#14185
Whale
Flatchatter

    That's a difficult one given the prescribed obligations of an Owners Corporation (O/C) to maintain its Common Property, but in this case it appears to me that as your O/C did attempt to make the repairs, and those attempts were frustrated by the Proprietors, your E.C's letter regarding the capping of costs should be enforceable.

    I say “should be” because IF the matter was taken to the Consumer Trade & Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT), it may be claimed that your O/C could have used the Provisions of S65 1(a) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act to enter the Lot and make the repairs.

    One further point in your O/C's favour may be that IF the original blockage was between a Lot Owners' Fixture (e.g. a toilet suite) and the “gully trap” where the pipe meets the Common Property Sewer (i.e. one serving more than one Lot) and the cause of the blockage was not structural (i.e. a failure of the sewer), then the original repair would have been the Lot Owners' responsibility.

    Good luck, and I for one would be interested to read about the outcome.