› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Hard floors and tough decisions › Original Parquetry quandary › Current Page
There seems to be no dispute that there is a recognition by all parties that the original parquet flooring is common property.
The issue seems to be whether the OC is responsible for merely repairing the floor or alternatively, totally replacing the flooring.
Is the parquet floor able to be repaired? If so then I would suggest that be the correct course of action.
However, you mentioned that the floor had been re-sanded and re-polished 3 times. Was the parquet flooring re-sanded by the OC or was it re-sanded by the owner?
If it was re-sanded by the owner then I would think that the owner would now be responsible for any repairs due to the fact that by taking on the repairs themselves 3 times over the intervening time they have now waived the obligation of the OC to become involved in repairing the flooring. If the previous 3 repairs were not authorised by the OC then how can the owner prove that were competently carried out? By undertaking this work without authorisation the owner may have damaged the common property.
The situation is slightly different if your OC has approved the adoption of the Common Property Memorandum at a General Meeting. The model Common Property Memorandum as outline by the Office of Fair Trading states that owners are responsible for sanding and re-lacquering the flooring. If so, then the OC would be responsible for re-glueing the parquet pieces to the slab but the owner would be responsible for re-staining and re-lacquering the floor.
I think that the OC has 2 choices to offer the parquet floor owner. Either (1) repair the flooring at the OC’s expense (that is the ‘generous’ offer) or (2) do not repair the flooring and do not replace the flooring i.e. do nothing about the flooring, due to the owner conducting their own unauthorised repairs on 3 separate occasions.
There is no obligation on the OC to repair or replace the flooring that is not damaged i.e. 87.5% of the flooring.
Option 2 allows the owner to take this matter to Mediation or to the Tribunal if they choose to do so.
I would not offer any cash money to fix the problems.
Here is a link to some legal opinion on the topic: https://hflawyers.com.au/why-owners-should-not-repair-common-areas/