#24763
pmo


    @Whale
    said:
    In the absence of such proactive steps by Mr X he would, save the vindictiveness that you suspect, in my opinion have difficulty substantiating that the owners corporation (through its E/C) could have reasonably foreseen the loss that he incurred, and so he would likely not be able to successfully pursue the owners corporation under sect. 106 of the proposed new legislation.

    I think the courts would take all of 5 seconds to conclude that even the mental giants on our committee should have been able to “reasonably foresee” that if they took 11 months to fix an owner’s rented lot, when an identical repair in another lot took 32 days, then he would suffer a loss.

    As for why the owner did not take action earlier, NCAT action takes months. He was losing money by the bucket-load. He just wanted the job finished as fast as possible. He was also worried that if he did take action they would penalise him even further. As it turned out that is exactly what they did.

    There was also concrete cancer in his kitchen floor. To fix it his kitchen had to be completely demolished. The owners corporation agreed up front to pay him the value of his old kitchen on completion, (as required under s.65(6)) which he could put towards a new kitchen of his choosing.

    The work was completed in early November. He should therefore have been paid immediately so he could re-install the kitchen and re-rent his unit. When the work finished they had not even obtained a single quote on the value of his old kitchen, which they had had 8 months to do. His kitchen was identical to several others in the building as numerous photos prove so it was a simple exercise, even after the old one had been demolished.

    They did not pay him until late February, almost 4 months after the repair work was completed. Knowing as they did that his unit had previously been rented for $700pw I think they could “reasonably foresee” that that extra 4 month delay would cost him another $11,000 in lost rent.

    Before they paid him they made him sign to say that he would not take legal action against the owners corporation. That does not prevent other owners such as me from suing them for the losses we incurred due to the spiteful, vindictive and unlawful actions of the committee.