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  • #8716
    boxfee
    Flatchatter

      Hi, 

       

      My strata is charging me $200 for 2 x call out fees when power in my apartment blew out because someone needed to come over to open the mains box so I could flip a switch.  Both of these occasions were out of hours (outside Monday-Friday 9-5)

      On the first instance,  the managing caretakers sent someone over opened the box, flicked the switch, no problem. 

      Following this, I asked strata for a key to the mains box, but it wasn’t issued. I was told that it was locked with some sort of “tradie” lock which is utter BS. It is a normal Bunnings padlock. I could have just cut it off, but as a good strata paying owner, I instead I got my sparkie to come over and i had to take time off work to be at home when the day to day caretaker was on site (Monday-Friday 9-5) to get access to the mains box for my apartment to look for the fault. My sparkie came over after work the next day, did some tests but wasn’t able to determine the cause straight away and with everything working I left it at that. 

      A week or two later the same thing happened, the managing caretakers sent someone over, opened the box, flicked the switch, no problem. In the telephone call to get someone over, I said that I had had my sparkie over and he thought it could be either my stove top or oven but wasn’t sure, the managing caretakers then said that if it happened again, they would have to consider charging me a call out fee. 

      I wrote a letter to strata arguing that it is a matter of safety that someone onsite in my complex should have access to keys to the mains box for all apartments in case of emergency ie if there was a fire and it needed to be switched off, it would be ridiculous to have to wait an hour for someone to come to turn off the power. 

      In the meantime, I again arranged for my sparkie to come over (whilst the 9-5 caretaker was onsite), on this occasion, my sparkie determined that it was indeed the stovetop which had caused the trouble, I had it replaced and have had no problem since. 

       

      A few weeks after sending my letter to strata, I received a brief response that no keys would be kept on site for accessing the electrical mains. 

       

      Two months down the track, I receive a letter from strata attaching an invoice from the managing caretakers for 2 call out fees of $100 each for each time they came out to open my box so that I could flip a switch as the cause of the power trip was not associated with common property, the OC would not be liable for the call out fee.

       

      My perspective:

      1. all apartment owners/tenants should have reasonable access to keys which open their mains power box as a matter of safety. I had asked for this after the first incident. 

      2. The managing caretaker had said in my telephone call to him (on the second occasion) – “if this happens again, we will have to consider a call out fee”. This implies that no fee would be attributed to that or the prior call out. 

       

      Can anyone please advise if I am out of line here or if there is any regulatory or legislative basis for them charging this to me? There is certainly nothing in the by-laws that I have seen. Perhaps I need to cite the OC’s contract with the managing caretakers?

       

      Finally, is strata allowed to “advise that this expense will be charged to your levies”?

       

      any comments most welcome

      ta

    Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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    • #17950
      Whale
      Flatchatter

        I don’t think you’re at all out of line. The Caretaker may be within their rights to lock the meter boxes to individual Units for safety reasons, but they are also under an obligation to have someone available to unlock those whenever maintenance is required, and to do that quickly in an emergency.

        Whether or not the Caretaker is able to charge you a fee to unlock your meter box is something that you’ll have to check in their Agreement with your Owners Corporation (O/C), but whilst any fee that may be permitted cannot be “charged to your levies” it can be included as a separate amount on your Levy Contributions Notice (invoice).

        If your Levy Contributions Notice arrives before you can resolve all this with your O/C and Strata Manager, then just pay your Levies and ignore the fee.

        On a related issue, in NSW if the meter boxes also house the meters, then they may only be secured with a lock issued by the electricity supplier, to which most electrical contractors have a key. Perhaps that’s the “tradie” lock that your Caretaker was referring to.

        #17952
        Boronia
        Flatchatter

          Electricity authorities do not like unqualified people wandering around in meter rooms, this is why they have restricted locks on them.

           

          Individual units should have their own separate SWITCH BOXES which would normally trip out first if there is any problem in the unit. These should be accessible to the occupant, usually inside the unit.

          #17965
          ccbaxter
          Flatchatter

            What Boronia says is not quite right in my experience. We’ve had fuse problems in the fuse box inside our unit and also in the meter room where there we have two additional, separate fuses evidently.

            Agree of course, no one should really go into the meter room without an electrician, or at least someone who genuinely knows what they’re doing. Electricity kills in a flash.

            #17967
            boxfee
            Flatchatter
            Chat-starter

              Hi Whale and Boronia,

               

              Thanks so much for your responses.

               

              Boronia – I do have access to my sub board in my kitchen but the stove top blew all the power in my apartment (my sub board) AND the mains power (in the locked cupboard outside my apartment). It was necessary to get access to my mains so I could function and the contents of my fridge wouldn’t go off. 

               

              I’ll be drafting a letter of protest tonight, so thanks Whale, I just needed a bit of encouragement. I do wish I just used bolt cutters now… 

              #17969
              Boronia
              Flatchatter

                I don’t know how your unit is wired, but usually the main board will have one or two large fuses, and your sub-board a number of smaller fuses for lights, power-points, stove, HWS, etc.

                 

                If your problem caused the main fuse to blow, just going down and resetting it without having the problem diagnosed seems very dangerous.

              Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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