@scotlandx said:
Austman – you are in Victoria. I also own a property in Victoria, and my experience has been that the law is very different there.The NSW legislation provides that a lot owner can be awarded damages for loss as a result of the OC’s failure to maintain the common property. You do not have to prove negligence, because the OC’s obligation is a strict liability one.
It’s the same in Victoria – that an OC has a absolute duty to repair and maintain common property.
I think the OC would responsible for a lot’s losses if it failed to repair or maintain the common property (if the pipe was actually common property) in a timely manner.
As 106 (5) states, it’s got to be “reasonably foreseeable”. How a pipe that can spontaneously burst or leak at any time could be considered “reasonably foreseeable” is the problem.
The case you cited was a long term (well over a year) major roof leak. Not quite the same thing as a spontaneous burst or leaking pipe. And it was claimed in the case that repairs were not done in a timely manner. The delay caused the foreseeable loss.
None of my insurers around Australia consider a spontaneous burst or leaking pipe event to be a legal liability on the pipe owner. Failing to repair it in a timely manner could be another matter.