[whoisit]

Hi Considarate Band Fair. We don’t have a dishwasher. Allegedly, there was a a hole in the kitchen sink pipe, which was repaired but the leak downstairs continued. The OC paid for the repair work, in my opinion because that alleged hole was not the sourse of the leak in the unit below. There is nothing else in our kitchen that could be causing the leak. The laundry room which is next door to the kitchen was also investigated and there were no burst pipes, etc found there either which is why they moved to the bathroom. On Wednesday, the strata plumber and my tiler are coming over to discuss the waterpoofing (basically, the strata plumber alleges that the tiles were laid on the wall while it was still wet which is bs as we waited 3 days for the waterproofing to dry before we put the tiles back on). I’m not sure what arguments the tiler will present… He was always sceptical and said he does not believe a faulty bath lip was causing the leak. By the way, am I in any way responsible to find out exactly where the leak originates? The strata manager implied a couple of times that I should have investigated the leak when the tiles were down. Why would this be my resposibility?! And if it was, why wasn’t she said so when I told her I am hiring my own tiler to carry out the remedial work reccommended by the strata plumber? 

[whoisit]

Dear Whale, thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a detailed reply! I really apreciate you shared your insights and knowledge on the subject! I am going to take your advice and write to the EC. I have actually already sent a couple of emails to the strata manager to that effect but I have the feeling she has been instructed to not give in and try to get me to pay for as much of these investigations as possible. Having seeing the financials of the strara scheme for previous financial years, I know for a fact there isn’t much available there in the way of funds and this situation is already proving to be difficult and costly. I believe that their excuse for making me pay the last plumber’s bill was that he alleged that leak is caused by the faulty membrane on a internal unit wall. I don’t have much hope that I will be able to recoup the cost of that invoice. So much for acting in good faith! I knew it I should have waited for the waterprrofing to be done before paying it…Clearly I am facing another around of plumbing investigations, possibly taking the tiles off again and God knows what else! Which is a major inconvinience when you have a baby! I will suggest to the strata manager that they hire the compny JimmyT reccommended but I very much doubt it they will. And I won’t be hiring them either since I just learned that hiring your own tradesmen only complicates these situations further. 

Just to be clear, is the NSW strata management act the only applicable law in this case? Are there any relevant by laws?

By the way, when I say there is a leak in the unit downstairs,you shoukd not be picturing a damp spot with drops of water falling from it. They have a hole the size of a tea cup in the unit downstairs! Now you tell me how long it would have taken for a leak to grow to this size?! I doubt it very much that the tenant reported it as soon as the leak started. For all I know, the tenant may have been negligent in not reporting the leak straighaway cos surely a hole of this size did not iccur overnight. By the way, the tenant of the unit downstairs works at the strata management company. Just a fun fact which may or may not be related to the ferver with which the strata manager is fighting me….

[whoisit]

Thank you for your replies guys! I think my building is built in the 80’s. I’ll find out though. The bathroom is original. The wall they are alleging the leakage is coming from is internal. And yes, the leakage continues. 

After 5 months of investigations and repairs, the problem still exists and there is no proof it originates in my unit. Why am I supposed to be footing the bill for those ongoing investigations? The strata manager is doing everything in her power to make it my responsibility to find out where it comes from. Surely ths can not be put on me? Is that what the by laws suggest? 

The latrst development in the saga is that now the strata plumber is blaming my tiler for doing a botched up waterproofing job that didn’t fix the leak. I am confident my tiler was not at faul t but as there is no easy way to prove that, the strata manager will continue bulling me into fixing the problem at my ow cost. I need to understand where I stand legally. Could you please let me know what the relevant legislation is. Thank you so much.

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