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I own a unit in a block of 18 in Southwest Sydney. Recently, one of the units has been put up for sale and I had a look at it on the inspection day. It was there that I noticed the owners of the unit had made some plumbing alterations that do not appear to be legal & that could possibly expose the BC/OC to liability if not corrected. The plumbing in the unit has been modified & a washing machine was installed on the balcony at the front of the building. We believe that the owners made a modification to the internal plumbing to supply water to connect the washing machine onto the balcony as well as to connect the waste. The real laundry on the ground floor had been converted into a “study” (we found out afterwards it had been used as a bedroom for a while prior to intervention by the local council who know about this).
Given the circumstances (and the fact that the real estate agent selling this property if fully aware of this but turns a blind eye when asked about it), is the BC/OC liable for any damage done from this illegal alteration (i.e. flooding etc). Also, if this unit sells, is the BC/OC liable to restore the unit back to it’s original state if the new owners discover that the alterations are illegal.
Just a note (obvious I know), that none of this was put forward or approved by the BC prior to the current owner doing these alterations.
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Your Executive Committee (or strata managers if they have delegated powers) very quickly need to issue a Notice To Comply citing relevant bylaws about changes to common property and unauthorised alterations and renovations.
My understanding is if unauthorised changes are made to common property and the unit is sold on, the Owners Corporation inherits responsibility for the common property as it was at the time the unit was sold.
The Owners Corp won’t be obliged to return the unit to its previous state but they will be responsible if, for instance, what could be very dodgy plumbing causes a problem. So you need to get a paper trail in place as quickly as possible so the owner has to accept responsibility for the unauthorised work before they sell the place and ride off into the sunset and the new owner passes the buck back to the Owners Corp.
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@KennyC said:
Thanks for the tip Jimmy.This may be a bit off the core subject but doesn’t the real estate agent selling the unit have a duty of disclosure regarding this to the buyer.
Even if there is a duty of dsiclosure, right no the Agent has nothing officially to doicsclose. Until such times as your EC or strta manager sends a Notice To Comply, there is nothing in writing to say that these alterations are anything but kosher. Perhaps as a preemptory move, someone in authority should send a letter to the owner’s solicitor informing them that the issue of illegal alterations will be raised at the next EC meeting and that in the meantime they should advise prospective buyers of this. You could also copy it to the RE agent.
When I sold an investment unit recently I had to sign a paper saying that I had not made any unauthorised changes to the unit. I don’t know if that is mandatory but it happened very late in the process (at settlement, I think).
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