Be warned that NCAT takes time (our building went through one last year – it took from January to November) and a lot of energy.
I would suggest you share the entirety of the email chain with your fellow owners before the meeting (if you don’t have all their email/mail addresses, get it from the strata manager and don’t take any nonsense from them about ‘privacy’: you are entitled to see the strata roll per s182 of the Act. Again, ignore any nonsense about the ‘privacy’ or ‘confidentiality’ of the emails. They are records of the owners corporation, and are thus open to all owners, with the possible exception of legal correspondence subject to privilege.
If there isn’t time to do this, turn up at the AGM with your completed NCAT application and, ideally, all the emails compiled. Make it crystal clear that if it can’t be reasonably discussed between owners – perhaps asking others how they would feel if they got this sort of runaround – it will be put before an independent person at NCAT who will make a decision under the law. Remind them that this will incur considerable unnecessary cost on the part of the owners corporation and will not change the outcome. s105 of the Act, which governs common property repairs, imposes a ‘strict liability’ on the owners corporation. This is legal talk for ‘you can’t get out of it’. If the damage was caused by the failure of common property, there’s no question it is the owners corporation’s responsibility.
If other owners are unsure or they haven’t had the time or opportunity to consider your material, the decision can be deferred by agreement to another general meeting to be held in, say, a month.
One more thing you might want to have up your sleeve is a cost estimate from a lawyer to prepare for an NCAT hearing, let alone conduct one. I think your fellow owners will quickly see that fighting you in NCAT could well cost more than the actual repair.
Make sure you nominate for the committee, and perhaps get some other like-minded people on board.
If you do end up at NCAT and they seek leave to be legally represented, oppose it (unless you are a lawyer or know one!…actually if you are a lawyer, definitely oppose it!).
One more thing I’ve just realised: this sort of damage is often covered by insurance. Is it in this case? And if not, why not?
Good luck!