Question: My water stop valve is in an exclusive use courtyard of the ground floor unit and the owners have put a lock on their gate apparently with the blessing of Body Corp Management. If I have a burst water pipe in the middle of the night I will have no access to the Stop Valve. Is that legal?
In a unit block of 4, there are two downstairs ground floor units and two top floor units. I am the owner-occupier of a top floor unit. All the units have an exclusive use courtyard.
My water stop valve is in the courtyard of the ground floor unit and the owners have put a lock on their gate apparently with the blessing of Body Corp Management.
If I have a burst water pipe in the middle of the night I will have no access to the Stop Valve. Is that legal? I queried with the management and they suggest I meet with them to get an access key. Surely that is not good enough. What are my options?
Answer: You are reasonably entitled to access the common property, but the other owner is also entitled to the security of their lot.
It may be poor design, but it doesn’t mean it is illegal.
Moving the stop valve may resolve the situation, but if that is not possible you would need to check your body corporate by-laws. See what rights they provide the body corporate in terms of being able to access a property/exclusive use area in the event of an emergency. If they are insufficient you may need to look to have the by-law amended to potentially allow access.
Remember that the matter is a two-way street. You are reasonably entitled to access the common property, but the other owner is also entitled to the security of their lot. There shouldn’t be any need for a dispute though, as the other owner is likely to be motivated to want to stop the water in the event of an emergency – if your unit is located above theirs, any water from a burst pipe is only going in one direction.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924