This article discusses water valve responsibility strata, explaining whether a broken water valve handle in a Building Format Plan is the responsibility of the lot owner or the body corporate.
Question: The handle on my water valve has broken. As the villas are individually metered, my Body Corporate states that plumbing related issues to and including the black metre box are the owner/s expense. Is this correct?
I live in a townhouse that is under the Building Format Plan. The handle on my water valve has broken. This handle turns off water to my unit only and is situated within my boundary.
On review of the Building Format Plan and on the advice by two plumbers, the water pipe leading up to and including the meter services all the community and the Body Corp are responsible for the repairs to the handle. In order to undertake the repairs, the water to every unit will have to be turned off. My Body Corporate is telling me that as the villas are individually metered, plumbing related issues in the villa to and including the black metre box are the owner/s expense.
Answer: Utility infrastructure is considered to be common property except where three specific conditions are met at which point responsibility transfers to the lot owner.
Utility infrastructure is considered to be common property except where three specific conditions are met at which point responsibility transfers to the lot owner.
The conditions state that the owner is responsible for utility infrastructure that;
- supplies a utility service to only 1 lot;
- is within the boundaries of the lot; and
- is not within a boundary structure for the lot.
As the question acknowledges that the handle of the water valve that requires repair services is only one unit and is situated within the boundaries of the lot the first two of these conditions conferring responsibility on the owner seem to have been met. We don’t have enough information to definitely answer the third criteria, but if that were the case then it would seem that this issue is the lot owner’s responsibility.
Outside of this guideline you may want to consider if there are any by-laws that affect this issue.
And, you may need to check the scope of repairs. It depends on the extent of the works, but it is possible that it could be a shared cost if some of the common property infrastructures also needed repair.
For the water shut-off you should contact the body corporate and advise when you would like to undertake the works. It’s always inconvenient when the water has to be turned off, but sometimes it is necessary. If you work with the body corporate they can make sure to give other owners fair warning in advance. I find it best to book these shut-offs after nine and before three as that tends to be when the building is least occupied.
For more information on utility infrastructure, the government website has a detailed description: Queensland Government: Utility infrastructure maintenance
This post appears in Strata News #531.
William Marquand
Tower Body Corporate
E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au
P: 07 5609 4924
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