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HI
Over the Christmas period and after the heavy rain, I noticed that there was still a small pool of water on the driveway entrance to the LUGs. I thought this strange as the weather had been very hot and sunny after the Christmas rain. On further inspection I found that the water was coming up through the ground. On investigation I found that the water meter to lot one was running extremely fast
I turned of the water meter and within five minutes the water leak had stopped. I informed the owner and advised that the water would be off until tomorrow as it is a public holiday and we could not get a plumber. Water pipe ran to Tap on edge of common property. ( for reasons Unknown) there had been a leak previously many years ago and the pipe had been fixed and the owner of the lot paid the water bill
The following morning I managed to get a plumber to come and inspect, I advised the plumber that the water pipe had been burst by what looks like a tree on the common property. He could not fix as he wanted to conduct a leak test to determine the position of the leak. I advised that the pipe ran along the side of the property and all that was required was to put an end on the pipe and stop the water as the tap had been removed.
So he could not fix and I carried out the repair to the pipe and now all is good.
The new owner of the lot received a water bill for over $2000.00 and has requested that the body corp pay this bill as the pipe was on common property and that a tree on the common property most likely had caused the damage to the water pipe.
The body corp is taking the view that the owner of the lot is responsible for the bill as the pipe was connected to the water meter for the unit
Hope you can help sorry for the long explanation.
Thanks J
The
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My opinion …. If it was a common property tree that caused the problem to the lot owner’s water pipe then the OC should pay for any unusual usage. The OC’s negligence is what has directly caused the damage that has created a large water bill.
If you use the ‘but for’ test the owner could claim that ‘but for’ the tree root from the common property tree his water bill would not be any different from usual.
The OC should pay the difference between what was the lot owner’s normal water usage and what was the unusually high amount caused by the damage from the OC’s tree.
You might want to take a look at the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (Trees Act).
An issue like this is such small beer (for a strata committee) and so clear cut that I would be very surprised if you could find any record of another similar issue (although if anyone can it will be Lady P). This is the kind of thing where a motion goes to committee, there’s agreement and a compensation cheque is cut. It’s not something anyone apart from the over-billed strata owner would go to the barricades over.
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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