› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Talkin’ ’bout a renovation › balcony door replacement in remedial works › Current Page
I don’t know what you’re “entitled” to do, but it seems like some communication with your Committee would be in order – letting them know that you’ve had new and special doors installed (with permission?) and there is no need to replace them. If they have to be temporarily removed for the purposes of doing the balcony work, then you’d like them replaced with the same. This should be a reduction in cost for the overall project (one less set of doors to provide) so I can’t see why they’d object, unless you did this original work without permission. If that happened, the OC is “entitled” to require you to revert to the same doors as everyone else.
The other thing to negotiate is who replaces your special doors if they get broken during the work. At worst, the OC should pay for new doors of the same kind that everyone else is getting, and you would pay the extra to upgrade to the special ones that you want.
If you don’t already have a by-law in place that says 1) you have permission to change your balcony doors and 2) you are responsible for maintaining those doors going forward (not the OC), then this is probably the time when that by-law needs to be put in place. The by-law should also state who is responsible if the doors are broken by the OC or the OC’s contractor – that might all happen too late for this project but will help you in the future if other work impacts those doors.
One final thing – if your doors are broken during the work, the OC may be able to claim on insurance. But a claim can have far-reaching consequences. Premiums go up, insurers refuse to reinsure simply because there has been a claim. And the OC may refuse to do this if they never gave permission for these doors in the first place. And you might not be able to claim if there is no by-law stating that you are responsible for maintaining the doors.