Strata bunny – I recently had an almost identical problem in our self-managed Plan where as both Secretary and Treasurer, I have to deal with matters of this type.
This recent matter in our Plan was not the first of its type, where Property Managers have made the Owners Corporation (O/C) aware of problems involving areas of Common Property within a permanently tenanted Lot, and have concurrently provided a “maintenance request” for the O/C to urgently attend to it as (typically) their tenant is complaining.
Upon receipt of this most recent request, I made arrangements with the tenant (with whom I’m acquainted) to allow me access to inspect the problem, whereupon I found a common wall of the shower recess with lifting paint above the tiles, white residue from the render oozing from the grout lines, and extensive mould in both corners and along the ceiling interface.
On the basis of my visual inspection, it appeared to me that the problem started long before the Property Manager reported it, and after some inquiries of the tenant that suspicion was eventually confirmed.
The tenants advised me that they had left an advisory note inside the Unit prior to the last advised inspection by the Property Manager “around 6 months ago”, and that after they returned home and found the note where they’d left it, and no customary “calling card”, they then personally advised their Property Manager of the problem, even though they weren’t too concerned as they didn’t intend to renew their Rental Agreement upon the expiry of its fixed term.
A few more questions and I was able to determine that the problem in the shower recess was evident at least eight (8) months prior to the tenant advising of their intention to vacate, and that it was only reported to the O/C via the Property Manager’s “maintenance request” at that time.
Anyway, as I avoid dealing directly with Property Managers I advised the Lot’s Proprietor / Landlord of the problem and the extent of it, where by the way there was also an accumulation of moss on the outside (brickwork) of the shower recess wall, and of the O/C’s intention to in the circumstances attend to the necessary repairs to its Common Property, and to then invoice the Proprietor / Landlord for 100% of its resultant costs.
Well….. didn’t that set the cat amongst the pigeons!
The Proprietor/ Landlord complained bitterly and sent me a copy of the last two (2) Condition Reports that she’d received from her Property Manager, including one that was dated just 15 days prior to my inspection, both of which showed that everything was just hunky-dorey, and in fact the most recent one included a postscript from the Property Manager stating that there had been no need for any additional outgoings (maintenance or repair costs) during the past 12 months; presumably due to their great management!
Anyway, a few e-mailed photos to our Proprietor/Landlord from the O/C showing the extent of the water damage and some other areas of concern that my phone just happened to capture such as of damaged ceiling fans and floor-coverings, and the next phone call that I received was from the Property Manager who desperately tried to cover his backside with that of the O/C, or more specifically with mine!
There a bit more to all of this, but suffice to say that it came about that the Property Manager didn’t personally inspect the Unit at any time during the tenancy but had only signed-off of paperwork prepared by “others”, but in an effort to add-value to his role when little actually exists (my opinion) merely signed-off of those hunky-dorey Condition Reports, and then tried to have our O/C attend to their “maintenance request” before the Property was again made available for rental.
The Property Manager’s strategy didn’t work, and our Proprietor/Landlord has received and paid the O/C’s invoice for 100% of its direct costs to repair the Common Property, that turned out to be quite minor plumbing repairs and extensive consequential civil works ($$).
Unless you can obtain conclusive evidence to support a different scenario from your tenant, your Property Manager, or maybe from an independent trades-person who can assess and attest to the damage timeframe, then as you can guess I’m supporting the stance taken by your O/C and likely its Strata Manager who it appears, like me, has almost certainly been confronted with similar situations in the past.
So I’d be agreeing to pay that 50% so your O/C can get on with those repairs before the extent of the damage worsens, and so that you can get a new tenant and possibly a new Property Manager; it pays to inspect your investment property yourself on occasions by the way.