By the Paddocks Club team

Below are examples of two questions on the Paddocks Club discussion forum. We want to show you what is available to our Community members!


Internal leak

Member’s question:

Hello,

Owner B has been out of the country for 6 months and has just returned to find that their bedroom has resultant damage to the walls, carpet & their bed. Water coming from a leak in Unit A.

Unit A is now attending to the leak in their unit which caused damage to unit B, we would like to know who is responsible for the resultant damage in unit B? as it’s not unit A’s fault that the owner of unit B has been away for 6 months and has only now reported the resultant damage in their unit

Anton’s answer:

Hello,

The legal responsibility to repair unit B is the owner’s, in terms of section 44(1)(c).

However, that owner would have a civil claim against the owner of unit A for the reasonable cost of the repairs. One of the factors in establishing what is reasonable would be the time elapse issue.

If the owner’s can’t agree, I guess the Court will decide.

 

Overflow of geyser

Member’s question:

Hello,

If an owner’s geyser continuously overflows and the owner was notified of this yet does nothing about it, what measures can the Body Corporate take to remedy/repair this?

Anton’s answer:

Hello,

If the common property or the scheme as a whole is negatively affected by the overflow, for example, if the common property is being damaged or the wasted water is paid for by the body corporate, the trustees could use prescribed management rule 70 either to force the owner to fix the geyser, or do it themselves and charge the owner.

 


Article reference: Paddocks Press: Volume 11, Issue 09, Page 04.

Professor Graham Paddock, Anton Kelly, Dr Carryn Melissa Durham and Zerlinda van der Merwe are available to answer questions on the Paddocks Club discussion forum for Community members. Get all your questions answered by joining Paddocks Club.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

Back to Paddocks Press – September 2016 Edition