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Topic
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During a recent storm, water came into the top floor unit damaging the ceiling paint work and the carpet. Our Strata Manager seems very reluctant to make a claim on the Strata insurance. It’s been three months now and we’re still waiting for a response. Would this kind of damage be covered by the strata insurance?
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Yes the damage to the ceiling would be covered by the Strata insurance
BUT carpets are not covered by the building insurance and so for these you would have to claim on your contents insurance.
HOWEVER as the carpets were damaged due to the roof leaking (which is Strata reasponsibility) their is a grey area I’m not too sure about.
If the water had damaged the fitted kitchen for instance the strata insurance would have covered that, because it is covered by the strata policy.
Hi helene
If damage is caused to a lot owner’s property while the owners corporation are effecting a repair, the owners corporation are responsible to fix the damaged property.
However, if the cause of the damage to the owner’s property was not made when the owners corporation were fixing the problem; instead it was caused by the problem itself, then the owners corporation are not responsible to make good the owner’s property unless the owners corporation can be deemed negligent.
kiwipaul said
BUT carpets are not covered by the building insurance and so for these you would have to claim on your contents insurance.Internal paintwork will also not be covered by the building insurance.
Both items should be covered by your contents insurance though.
@just get on with it said:
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Internal paintwork will also not be covered by the building insurance.
Both items should be covered by your contents insurance though.
Yes you are right about the paint it’s a unique feature that only applies in NSW but check your PDS
Optional benefi t (NSW only)
Optional Benefit 1 is operative when shown as ‘selected’ on the Schedule.
Lot/Unit wall coverings When Your Sum Insured under Policy 1 is not otherwise expended in respect of any one Event We will pay for the cost of repainting or re-wallpapering the internal walls or ceilings of a Lot/Unit at Your Situation if they are damaged by an Event claimable under Policy 1.I don’t believe the contents policy will cover the repainting so it might fall on the o/c because it’s def common property.
Looking at the “who’s responsible … ” document, it says that the Owners Corp is responsible for repainting when the damage is caused by their repairs to common property but not if the damage is caused by the failure of common property in the first place UNLESS the common property failed due to Owners Corp negligence.
OK, define negligence. Failure to properly maintain common property when they know it’s in bad condition would be a definite runner but what about failure to carry out proper checks frequently enough?
As with so many things in strata – it’s more a question of whether it’s worth going through the grief of challenging your Owners Corp or EC rather than what’s legally or morally right or wrong.
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