building

State of New South Wales V Koumdijev [2005] NSWCA 247

GoStrata’s CaseWatch is a short, sharp and easy-to-understand review of important and interesting Court and Tribunal decisions affecting Australian strata title stakeholders.

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Quick Read

This 2005 NSW Court of Appeal decision is about an unusual case involving an Ashfield strata title building and the police.  That’s because it involves an arrest and the powers of the police to enter common property and how that affects criminal charges when one strata owner tried to let them in and another tried to keep them out. So, the primary issue was whether police entry on to the common property was unlawful and if strata and property laws permitted Mr Koumdijev to cancel the permission another strata owner gave the police to enter the common property. After reviewing High Court cases and Crimes Act 1900 provisions about police entry powers, the Court decided that they did not have rights to enter and that one strata owner can withdraw another strata owner’s permission to enter.  It’s a quirky reminder of the way that strata owners share their ownership and rights over common property. 

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Implications

The key implications of this strata case are as follows.

• Police cannot automatically enter private property, including strata building common property.

• Instead, Police need permission [a legal licence] from a strata owner or resident, or powers under the Crimes Act 1900.

• Otherwise, the police [like anyone else] will be trespassing.