Question: A pool of water forms at our door when it rains. The Body Corporate is aware of the situation, but states they will not fix the issue. What is their responsibility to minimise the risk of injury?
When it rains, water pools on the floor on our level and runs towards a dip just outside our unit door.
To leave our unit in wet weather, we have to wade through a puddle of water. The Building Manager mentioned that a similar issue occurred on another floor and was resolved by installing a drain in the dip and a pipe.
My husband later took a fall, slipping and landing heavily on his back, due to the wet area outside our door. We wrote to the Body Corporate requesting they fix the pooling. Their response: “RESOLVED that the strata manager inform the owner that it was decided not to attempt to install additional pipes and drains at the location on level 5; and that all owners should be aware that on windy rainy days the lift landings could have water on them.”
We don’t agree with the Body Corporate decision and believe they have a duty of care.
What should we do?
Answer: The body corporate does have a duty of care to do whatever is ‘reasonably practical’ to minimise the risk of injury
If a physical or structural issue on common property is presenting a safety hazard for residents and visitors such as a pool of water consistently forming in a regular path of travel, the body corporate does have a duty of care to do whatever is ‘reasonably practical’ to minimise the risk of injury. Common property remains the responsibility and the liability of the Body Corporate and as such they must ensure maintenance and mitigation of hazards.
A drainage solution would stop the pooling of water and also limit moss/ algae growing in a damp spot, also a common safety concern. In bodies corporate, most injuries that occur on common property result in the body corporate being a responsible party for compensation. Having been warned of the hazard and neglecting to act or minimise the safety risk, the courts would generally consider this to be negligible conduct. The common question asked then to the Strata manager and the committee is, “what did you do that was reasonably practical?”.
It would then be up to the lawyers to argue that ‘warning owners that rain makes the ground slippery’ is enough to justify ‘reasonably practical’.
Our strongest recommendations would be to engage a professional to determine a solution to the pooling water whether that be a drainage concept or an awning covering the location.
To the person/s who have asked this question, our recommendation would be to photograph the pooled water and the safety risk and continue to pressure the committee and the manager to act under their duty of care over common property. Perhaps initially the severity of the hazard was not fully comprehended.
We would highly recommend:
- Inform all residents via email/newsletter drop of the issues that can arise when it’s windy and raining
- Have made and installed ‘A’ frame caution signage to be put in the affected areas
- Have a contractor fill the areas where it pools with a level agent and then test to see where the water now flows to
- Ultimately to remove the hazard have an awning installed so that all water runs away from unit doors and the surface be finished with a non-slip treatment
This post appears in the July 2021 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
Dakota Panetta Solutions in Engineering E: dakotap@solutionsinengineering.com P: 1300 136 036