I have found out this week that the building I bought into 6 months ago has a list of major defects that need addressing. The building is currently in the warranty period until November.

The most discussed is a list of fire safety equipment which was in the strata report as having been accepted by the builder last year, since then it has not progressed.

2 weeks ago I noticed some issues with my balcony, evidence of concrete spalling. I emailed my strata manager with details and asked her to call, she didn’t respond, so I opened a works order and my builder manager left a note saying she’s added it to the ‘defect spreadsheet’, and we spoke on the phone.

Apparently there are a series of defects, largely waterproofing and concrete, that are not being communicated to the building, and the builder has not come to the table in a long time. They seem to be waiting out the warranty. There was a committee meeting last week which had no notice given to any owners, and still hasn’t published minutes.

I emailed the strata manager again, expressing my frustration at the lack of communication, and she told me that the meeting was ‘informal’, and the issue of getting a defect report commissioned was unresolved, so they are looking at other legal options – no further information was given.

This sounds to me like one or more owners are trying to keep this off the record so they can sell. I’m very concerned that this is being swept under the rug, there’s no transparency about any of this on our building portal, and I don’t think anything would come up in a strata report. The only reason I know any of this is because I spoke to my building manager about another defect.

I don’t want to sell, as I’ve only just bought and will lose money. But I don’t know what else to do as this sounds like our warranty will expire leaving the rest of us owners with a special levy.

Is there anything I can do here? This is really stressing me out.