@Kenuppa said:
Regarding possible concrete cancer, I am going to my Doctor next week to have some skin cancers removed so I will take a sample of the concrete and ask him to check it.
Very droll. If anyone wants to know what concrete cancer really is, how damaging it can be and how to fix it, look HERE.
Meanwhile, a couple of things occur to me, and they stem from the fact that the floor and original tiles on it belong to the Owners Corp, and not the lot owner.
Ken should not have gone ahead and dug up the tiles unless they were laid by him under the terms of a by-law, giving him responsibility for the tiles and damage caused in their installation.
If he laid the tiles without getting a by-law passed, then it doesn’t matter whose fault it is – they shouldn’t have been laid in the first place as the floor and any original attached tiles are common property.
If he removed carpet and laid tiles without permission and proper insulation, he’s behind the eight ball on that too.
Secondly, by removing the new tiles, he has removed evidence of whether or not they were broken by movement in the slab or by tenant abuse (although the former seems more likely).
On the question of liability, it all depends on whether the tiles were laid with the written permission of the owners corp, or not. If not, and I was the EC chair, I would tell Ken to go whistle. Illegal tiles that broke? Take us to NCAT if you like but you don’t have a leg (or a tile) to stand on.
On the question of how he can work on his unit without breaching a by-law, the answer is, you go to your EC or strata manager, tell them what you are planning to do and work out a time frame that will cause minimum disruption to other residents. That means during the day and usually by a professional contractor who will work more quickly and efficiently.
If everyone is given due warning and consideration, they won’t complain because they might want to renovate some day themselves.
NOTE to all DIY hobby handymen (and women): If you are doing a home renovation in an apartment block, in the evenings and weekends when your neighbours are all at home, you deserve all the abuse, Notices to Comply and fines that you will inevitably get.
Ken seems to have breached so many by-laws and strata conventions in this episode that broken tiles seem to be the least of his problems.
However, concrete cancer is a serious issue that Ken needs to get the owners corp to look at as a matter of urgency. Now would be a good time, when there are no tiles on the floor. Again, look at this link to see how serious the problem is and what to do about it.