› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Living in strata › Water damage and Insurance claim › Current Page
I’m going to weigh in here very reluctantly because the literature says one thing and simple logic (and common law) says another.
Let’s start with the oft-quoted “Who’s responsible …?” document which is the liability “bible” for strata managers and anyone else who takes an interest in strata. Now, I know that is only technically applies to your scheme if you have adopted it under a by-law but you can bet if you take an issue to the Tribunal, it will be cited. The document was conceived by the Lands Dept and given government blessing so it carries some weight.
Note 13 (below) says the owners corp is not liable for damage caused by a failure of common property unless the OC was provably negligent in its duties, which cause the common property to fail.
Some lawyers would say that failure to anticipate or check for a potential problem (such as ageing pipes) was negligence. Others say that the Who’s responsible document is irrelevant – common law says that if something belonging to you causes damage to something belonging to me, then you are liable for repairs.
The simple answer is to have home and contents insurance that would cover all sorts of potential problems. And, if you don’t have it, you have to ask yourself how it’s going to cost you to convince a Tribunal or a small claims court that Section 13 of Who’s Responsible is as flawed as a leaky pipe.
Note 13
If damage is caused to a lot owner’s property while the owners corporation are effecting a repair, the owners corporation are responsible to fix the damaged property. However, if the cause of the damage to the owner’s property was not made when the owners corporation were fixing the problem; instead it was caused by the problem itself, then the owners corporation are not responsible to make good the owner’s property unless the owners corporation can be deemed negligent.