Defective Repairs

Along the same lines, what are our legal rights when it comes to our situation ….

Soon after our downsize move into a block of 4 in NSW, a downpipe backed up, filled the facia and then the cavity and then poured in under the wooden floor in our kitchen.  A few weeks later the window seals on the lounge room failed and water poured in under the wooden floor there.  Strata funded repairs took a year of our life and now wooden floors and exempt from our insurance.

As part of these repairs, the waterproofing of the tiling on the lounge room window sills was redone, at a cost to strata of just over $10k.  It was then decided, primarily by the lot holders below us, that these repairs were not sufficient to guarantee that water would not, at some stage, enter their apartment underneath and therefore, our entire outdoor balcony area should be re-waterproofed and re-tiled (200 sq m).

We then attended an AGM when to our surprise the other three lots ganged up on us, rejected the quotes we submitted and literally forced a builder of their choice on us, a decision driven by cost aversion, although the cost to strata was just over $65k and required a special levy.  We also paid $10k for tiles.

Needless to say, another year of our life passed, the builder did a rubbish job, project managed by the people downstairs as we both worked at that time.  In fact, the project manager pulled the builder off our job because he had $300k of unauthorised works he wanted him to start at his place.  By the way, his renovation application only related to common areas, and I’m sure they’ve moved walls, etc.

A third year of our life passed, subject to jack hammers, furniture in common areas and no parking as the unauthorised works got under way and we struggled to get our works finished.

Now we have water in again, which I suspect will again affect the wooden flooring.  For some reason the builder didn’t leave the Foxtel/TV antenna cabling loose but tiled over it and water has, over a couple of years, worked it’s way under the sealant he put around the cabling.  I pointed out this defect at the time as well as other defects but none of the other lots cared, they just ignored us and the work hasn’t officially been signed off.

The little old lady from one lot in our building has moved on but the other two lots, the real instigators of all our issues are still around.  I don’t yet know the scope of the repairs required but are we able to sue these owners for ignoring the integrity of the building in preference to furthering their own self interests?