#13587

Jetski,

As Easty has indicated, your strata manager is correct in suggesting that the OC should pass a by-law etc.

As per s65A of the act the OC must pass a special resolution at a general meeting prior to doing the alteration, and should pass and register a by-law defining who is responsible for repairs and maintenance (typically an exclusive use by-law under s52).

The issue that you have is that while the current owners may agree with the individuals using the gas supply being responsible, unless you have the exclusive use by-law, a new owner would be within their rights to argue it’s common property and therefore the OC’s responsibility to maintain.

Interestingly at my block at home (8 units) we replaced the gravity feed hot water with 2 reticulating gas units. Total project cost for the plumbing and new hot water units was about $20k (compared with $40k for 8 new hot water tanks). As it is a multiple dwelling property Jemena was seeking that we installed the fancy metering system so that all apartments usage would be separately metered… They quoted $15,000 for this (involved installing 9 meters and a phone line etc)… The obvious response was no thanks, we will have one meter ($500).