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Our SM was on holidays and could not be reached. Meanwhile we noticed sewage blockage in bathroom and water leaking out of downstairs pipes. We ended up calling plumber who looked after this issue before and asked him to fix again, with request for him to provide information to SM when he gets back. We thought this was classed as emergency fix and did not need to go through process of quote/approval. One neighbour in meantime decided to emailed entire block saying we were not following rules. Believe we were following correct process. Blockages like this can’t usaully wait. What are classed as ’emegencies’?
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The law is on your side.
The strata Act includes repairs to “burst or blocked water or sewerage pipes” among emergencies that don’t require approval of the Owners Corp for spending that has not been budgeted
The Residential Tenancies Act includes “a blocked or broken toilet” as and urgent or emergency repair.
In the absence of any procedure laid down in the by-laws detailing who to contact in an emergency when the strata manager isn’t there, you are well within your rights to take reasonable action to fix a problem that has the potential to damage the whole building.
The busybody who has been emailing your neighbours to complain about you not following the rules should hang their sorry heads in shame. You deserve your neighbours’ gratitude for dealing with a problem quickly while others did nothing.
It would be a very different story if half a dozen units were flooded with backed up sewage and you did nothing because it wasn’t strictly in the “rules”.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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