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Hi
I am on a strata committee in NSW.
We recently have had 2 accidents in our garage in common property caused by tenants and someone visiting a resident.
We have eye witness accounts but not video footage of the folks who are responsible for the damage caused.
The tenant claims he is not at fault and the damage occurred on the last day of lease – we tried to hold onto bond but are still waiting on invoices to come in so have been advised by Dept of fair trading bond cannot be held past two weeks with out proof being lodged via the real estate agent / owner and the visitor is ignoring our requests to pay for the damage.
The tenant damage is appx $2500- $3500 and the visitor is appx $2500.
Our strata manager is suggesting we lodge an insurance claim where the insurance company will chase each party for the OC to be reimbursed, we are concerned this may raise our premium if we are not successful. Given the amounts are small for an insurance claim and the insurance excess is $500 it does not seem the best option..
Does anyone have any suggestions ie inexpensive legal options etc.,
thanks in advance..
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Inexpensive legal options could be the strata plan taking out a small debt summons against the offenders and paying a filing fee, currently $105 in NSW which gets added onto the debt owing. You haven’t said what state you reside in but it can be done online….. or rocking up to the local court house and filling out a form as long as you have a current address(s) to serve it on. Have an executive committee meeting to vote on this course of action before doing so. You can pursue it yourself instead of paying a solicitor or credit recovery business to do it for you. Solicitors legal costs can also be added onto the judgment debt if you prefer to engage a lawyer.
Make an inquiry from the insurance company re excess and premiums. It may be better time wise to have someone else do the recovery work for you despite the costs. After all, it sounds like you are going to be the person responsible for doing all of the legwork and the associated hassles if you have an apathetic committee as a counterpart.
I would make an insurance claim and put all the info you have in. The insurer will quickly tell you if they regard these as insurable events. I doubt it will make a difference to your premium on renewing. Insurance is going up everywhere and these claims are small beer in the scheme of things.
I would make an insurance claim and put all the info you have in. The insurer will quickly tell you if they regard these as insurable events. I doubt it will make a difference to your premium on renewing. Insurance is going up everywhere and these claims are small beer in the scheme of things.
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