Question: One wall in my unit has developed substantial cracks over the past 10 years. The owners corporation has investigated the cause but the insurance company has denied the claim. Is the OC responsible to repair any damage?
I own a unit in Victoria that has, over the past 10 years, developed cracks in the northern wall.
The owners corporation investigated the stormwater drains and found them to be blocked and overflowing. This has been repaired. They submitted a claim to the insurance company who sent out a structural engineer to investigate the problem. He did a review of the levels of the building and came back with an opinion that the wall had sunk due to the nature of the soil. He did not carry out a soil test as he said he was not authorised to do this and described the damage as “slight”.
The insurance company subsequently rejected the claim (which was for damage caused by water escaping from the stormwater drains over a period of 16 years, causing subsidence).
Is the owners corporation responsible for remedial action to repair the cracks in the outside walls even though the insurance claim has been rejected? Can I ask the owners corporation to pay for a second independent engineer’s investigative report regarding the cause of the damage?
Answer: If the cracks deteriorate further since the insurer’s engineers report, I would strongly recommend the Owners Corporations to get their own independent engineer’s investigation.
It’s difficult to know how to answer this one without looking at the insurer’s engineering report, which I assume wasn’t provided to the Owners Corporation. However, these are the guidelines taken from Guide to Standards and Tolerances 2015.
Concrete slabs: If the damage is ‘slight’ (refer to the table below) they need to be monitored for 12 months, so no sudden repairs are required.
Walls: If the damage is category 2 – Slight <5mm (refer to the table below) they need to be monitored for 12 months, so again, no sudden repairs are required.
Without looking at any drawings or the Plan of Subdivision (POS), the Owners Corporation should be responsible for periodic inspection and maintenance if the stormwater assets (drains) belong to the owners corporation.
The initial engineer should have recorded the cracks so OC can monitor them for the next 12 months. If they get bigger, then the OC can undertake a further structural inspection with a soil test.
It is the Owners Corporation’s responsibility to attend to all maintenance as per the Owners Corporation Act. All remedial action to repair the cracks in the outside walls falls with Owners Corporations.
If the cracks have deteriorated further since the insurer’s engineers report, I would strongly recommend the Owners Corporations to get their own independent engineer’s investigation done as soon as possible for peace of mind.
This post appears in the December 2021 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.
Paul Cummaudo
Roscon Group
E: info@roscon.com
P: 1800 767 266
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