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Topic
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This is a 3 story apartment building.
The tenants have gone away for the weekend and left their door or window open that goes onto the balcony.
It rains and an Owner is concerned about water coming in and the Neighboring Owner wants to put a ladder up and go onto the balcony to close the door or window of the tenant.
Is this permissible or would this be considered trespassing.
There is also a problem that the person attempting to close the door might fall down and be injured or killed when climbing the ladder.
Your advice would be appreciated.!
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Replies
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Which floor is the offending balcony on ?
My first reaction is that the balcony and sliding doors are both probably common property so you can get on there and close them, if you feel it’s necessary.
However, if you are concerned about the safety of someone climbing a mladder, then you might be better to hire a tradesman who will have their own insurance to do it.
The alternative is to have a quick rinag around the EC, declare this an emergency and hire a locksmith to get you access to the flat so it can be done safely.
bearing in minsd tha t the owners Corp has a legal obligation to maintain anmd repair common property, this is what the Act says about entering owners’ units:
Part 2 Maintenance, repairs, alteration and use of common property and fire safety inspections
65 Can an owners corporation enter property in order to carry out work?
(1) An owners corporation may, by its agents, employees or contractors, enter on any part of the parcel for the purpose of carrying out the following work:
(a) work required to be carried out by the owners corporation in accordance with this Act,
(2) An owners corporation may, by its agents, employees or contractors, enter on any part of the parcel for the purpose of determining whether any work is required to be carried out by the owners corporation in accordance with this Act.
(3) In an emergency, the owners corporation may enter any part of the parcel for those purposes at any time.
But don’t forget that you will be liable if anything gets damaged (like the lock)
(6) An owners corporation is liable for any damage to a lot or any of its contents caused by or arising out of the carrying out of any work, or the exercise of a power of entry, referred to in this section unless the damage arose because the owners corporation was obstructed or hindered.
So the answer is, hire an insured tradie to climb on to the balcony ar get a locksmith to let you in – and be prepared for howls of outrage from the tenant – especially in the latter case. But if you take the prcaustion of making this an official EC decision, at least you will be covered by your EC insurance iof the tenant decides to take action (although on what grounds that might be I have no idea).
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