- This topic has 4 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by .
-
Topic
-
We live in a row of villas & I am on our strata committee.
Recently one of the tenants in one of the villas had an issue with a blocked toilet & the plumber was called to fixed.
The plumber found the inground drain to be blocked & also had cracked piping. These are all located on the tenants property in there courtyard.
Upon questioning about who pays, the strata asked the plumber and he said this is inground drainage and is typically considered to be a strata issue.
I found it strange strata was responsible for paying for a drain that was on a tenants property to get fixed regardless of how it was caused.
I then asked strata who was responsible, the owners corporation or the lot owner – the reply was to the effect of drains are considered a strata responsibility regardless of what the cause
Can somebody shed some light on who is responsible?
-
Replies
-
The plumber and “ strata” are absolutely correct in this case.
Whilst the pipe is under the lot space, it is actually in common property.
Its a concept one has to get to grips with.
If the drain is part of the network of drains that services all of the villas, then strata/Owners Corporation should pay.
To get to the bottom of Charlie Jones’ question, it is necessary to consult the Strata Plan to determine the extent of lot property. It is not unusual for courtyard spaces to extend say 2 metres below the surface, and include airspace say 3 metres above the surface.
Having determined whether the pipe is located in common property or lot property, the definition of “common property infrastructure” in the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 becomes relevant.
It is quite possible this is a lot owner responsibility, if it is a pipe located within lot property servicing only that property.
Even if this is found to be an issue involving common property, the cause of the blockage and damage may be relevant if the scheme has a by-law requiring owners to indemnify the owners corporation in respect of damage caused by owners to the common property. For example, the owner or tenant may have put unsuitable items down the toilet, planted a tree with aggressive roots or brought in compacting equipment to lay pavers.
A plumber who has been engaged by “Strata” will turn to “Strata” for payment.
If this were where I am (ACT), it sounds very likely to be the unit owners responsibility to fix.
The Owners Corporation is responsible to repair and maintain plumbing that services multiple lots. The unit owner is responsible for lines that only service that one unit. So, somewhere, there will be a ‘tie point’ where the sewer line from the unit join the main line that takes input from multiple units. That is the point at which responsibility transfers (at least in the ACT). I always had the impression that a similar principle generally applied elsewhere. Even if the tie point is somewhere under common property and the individual tributary passes under both unit area and common property on its way to the tie point, the entire tributary is the unit owner’s responsibility.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.