@Lady Penelope said:
It is for these reasons that the Tenant should have the authority to undertake the repair of the letterbox lock and go through the Agent rather than the Strata Manager to seek compensation.
In apartment buildings it’s not even property that belongs to the lot. It’s a common property facility maintained by the OC. It’s the same with building foyer locks and any other common building facilities. Not even a lot owner has the authority to repair those themselves. So while the lot owner has the responsibility to get them fixed for their tenant under the RTA, those repairs have to be done through the actual owner – the OC.
A letter box lock might not be so important, I agree. But foyer locks and the like are a different matter.
I’ve been though the situation several times with tenants “repairing” common property locks themselves. It has ended up causing issues for everyone – the OC, the lot owner, the owner’s agent and the tenant or the next tenant.
A letter box lock might not matter so much – although some OCs use a master keyed system for letter boxes. But I’d draw the line at allowing a tenant or even a lot owner to make other unapproved common property repairs.