Question: Water has entered a unit and caused water damage during a recent SEQ storm. Is the investigation and rectification of the water damage the responsibility of the lot owner or body corporate?
Our 8 year old complex has 10 units. After the Boxing Day storm, water entered a unit through a large gap between the balcony skirting tiles and the balcony wall and through multiple long cracks on both the balcony wall ledges’ interior and exterior sides. The unit now has water stains in the downstairs bedroom. Is the investigation and rectification of the water damage the responsibility of the lot owner or body corporate?
Answer: You need to review your building documents.
There are a number of factors that can affect responsibility, and to determine these, you need to review your building documents.
As a starting point, consider whether the building is standard format or building format.
You should be able to check this on your CMS, although sometimes this information is not obvious.
The BCCM website has excellent guides on responsibility for each format:
After that you need to consider whether there may be any exclusions to the guides.
Is the balcony designated as an exclusive use area? If so, it may affect responsibility. Here is a good guide to exclusive use areas: Maintenance of exclusive use areas.
Are there any by-laws that may designate the responsibility to one party or another?
Has the lot had any alterations that may confer responsibility on either party? If property owners, either past or present, have done renovations, they would be responsible for them.
You may also want to consider whether factors such as negligence on behalf of the lot owner may have affected the property’s condition. The body corporate may still be obliged to undertake repairs in this instance but may seek to on-charge to the lot owner.
If you have a body corporate manager, they should be able to review these factors for you and advise responsibility. They should hold all the relevant documents and be able to provide you with advice based on the evidence available.
If you are self-managed, the Committee will need to consider the issues and provide advice.
You can also consider engaging a strata lawyer to provide help if required.
The above may seem like quite a lot. It mostly involves working through the evidence and checking against the legislation. If required, engage experts and follow the information they provide.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924