A young man walks through a glass door on to his balcony.  It shatters and he gets away with a few cuts.  The question is, who’s responsible?

“It was a Saturday and when he rang the managing agent they told him to ring a number which just went to a recorded message,” writes Glassy  whose son walked through the plate glass door of his apartment. “It was winter and cold so he got a glass repairer in and was told he had to pay the $1000 bill. We’ve told him he shouldn’t have had to pay.

“He contacted the managing agents several times and they eventually said they will reimburse him less the insurance excess. Is this correct?”

The simple answer is that there was an accident and the balcony door was common property so the building insurance should kick in.

If Glassy’s lad was in any way culpable, of course he should pay the excess – he damaged common property, after all. Otherwise, his home contents insurance may cover the excess.

Debate on this is raging HERE on the Flat Chat Forum but there’s one issue to consider: was it the right strength of glass in the door?

The owners corp might want to pay up and shut up before they have to replace all the doors on every balcony.