$300 to remove "non compliant deadlock"

Lawry

Lawry

Hi,

we just received a notice from the Strata Mgt at one of our IPs advising us that they have identified and removed a "non compliant deadlock" from our unit front door, as they say it is against fire regulations... and enclosed the nearly $300 bill for me to pay 'at my earliest convenience"?

We've had the unit 4+ years, we didn't install the deadlock so it was either there when we purchased, or one of the tenants in that time has added it. We live in another State so cant inspect the unit right now.

Either way, do we have any recourse/ options to avoid paying the bill? .. or challenge the exorbitant amount? Surely we should have been given the option to remove it at our own cost?

Thanks for any advice/ experience shared.
 
Firstly I would ask them for the paperwork stating it is non compliant. I would have assumed you should have been given the option however I'm a bit confused who decided its non compliant.

Brian
 
NBS said:
Firstly I would ask them for the paperwork stating it is non compliant. I would have assumed you should have been given the option however I'm a bit confused who decided its non compliant.

Brian
Click to expand...

Thanks Brian, I left out that the Strata engaged a third party (Fire Protection org) to do an inspection, and they have determined it is non compliant and removed it.

What I also don't get is they state "it is the owner's responsibility to rectify" but they've enclosed an invoice (not a quote) for the work to remove so i am assuming it is done already, will be following up tomorrow.
 
the typical 'invoice them for it and see how many pay' scam
the private company engaged by the strata body does not have lawful authority to make any alteration or order
the statutory body with such authority may only make order to comply
 
A Strata Corporation, on notice of a breach of the fire regs and not in the mood to be sued, should fix the breach and sort the details out later.
 
Token Funder said:
A Strata Corporation, on notice of a breach of the fire regs and not in the mood to be sued, should fix the breach and sort the details out later.
Click to expand...

I agree.

When you were looking at buying the property, this should have been on your list of items to review.

Have a talk to your PM as they should have also picked it up.

In both instances, if something had happened to someone residing in the property due to the non compliant lock, ignorance would have been no excuse.

At the end of the day, if Strata can prove that it needed to be done, then it needed to be done and you will need to pay it.

Just as a sidenote. The last unit we purchased had the same problem and the locksmith who was sent to change the locks on settlement contacted us advising that our lock was also non compliant and that he would not touch the lock - only change it to a compliant model.
 
Lawry said:
Thanks Brian, I left out that the Strata engaged a third party (Fire Protection org) to do an inspection, and they have determined it is non compliant and removed it.

What I also don't get is they state "it is the owner's responsibility to rectify" but they've enclosed an invoice (not a quote) for the work to remove so i am assuming it is done already, will be following up tomorrow.
Click to expand...

What did they do for $300 hopefully not just remove the lock, maybe they also repaired the whole in the door and repainted it.

Brian
 
You guys seen the cost of deadlocks lately?

We were charged $250 by the builder to upgrade our front door lock from 'flimsy thing' to 'proper deadlock' and they cost about the same in the shops. The ripoff with building being that they charge whatever the darn thing costs completely as an 'upgrade' and don't deduct the cost of the old flimsy one.

Edit: and we changed the deadlocks on our old house. Most of the locks were pushing $200 each, we got two for about $300. Insane, but they were the same in all the stores we looked in. Have bought cheap deadlocks before and they really are cheap and nasty, never again.
 
RumpledElf said:
Have bought cheap deadlocks before and they really are cheap and nasty, never again.
Click to expand...

What was the problem with the cheaper deadlocks?

I guess it also depends on the door, no point having an expensive deadlock when the door around it would break and make the deadlock irrelevent. :)
 
The mechanism jammed, you could open them with keys that weren't supposed to fit that lock, and the metal wasn't very strong so if you sat there jiggling it (get a small child to do this) it would shear through.

Was kinda horrified at how easy they were to pick and break. Yes, we're the kind of people that pick locks for fun ... you really don't want to meet my toddler, she's very good at breaking into things, I can see a career as a locksmith or a thief in her future.

We have pretty generic Lockwoods on the current house and some fancy schmancy brand next door, haven't actually paid attention to the brand, I think a lot of the price was for looks. They won't give us the keys for the doors yet so we're still using the window right now.
 
RumpledElf said:
You guys seen the cost of deadlocks lately?

We were charged $250 by the builder to upgrade our front door lock from 'flimsy thing' to 'proper deadlock' .
Click to expand...

$250 or $300 for fitting a new good quality one might not be so bad, but $300 for removing one? we didn't even get it back to sell on ebay!
 
Interesting.

just doing some searches and interesting that the US has a ANSi rating for locks. i couldnt find any reviews or ratings for aussie deadbolts though.

We just had our house locks redone for a very competative price through a locksmith friend and he used Carbine brand locks, which sellers describe as 'heavy duty' and 'precision made' but thats just sales speak :)
 
How are you supposed to know if a deadlock is compliant or not?

I'm about to settle on a villa in a few week's time, and I was going to get a locksmith to change the locks on the front and back doors. Do I need to get strata permission for this? Would the locksmith know what is compliant with fire regs?
 
Update

been a few months now since we wrote to the Body Corp disputing the charge... haven't heard back, haven't paid, keeping quiet...... :) ?
 
Has anyone read the BCA?

A unit is a sole occupancy dwelling (as opposed to motel type rooms or commercial premises). Without doing a quick check of my copy, the requirements for a sole occupancy unit are a lot less stringent ie you generally do not require a lever handled lock on a door which opens in the path of travel ie the door can open into the unit, can have a round knob etc.

I would be seeking confirmation from the council's building inspector (or private BCA inspector) to verify the requirement, not taking the strata manager's word for it.

I recently queried the requirement for the BC to carry out the annual inspection & testing of smoke detectors in units - as these form part of the owner's property not common property, annual certification is the owners responsibility yet the strata manager has to provide certification for the entire building (ie test all the common areas, extinguishers, exit lighting, hose reels etc as well as privately owned areas). I am of the belief that the strata managers should be enforcing the testing/certification in private space and putting it back on the individual owners or co-ordinate the whole annual certification.
 
sydgal said:
How are you supposed to know if a deadlock is compliant or not?
Click to expand...
This is how I understand it.
The compliant deadlock will allow you to exit the unit in case of a fire,
a non compliant deadlock will not.
For example, the compliant lock will enable you to open the door from the inside (in the locked position) but only when the key is inserted.
When the key is removed it will be deadlocked
 
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