Vandalism, theft and a broken garage door

Hey all,

Sorry to start on this forum with a long winded question, but I came across the forum looking for answers and it seems like theres more then a few people who have been through this sorta thing before who may be able to help.

The situation is as follows.
I rent in a 30 odd unit apartment complex.

For the time I have been here there have been ongoing issues with security in the underground garage. Largely arising from a garage door which is often non functional (ie weeks at a time and at least two days a week). This is therefore left open. I am fairly certain there are also residents who open the garage door and leave it open at times. We have repairmen come at least once every few weeks to repair it.

A few years ago, when the garage door was left open, about 20 cars had their side windows broken, presumably by thieves looking to grab loose items.

Last week the garage door was left open as the mechanism broke.
As a consequence, someone was able to get into the garage and my car was tagged with spray paint and some tools I had next to my car (in a non secure cardboard box) were stolen.

I had complained to strata and my estate agent for the duration of my tennancy that the garage door was not secure and unreliable. This may have been discussed with the Owners corp.

As you can appreciate it, this is rather frustrating, I have pointed out to both my real estate agent and strata that something like this was predictable and that something should have been done to avoid it, obvious suggestions were a more reliable or secure garage door and a security camera covering the underground garage.

I would be happy if they could just install a garage door that worked, reliably, and was not able to be disabled by other residents, but I do think a security camera would be a very good idea.

However strata seems to refuse point blank on either of these things citing cost. Which to me seems rather stupid, I mean as a result of the last break in residents had to pay to replace 20 windows between them, I estimate that $500 of damage was done to my car and $350ish of tools were stolen, and this would easily excede the cost of a camera and a new garage door opener. Surely the owners and strata arent so idiotic they think the same thing cannot happen to them (again)

Apparently my requests (a new garage door opener which is reliable and tamper proof and a security camera) are going to be discussed at the OC meeting but I am not optimistic.

Thats the situation, and now that Im in it, how do I best go about things? I mean I would like to think Im a reasonable person, and its not unreasonable to expect a security garage door to be…..you know….secure is it?? How can I get them to make it secure so this doesnt happen again? What if they refuse to fix it adequately? Do I head to the Tenancy Tribunal or is that going to be pointless when strata/owners corp is involved? Who else do I turn to?

As an aside to that, I was wondering if anyone had any idea about the following:

1.
I feel that owing to the actions of strata/owners corp that they might be liable for failing to provide adequate security, although I appreciate leaving tools in a cardboard box is a bit stupid, the damage to my car is a major issue for me and not through any lazyness or negligance on my part

I have read that renters have sucessfully gained compensation for theft from real estate agents who failed to provide “adequate security” I wonder if there is any liability here, who would it be directed against? Strata? Owners corp? real estate?

Now I want to make this clear that I am a reasonable person, so I really dont want to do this, but if they dont fix the problem, then (and only then) would it be something I would consider.

2.
If Strata/OC decided not to fix the door properly or not at all, and refused to put in a security camera for matters of cost, what if I was to place a couple of cameras in the underground carpark covering the garage door and my car. I priced out some cheaper wireless systems and frankly for $400 Ill pay for it my bloody self if they wont.

Of course this would be after asking permission of strata/owners corp and putting up signs indicating cameras are on premises. I could set up a view and record function in my apartment, but are there any issues having a renter running the cameras? If the Owners corp agrees, is that all the permission I need?

I mean its tempting as a renter to just tell them all to get stuffed and move somewhere else, but Id rather engage in some dialogue and see if we cant just fix this….

Any opinions welcomed.
Thanks.