Legal Matters

A butcher sets up a free community barbecue on the footpath outside his shop, the way he has every weekend for a couple of years. Then a council officer arrives, and the barbecue stops: no permit for the barbecue, no permit for the roadside dining, no permit for the table with the bread and onions. A fine of up to $1,600 may be following by mail. You may never run a sausage sizzle. The feeling, though, is familiar territory: something ordinary, something small, and a wall of rules that apparently nobody knew about until they were enforced. A neighbour’s stormwater, a dog complaint, a signage warning that somehow becomes a shutdown. Small disputes like this have a habit of swallowing months of your life.