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[Jasonvic]

I live in an apartment building in Melbourne. My neighbour downstairs has engaged a plumber to investigate water egress on their ceilings and the plumber provided a report  suggesting that it was my balcony’s  waterproofing that has failed.

The issue was also reported to body corp. And Body corp replied that as it is my balcony which is a private lot,  it is my responsibility to address the issue.  I have done some research into this and found that in other states, i.e. NSW and QLD, the waterproofing on balcony is up to body corp to rectify when it failed, regardless of whether they are in private lot or common property.  Additionally, my balcony is a tiled balcony that is joint with my neighbour’s balcony, which is only divided with a suspended private screen. Other than that my neighbour’s balcony is also joint with another apartment’s balcony.  That means that if I were to remove the tiles and relay the waterproofing, I will also need to remove my neighbours’ tiles across their balconies and relay waterproofing before reinstalling all tiles. I find it absurd that I should be responsible for the failed waterproofing.

Another angle I’m looking into is that the apartment building is only 7 years old, which means that it should fall under builder’s warranty for the defects(failed balcony waterproofing). Although in VIC the builder’s warranty period is only 6 years, I have read a recent court case in Victoria suggests that the limitation period for beach of statutory warranty is 10 years from completion some defects related issues take time to manifest.

I am trying to get in touch with the builder at this stage.

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