@kiwipaul said:
The Strata insurance covers the rebuilding cost of the whole lot common and lot property and so just because the insurance accepts reasponsibility dosn’t mean that it’s Strata reasponsibility to cover the excess.
OK, the second part of that statement isn’t entirely correct, as we have established previously elsewhere in this forum. Strata insurance is there to cover repairs to common property, not just the rebuilding cost.
Secondly, if the Owners Corp wasn’t liable for the repair, why did the strata manager put in a claim? And why did the insurer cover it (notwithstanding Whale’s comment below)?
The question of how the damage occurred is kind of irrelevant, if neither the insurer nor the strata manager is prepared to question it. If the strata manager believed Lefty wasn’t entitled to the money, they shouldn’t have made the claim in the first place.
The Owners Corporation negotiates an excess on its insurance claims so that it can save on premiums – that means it accepts that it will have to pay a fixed amount of any claims that are made.
If the refusal to pay the excess is merely a way of sidestepping their responsibilities, then they need to be pulled into line. You can’t be half-pregnant (except, it seems, in Queensland).