Everybody wants to renovate eventually, but when someone on the ground floor of an apartment block starts knocking out walls, they shouldn’t be surprised if more than the ceiling comes down on their heads.
QUESTION: My unit has been damaged from major renovations by the owner of the unit directly below me. The internal walls were removed (by an unlicensed builder) and last weekend thick, long cracks appeared on the walls of my unit.
Every day new cracks are appearing. I requested a structural engineers report and am awaiting the result. The owner says he got permission to go ahead with the works but the executive committee meeting was inquorate, the item never appeared on the agenda, and in any case I’m told it would have needed a 75 percent vote at a general meeting.
How do I ensure I am adequately compensated for the damage and that we, as a building, are safeguarded for the future? What are my rights in this case and who should I contact for advice? – Undermined, Bellevue Hill.
ANSWER: The walls and ceiling are the responsibility of the Owners Corporation and they have a legal duty to repair and maintain them. They should then pursue the rogue owner for compensation.
Meanwhile, you were right to get an engineer in before it gets any worse. Strictly speaking, without the executive committee’s OK, that would be at your own expense but any reasonable EC would agree to pay for this.
Your EC shouldn’t hesitate to get a specialist strata lawyer involved. And get in touch with your local council to find out if there was planning approval for the work (unlikely).
They can demand that supports are immediately put in to shore up the building until the engineer reports. And you can talk to Fair Trading (13 32 20) about action to get compensation from the owners.
As for preventing this in the future, there’s not a lot anyone can do to stop selfish owners and cowboy builders from flouting the rules. But you can hammer them when they do.
Email your questions to mail@flat-chat.com.au or add your comment below.
what’s your view on the usefulness of a special by-law dealing with renovations? one that requires owners to gain permission from the OC in advance of any work commencing?
—jan bradshawIt would be very interesting to hear of the outcome to this as it goes to the heart of Strata mismanagement. It’s quite possible that whoever (if anyone) on the EC gave permission thought they were a CEO and that the offending owner thought that verbal approval was sufficient.
—d. charnerJimmyT Writes: My building has just approved, at great expense, an incredibly detailed by-law for renovations (which I advised against). It cost a fortune and runs to pages of heretofors and notwithstandings. Why was I against it? Because the more detail you include the more loopholes you create for lawyers to exploit. And in any case one of our EC members has blithely ignored it and done their own thing anyway. I think there
should
be a by-law that says owners have to get council planning approval for any changes (which they are unlikely to get if the Owners Corporation objects) and that the work has to be done in accordance with a timetable agreed with the Executive Committee. As your building ages, you don’t want to stop all renovations but you do want to be able to control the way they are done and that includes the times of noisy work and the disposal of rubble over common property. Issues like repositioning rooms so that their lounge room or bathroom is next to their neighbours bedroom would hit a brick wall at a council planning meeting, especially if the EC or OC objected. Have a by-law, definitely, but remember the devil is in the details and the more details, the more devils you’ll get.
—JimmyTJimmyT writes. I received the following email last week.
Thank you so much for all your help – printing the article in this weekend’s SMH did the trick. I photocopied it and distributed it to all the owners and it prompted a response. The owner responsible for the reno and myself have had discussions about the issues and we made progress. We are organising a general meeting in 2 weeks where we expect to reach agreement about positive solutions. The owners responsible have agreed to pay for the damage to my unit and I am awaiting approval in writing for the quote. They are also sending in their own structural engineer to give his professional opinion on the integrity of the building. We will cover this off in his certificate of completion. We expect a resolution to be found by the mid-August.
I will keep you informed of our progress. Thank you again Jimmy. I really appreciate your advice and for the article in the SMH.
—JimmyT