Question: Although our strata property has pumps installed to alleviate damage from excess water, the recent weather events caused unit garages to flood. Can the owners corporation be held liable for the water damage of goods in the garages?
Our townhouse block has a driveway sloping into the building in one direction and a carpark entry/exit sloping in the other direction, forming a wide “V” shape at the security roller door junction of the two.
Two townhouse garages are at this junction, and the drains at this junction have two large pumps in order to remove excess if the drain at this junction overflows. The current extreme weather has resulted in a number of occasions where the pumps cannot cope with the water and the garages of the two units have had heavy water ingress at ground level, causing damage to items stored in the garages which I imagine would not make us unique at the moment. The building is approx 18 years old. Is the OC responsible for having the garage areas waterproof from the excess ground run off when the drains are not blocked but simply cannot cope in unusual circumstances such as at present, and is it responsible for providing on or off site storage to avoid damage to owners goods stored in their garage by choice?
Answer: So long as the building complies with building codes at the time of construction and does not have a regular problem with water ingress, the owners corporation is not responsible to upgrade the building to protect the garage contents in extraordinary weather events.
This is a great question and one I am sure is very topical at present given the incredible volumes of rain we have seen recently.
To answer this question, here are a few assumptions we will have to make.
We need to assume that the design and construction of the townhouse complex was built to code specification at its inception. At the very least it would have been signed off by a certifier at the time of completion as meeting requirements for drainage at that time.
We also have to assume that the owners corporation, in this instance, has not failed its duty to properly maintain the building, gutters, drain systems, Pumps, etc.
As the NCC and Building Codes are not usually retrospective, building codes today may likely not apply to your particular building.
Given that you have a drainage system in place plus a backup pump set for when the drain does not cope, it would seem reasonable that the owners corporation has taken reasonable steps to prevent damage to owners lots from water ingress under normal circumstances/ weather events.
Because we have experienced unusual and largely unprecedented weather events, these volumes of water would likely exceed many drainage system capacities through affected areas at no particular fault to the design or construction of the buildings.
We have seen council constructed stormwater systems erupt as entire streets never before flooded have gone underwater, so in these conditions, it is no surprise that residential drainage systems (commonly box drains in driveways) have not coped well.
Regarding responsibility for weatherproofing or waterproofing the garages and their contents, so long as the building complies with building codes at the time of construction and does not have a regular problem with water ingress, the owners corporation is not responsible to upgrade the building to protect the garage contents in extraordinary weather events, nor is it responsible to organise personal storage for owners contents during such an event. Most occupants would have a level of contents insurance that covers their personal possessions inside your lot/ unit during flooding, fire, theft etc.
A very simplistic way to look at insurance responsibilities in strata is as follows:
If you were to pick up and shake your unit, whatever falls out is your responsibility as an owner to the insurer – the fridge, the TV, your kitchen, your artwork, your car, your cat etc is all your responsibility.
Balconies, roofing, doors, windows and all building-related elements are generally the responsibility of the owners corporation in a regular NSW Strata Plan.
This post appears in Strata News #563.
Dakota Panetta
Solutions in Engineering
E: dakotap@solutionsinengineering.com
P: 1300 136 036
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