@JimmyT said:
Unless you can prove it was the current owner who removed it, the liability falls back on the Owners Corp (as it should, for failure to inspect and maintain common property fire safety installations).
I use the Sherlock Holmes level of “proof”. The door closer is inside the unit. Therefore it was the current owner, a previous owner, the current tenant or a previous tenant who broke or removed the door closer.
It may be (is) the OC’s legal responsibility to get it replaced, but it’s the current owner’s responsibility to pay for it. If he/she can get it back from a tenant, then that’s up to them.
I’m still not sure where this concept of “Caveat OC” rather than “Caveat Emptor” came from. The OC is not a party to the contract of sale for a unit changing hands, so why should damaged common property inside a unit suddenly change status upon sale? The answer is it doesn’t.