Question: I own a top floor unit. My ceiling has been damaged by water ingress due to a leaking roof. Who is responsible for the cost of repairing the ceiling?
Answer: The usual position is the Owners Corporation responsible for maintaining and repairing the common property.
The roof is common property. However, at times an owner may have an exclusive special by-law in place which may include the roof. I am unaware if you have this. I would review the by-laws first to ensure there are no special by-laws in place.
Otherwise, the usual position is the Owners Corporation responsible for maintaining and repairing the common property. That duty is set out in section 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015</em. The section provides “An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.”
However, the above is qualified if the Owners Corporation has determined by special resolution that:
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- it is inappropriate to maintain, renew, replace or repair the property, and
- its decision will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme or detract from the appearance of any property in the strata scheme.
If this has happened, section 106 will not apply. Further in the event an Owners Corporation has taken action against a builder or developer, it may defer complying with its duty to maintain in a good and serviceable repair the common property until the completion of the action against the other party if the failure to carry out the repair does not affect the safety of the building, structure or common property in the strata scheme.
I would recommend at first instance notifying your strata manager who will then likely arrange an inspection with a consultant to determine what steps will be required to remediate the leak.
Pierrette Khoury
Khoury Lawyers
E: pierrette@khourylawyers.com.au
P: 0415 459 486
We live in a small Strata complex and have had excessive (several years) ongoing delays by Strata in making a decision about structural repairs to our unit – 3 quotes for rectification work was obtained by Strata but no decision to start. We notified Strata about the urgency to commence before further structural harm, without a decision from Strata, so we informed that we would pay and seek reimbursement.. The restoration work including underpinning has been completed but Strata is not willing to reimburse fully for all repairs. For example a leaking roof (from original exhaust flue) – they are willing to reimburse only 50% – also refusing to pay for the replacement of original ceiling that was falling down and had water damage. Also we had our unit rented and had to ask our tenants to leave due to safety issues caused by structural damage – the insurance company refused to compensate for loss of rent, which was part of the Strata Insurance. What can we do to recover compensation?