VIC: Who Is Responsible for Townhouse Gutters and Downpipes?

This article discusses townhouse gutter maintenance responsibility, explaining when gutters and downpipes are lot owner obligations and how an owners corporation may arrange repairs by special resolution.

Question: Each townhouse has a gutter and downpipe that appears to be part of their lot. Should the gutters and downpipes be repaired by the owners corporation?

We would like the gutters and downpipes on the townhouses in our blocks to be repaired by the owners corporation.

Each townhouse has its own independent gutter and downpipe that appears to be part of their lot. Do Sections 47 and 47A of the Owners Corporation Act 2006 apply here, allowing the owners corporation to repair the gutters and down pipes? If not, how might we go about having them maintained by the owners corporation?

Answer: For practical reasons, it may be preferrable for the repairs/replacement of the gutters to be arranged by the owners corporation.

Given you have advised that the entire structure is private property, 47(1) of the Act is unlikely to be applicable as this references a service for the benefit of more than one lot and the common property and / or if it is impracticable for the lot owner to carry out the repair or maintenance. Based on your description of the boundary points, the gutters are likely to be private property (under Section 131 of the Act), and as such, individual owners may carry out repairs to their section of the gutter if they wish to.

For practical reasons, it may however, be preferred that the owners corporation arrange for the repairs/replacement of the length of gutters, subject to a special resolution being passed allowing it to provide a service to lot owners under section 12 of the Act. If this is preferred, subject to a special resolution passed permitting the service, this can be done under Section 47(2) at the request and the expense of the lot owners who own the gutters. Discussion should take place at a general meeting to authorise the owners corporation to carry out private property repair and maintenance.

This post appears in the April 2023 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.

Dilshan Meemanage
MBCM Strata Specialists
E: info@epping.mbcm.com.au
P: 03 9046 2231