Canada Bay Council faces scrutiny for charging strata homeowners commercial rates to maintain trees

A Sydney council’s tree maintenance fees have come under fire amid revelations residential strata property owners are being slapped with commercial rates as high as $158 to prune a single tree.

A Sydney council is set to backflip on charging ‘excessive’ tree pruning fees after slapping strata complexes with hundreds of dollars in commercial charges.

The hefty cost of maintained foliage in strata buildings in the Canada Bay Council area has sparked backlash from residents who say they can no longer afford to have basic tree maintenance works carried out.

Community concerns centre on the reclassification of the local residential strata residences as “commercial organisations” which has resulted in impacted properties slapped with commercial fees as high as $158 to maintain a single tree.

Under the commercial classification, the fees incur a $192 ‘tree preservation’ charge to maintain two trees and a $475 charge for three trees – significantly higher than the $96 charge for two trees and $238 for three trees charged to non-strata residential households.

Victoria Havryliv, who chairs a community association overseeing the Abbotsford Cove residential village, said residents in the 400-home complex including retired and senior occupants had been unfairly impacted.

Impacted properties include the Abbotsford Cove residential village.

“We have 1000 trees in the complex and when you add up the council charges on top of the arborist fees it becomes exorbitant,” she said.

“As a non profit organisation it’s a huge burden (and) we don’t know why we were reclassified as a commercial property when we don’t operate as a commercial entity for profit.”

Victoria Mail – the convener of the village’s gardening committee – said the charges had made it increasingly difficult to carry out basic maintenance works and financially burdened many older residents who occupy strata community associations.

“We pay rates to the council individually and for all intents and purposes we’re like a stand-alone house but we don’t get those sorts of benefits in the way the fees are structured,” she said.

Strata complexes including Pelican Quays in Concord have been impacted.

Canada Bay Mayor Michael Megna.

“The costs are unfeasible.”

Other impacted properties include the Pelican Quays residential complex in Concord.

Linda Bisnette, secretary of the site’s strata association, said tree costs had impacted the viability to carry out maintenance on mature trees which have damaged walls and other parts of the complex.

Canada Bay Mayor Michael Megna – in response to community opposition – said the council would review the charges in the council’s upcoming financial budget.

In a statement, a council spokeswoman said “the City of Canada Bay reviews its fees and charges each year to ensure they are fair, equitable, and reflect community needs”.

“As part of this annual review, council has proposed changing fees for strata properties to align with residential properties, thereby reducing costs,” she said.