I don’t agree with Mailbox’s position.
Austman – a strata scheme is not a magic pudding. It is not there to pay for any damage that may occur, regardless of the cause or what has been damaged. Flipping the equation – on what basis should an OC pay for damage to someone’s property caused by someone else?
If you live in a house on a property and a tree on your property falls on your neighbour’s house and damages it, you will be liable for that damage. That is because it is your tree. Whether or not you knew the tree was unstable, or whether wild storms brought the tree down, it’s your tree wot done the damage.
I think I have mentioned before that people get quite hung up about negligence – negligence is an area of tort law. You may or may not be negligent, that is a separate issue. To that extent I believe the SCA document is misleading.
I am not familiar with the clock radio case but those circumstances, are distinguishable in a number of respects. The owner would be covered by insurance in a case like that and if they didn’t have insurance, they are idiots.