This article discusses pest control strata responsibility, clarifying when pest treatment inside lots is a private owner cost versus an owners corporation responsibility due to common property causes./p>
Question: If ants are a pest problem within lots, is this an owners corporation cost if the issue is not on common property?
Two of the three units in our small 3 lot complex have problems with ants inside their units. They have arranged for a pest control contractor to attend and resolve the issue. The two units have agreed this service is the responsibility and cost of the owners corporation. Should this be an owners corporation cost when the issue is not on common property?
Answer: If the ant issue is caused by the common property, the elimination of the issue should be the responsibility of the owners corporation.
It may be that the ant issues emanate from within the building eg inside the skins of the bricks or, indeed, from outside the two other units but from elsewhere on the common property. If the ant issue is caused by the common property, the elimination of the issue should properly be the responsibility of the owners corporation. Otherwise, the ant issue is a private concern and the two units should share costs.
You should seek agreement from the two other units that if the pest contractor determines the source to be from within their units (and not the common property), the invoice be issued directly to them and not the owners corporation.
This post appears in Strata News #642.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440
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