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Topic
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We have a leaking pipe in our building which the owners corporation has to fix as it is common property. However it runs through a wall of one unit and the lot owner knew about the problem for over a year before bringing it to the attention of the owners corporation. In the meantime, the problem got worse, more damage was caused and some parts of this owner’s unit and personal items were damaged. The owner wants the owners corporation to pay for fixing up both the leaking pipe and the damage it caused internally. We think the owner should chip in because she didn’t say anything for a year but knew there was a problem and there was no way the owners corporation could have found out sooner and acted sooner.
So while the owners corporation has to fix the common property and the damage stemming from it, can we say this owner was contributory negligent (she failed to protect common property when she knew it was in danger and the owners corporation could not do anything because she said nothing) and ask her to chip in for the cost? This owner was the secretary of our committee and did nothing while on the committee to fix this! Seems no different to the situation if this damage was caused by a negligent tradesman/builder/contractor.
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This is what I hate most about strata living. Those owners who think that a problem is the OC’s problem so if it gets really bad it doesn’t matter because it isn’t out of their pocket.
We have had this problem here. It is because of this type of situation we have had by-laws drawn up to protect the OC and therefore all owners by making owners responsible for their own units. You should see how quickly an owner attends to a problem when they have to pay for it all themselves.
If this owner who did not report the problem for a year was also on the EC, and this problem became worse and therefore would cost the OC more money that if first reported and acted on, then I believe the owner should have to contribute to repairs. Do you have anything in writing where this owner says they noticed this problem for the previous year? We are very lucky here in that the owners who have in the past finally reported a problem that had been evident for years, have always put the fact that they had watched the deterioration of the common property in their unit in writing. Gold!
It is the Owners Corp’s responsibility to maintain common property. The OC is all owners, not just the EC. Many people think it is one and the same – still. So an owner as a member of the OC reports the problem to the EC who should then act upon it. But if this owner is on the EC, and as an owner is on the OC and done nothing about it, there has to be some ownership of this problem by this owner. But even if they did report it, as a member of the EC this owner should have followed up!
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