NSW: Q&A Duty to Maintain and Repair Common Property
Question: My garage is in immediate need of repair to the point of causing damage to my car. I have requested maintenance but nothing is done. What can I do?
My basement garage in my strata building has no glass in its windows, just some plasterboard covering where glass should be, and the window is ‘in’ an open drain from the garden above. The frame is also rotting away, and there is concrete cancer over my parked car.
Grass, weeds, dirt/soil and water enter through the window, causing further deterioration to the frame.
Three times in 3 years I have requested this window be repaired or bricked up (the cheapest option) and even obtained three quotes. All to no avail.
I’m waiting for the day I see scratches on my car from where the concrete has fallen on to it.
Can you please tell me what my options are?
Answer: It is the strict duty of the Owners Corporation to repair and maintain the common property
The subject window appears to be common property and it is the strict duty of the Owners Corporation to repair & maintain it. You may apply for mediation and, if the Owners Corporation refuses to attend or no resolution is reached, you may seek orders from NCAT that the Owners Corporation carry out its duty.
Under the strata legislation you may recover from the owners corporation, as damages for breach of statutory duty, any reasonably foreseeable loss suffered by you as a result of the Owner Corporation’s failure to repair and maintain the common property.
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