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[jancraney]

I seek advice on responsibility for termite damage in a strata townhouse.  The situation is as follows:

1. The ground floor of the townhouse in question appears to be on a concrete slab on the ground, but part of the ground floor is on a floating slab up to 1m off the ground. The ground can be accessed through a plywood hatch in a storage area leading into an unventilated void containing builder's rubble from the construction 14 years ago.
2. About 6 townhouses in the complex have the same unventilated void. This design defect was not identified & remedied in the Defects stage.
3. Some years ago a townhouse owner submitted to the EC & received approval to lay a hardwood floor.  The floor met Australian Standards with hardwood plywood and soundproofing.
4. Ridges appearing along the hardwood floor recently, on investigation, turned out to be caused by termites originating in the underground void space. 
5. The owner of the townhouse, in consultation with the building & strata managers,  arranged for a termite inspection of this residence to be done & treatment (likely to last many months) to commence. 
6. A termite inspection of the entire SP (the first in its 14 years) is now to take place.
7. There are several many responsibilities to allocate:
8. Termite inspections – OC.
9. Termite treatment of residence/s with termites – OC.
10. Rectification of unventilated voids & any other areas encouraging termites to congregate – OC.
11. Damage to approved additions to properties with termites (such as the OC-approved wooden floor in this townhouse) – ??? 
12. In this case, does the lack of regular termite inspections, in a Sydney suburb known for termites, consititute negligence on the part of the OC?
13. Long after the Defects stage was completed, where does the OC stand with this unidentified defect that is clearly a design/building fault?
14. In this case the owner's insurance does not cover termite damage.  It appears that no home insurance does.

 

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