Question: If a unit owner’s dishwasher leak caused damage to the common property metal balustrade below, is the owners corporation responsible for taking action against the owner?
A dishwasher leak in a unit caused damage to the common property metal balustrade below. Is the owners corporation responsible for taking action against the unit owner?
If the owners corporation failed to identify the source of the leak despite repeated complaints, does that affect its ability to apply the benefit principle?
Answer: If a common property balustrade is damaged, the owners corporation must arrange repairs and may recover the cost from the responsible lot owner.
Any water ingress caused by a dishwasher leak is the responsibility of the owner/occupier of the relevant lot who has the dishwasher. Effectively, this is a Section 16 Water Act 1989 claim where an unreasonable flow of water has caused another party damage.
If the balustrade is damaged and needs to be repaired and that is common property then the OC will be responsible to take action and have it repaired. The costs of the repair would be sought from the relevant private lot owner/occupier.
In some circumstances, there may be insurance either held by the private lot owner or the OC that may cover the damage.
The benefit principle will not be relevant, as whilst the works will benefit the lot owner who has the balustrade, the actual benefit is to the offending unit because they caused the relevant damage.
This post appears in Strata News #754.
Phillip Leaman
Tisher Liner FC Law
E: ocenquiry@tlfc.com.au
P: 03 8600 9370
My balcony has been built over the roof that serves a number of apartments and is therefore common property. The roof needs replacing because of severe rusting causing water leaks into my apartment. The Owners Corporation has acknowledged the roof is Body Corp responsibility but who pays for replacement of the balcony itself?
Hello,
We have a similar issue where the apartment below us has a leak and the Strata plumber is saying it is from a crack at the joint of the balcony tiles at the internal corner of the balcony where this meets the rendered wall.
In this case is the rendered wall common area and therefore this is a Strata issue or is this our property to repair.?
Plumber has advised that tiles have to be ripped up and membrane replaced without doing a flood test. Can we insist on the Strata plumber to a flood test or as them to gain a second opinion?
I would have a look at the Strata Plan of Subdivision to see if balcony is privately owned or part of common property. If you are having difficulties understanding Plan of Subdivision (which clearly states what is common, what is private), the surveyor’s name or company should be mentioned on the bottom of the POS and you should be able to give them a call, unless they’re deceased/no longer in existence.
Though your Strata Manager should be able to advise you if private or common.
Some P{ans of Subdivisions are woeful and I would consider paying for a surveyor to clearly articulate what is private, what is common and circulating it around. Though this will be at a cost.
The apartment below mine has water leaking from the patio ceiling into the courtyard.
The leak occurs when I put water down the drain on my balcony. It also occurs when the neighbor above me does the same on his balcony.
The three apartments are connected by a common pipe that leads to the basement.
The BM said it it my responsibility to maintain the area of the pipe that connects from my drain to the common line. I have had a plumber inspect this section of the pipe and the plumber could not detect any obvious fault. The leak may come from this junction but it’s unclear.
The plumber has advised the OC should take over matter.
The BM says the junction is my responsibility and I must carry out all investigations to prove it’s an issue with the common line or a building defect.
Who should carry out the tests? And if the fault does relate to junction where the two pipes meet (mine and the common line) who is responsible to fix it?