BC Won't Fix Laundry Facilities. Tenants Rights? My Responsibilities?

[Kristine..]

Hi Olly

In my previous incarnation as a Body Corporate Manager, believe me, the Insurance will cover just about anything provided that it is a defined 'insurable' event.

We used to process cracked shower screens on a regular basis, appliance malfunctions causing damage, trees through roofs, you name it.

Provided that the reason for the damage is an insurable event - and a fire in the cabling would be an insurable event - what does it matter if there were more or less claims this year than last year or in 1952?

Get a copy of the Insurance Policy and read it for yourself. Find out exactly what happened to cause the fire. Bring pressure to bear on the Manager as they are there to make sure that the property is safe, complies with all Local and State requirements and that the Owners are not put to ridiculous expense for no good purpose.

If there are 21 dwellings in the development you need a strong, no nonsense Manager. This is not about 'someone parked in my spot' but a health and safety issue.

Some while ago 'our' Electrician was doing some work on my Son's unit when he noticed that there was no safety cover over the main electrical connection from the street to the building. The connection happens to be at the corner of my Son's carport

The Electrician rang the Owner's Corporation Manager on the spot and told him in no uncertain terms that if the electricity supply company should notice this, that they could, and most likely would, disconnect the supply until a suitable safety cover was installed.

Luckily, Ray, being a very handy Electrician, returned the same day with a 'spare' cover he just happened to have in the shed, and the issue was solved.

If you have had a fire in the electric supply to the building, and if this has not been properly attended to, this could endanger the whole building and everyone in it. The supply company could disconnect the whole building - the Manager may not be aware of this and from what you have said, there has been considerable time spent on nonsense rather than in lodging a claim immediately with the Insurance.

Take no more nonsense and bring the matter to a head. Call in the electric supply company if need be to make sure that all owners are aware that health and safety matters are not optional extras.

cheers
Kristine

 

[jaycee]

Kristine, I've heard our previous strata manage talk aboutthe same thing - $ worht of claims over the past year ... My first thoughts were, how do you know ? Perhaps they had to provid ethe insurance company quotes ? I certainly have no idea how much my recent car repair cost the insurance company.... Is there a real worry, or perceived one, that insurance will up the cost next year or refuse to take them on ?

 

[Kristine..]

Hi jaycee

It can sometimes, but not always, come down to maintenance or lack thereof

Not getting the trees lopped and pruned can lead to holes (large) in roofs

Not paying for the 'stitch in time' can be a real problem with multiple owners - even getting the gutters cleaned can take a lot of angst

But this would seem to be - as the previous year's plumbing - a defined event.

As such, the Insurance Company will assess the damage and if they think that there was contributory negligence, ie, not sufficient maintenance, then they would pay part of the cost of the repairs

But to make that decision on behalf of the Company is weak.

The Manager should prepare and lodge the claim as soon as they are notified of the damage, and actively follow it through. Managers who do not follow up with issues such as this are liable if eg the electrics catch fire again.

Being a Manager is being put in a position of trust. There was a famous case in Doncaster in the 1970s where the Manager 'forgot' to renew the Public Liability insurance and sure enough, a visitor fell over the balcony.

The Manager was found that he had breached the trust of the Owners and was required to pay the damages - which were considerable - himself.

The Agency I worked for, used to pay the Insurance Premiums themselves if the Owner's Corporation was short of funds, just to make completely sure that at no time were the premises uninsured. We had about 350 Bodies Corporate on our roll, so this was no small matter.

Hiding from the issue is not going to solve it. I would get the claim in to the Insurance as soon as possible and let them get the chance to assess the situation. Until then, all the rushing about in circles is simply diverting the concept of responsibility from what has happened - a whole of property event - to an 'installing washing machines in hall cupboards' level of event.

Bah! This is part of the reason why I ceased being a Body Corporate Manager.

Out, at night, sitting in a $500,000 townhouse while half a dozen well heeled people argued the toss that the mowing man had put up the price of cuts from $15 to $20.

The mowing man couldn't afford to live in their half a million dollar townhouses - I was amazed at the whole 'upstairs, downstairs' attitude

I was also amazed at how much discussion, anger, trivialising, and downright rudeness can be involved with eg getting quotes to prune the driveway trees, or who should pay for the side fence down the back which nobody sees

Or the 'parking in my spot' - this would bring a regular round of Monday morning phone calls, or even, God forbid! Personal calls in to the office to tell me about how rude the neighbour's visitor was when he was asked to move his car!

But all this petty nonsense fades into nothing when confronted with an electrical fire (in fact, just before I started, one block of four units under our management burnt to the ground - the other Manager heard it on the news while driving in to work, did a U turn, and was at the burning units while the Fire Brigade were there hosing the roof. This fire, Ladies and Gents, was caused by an electrical fault in the roof!)

So Olly, enough is enough!

Get onto that Insurance Company yourself if need be, but get the matter attended to pronto!

Cheers
Kristine

 

[handyandy]

Hi Olly and all

I would suggest that you find out exactly the scope of work required and then get some more independent quotes. Obviously means a little bit of extra work for you but.....

On a number of occasions I have found that the electricians used by the SM's are very expensive and the alternate quotes have come in at least 1/2 the price.

I think in the main it's because these tradesman have such a cosy relationship with the SM's that nobody is checking the price or worse the SM then provides all the excuses on be-halve of the trades as to why the price is so high.

You indicate that the power run under the drive which would be rather unusual as that indicates that the laundry is a seperate building. I find this a rather strange building arrangement and I raise this point to highlight that there may be an alternate aerial path that the wiring could use to reach the laundry. Conversely if there are two (or more) blocks to the complex then all the wiring for the other block should follow the same path and I would question why that wiring wasn't damaged.

Bottom line I bet that the SM has not familiarized themselves with the intricacies of the problem and is solely depending on the advice from their electrician, who is potentially making it a very profitable job for himself.

Rupert - Well actually I'm still wondering about how you stopped someone using your electricity in the laundry in the first place (prior to the whole circuit board being blown).

Each power point has a little strap and a padlock so that the unit owner/tenant controls access.

Cheers

 

[Olly]

Hi Olly and all

I would suggest that you find out exactly the scope of work required and then get some more independent quotes. Obviously means a little bit of extra work for you but.....

On a number of occasions I have found that the electricians used by the SM's are very expensive and the alternate quotes have come in at least 1/2 the price.

I think in the main it's because these tradesman have such a cosy relationship with the SM's that nobody is checking the price or worse the SM then provides all the excuses on be-halve of the trades as to why the price is so high.

You indicate that the power run under the drive which would be rather unusual as that indicates that the laundry is a seperate building. I find this a rather strange building arrangement and I raise this point to highlight that there may be an alternate aerial path that the wiring could use to reach the laundry. Conversely if there are two (or more) blocks to the complex then all the wiring for the other block should follow the same path and I would question why that wiring wasn't damaged.

Bottom line I bet that the SM has not familiarized themselves with the intricacies of the problem and is solely depending on the advice from their electrician, who is potentially making it a very profitable job for himself.

The laundry is a separate building. I also suggested the wiring go above ground instead but apparently that's a no.

The SM said she'd got 2 quotes - the one I mentioned is the cheaper of the two, but she is going to get a third.

There are 2 (disconnected) blocks (front & back).

I wish I understood how electricity works............

 

[handyandy]

I still think you are being fed a line.

She was also told she can get 2 power points installed in the laundry for $1500 but the tenants once again vetoed that idea because they don't want to share the cost of electricity when they haven't incurred the costs, as the power points will be accessible by everyone and the cost will come out of the levies. Fair enough.

If she is telling you that for $1500 they can run a new line yet to run 21 lines cost 10X as much this is absolute BS.

Conversely if its $1500 to just find some common power in the area and redirect with 2 new power points again a big rip off - they are taking advice from some very expensive electricians.

Cheers

 

[jaycee]

Like Kristine, I see no reason for not going through insurance ?????????????????

 

[marg4000]

I suggest you get yourself on the executive committee quick smart.

There is a far bigger issue here - if the building is allowed to run down this will have a negative effect on your unit's value and rental desirability, which will cost you far more in the long run than possibly some allowance for the lack of laundry facilities.

When we were inspecting units many years ago for an IP purchase, we did not consider buildings that were obviously run down and in need of serious repair as it was clear no-one cared and if we bought in we would be pushing the proverbial uphill to try to get things brought up to scratch. And no, sadly we could not afford to buy the whole block!
Marg

 

[twoshoes]

Frankly I'll still be inclined to argue that it is the OC's responsibility to repair. Regardless of whether the other owners want to use it or not this is a facility that was there and that you relied upon and it is the OC's responsibility to ensure the connection of electricity is proper and available - regardless of whether your neighbouring unit wishes to have that same facility.

It looks to me as though the need for repairs & maintenance has caused the Body Corp. to decide that they no longer want to provide a common laundry facility. This sounds like the de-facto situation right now.. they just haven't (yet) formalised it through a vote?

I know this isn't helpful to Olly, but: Can the BC have a vote to remove a facility that's on common property, and remove the responsibility to repair?

If I owned a unit that had an internal laundry and I wasn't getting value from the shared facility, I would have a good think about encouraging the BC to stop spending their money on it - particularly this much money!

..just curious

 

[neK]

Just running on twoshoes comment, would it be possible to claim that area for your own exclusive use (assuming the BC don't want it as a common property anymore). Therefore you will pay extra strata and it will be your duty to maintain it. As for electricity, maybe install an additional electricity meter instead (all at your cost of course).

Then you can run a laundromat from it and charge people who want to use it

 

[NBS]

Maybe I have missed something, I assume when you purchased your unit the common laundry was in working order. As an owner of a unit I would want it fixed as it may have a negative on the value of my unit.

The fact theres been a fire, it should be covered by insurance (do I assume the premiums has been paid) or is this why the BC are playing games, no insurance?

To me the cost for repairing the damage 18 odd thou is way out there.

Leave it to the insurance company to organise to get fixed but I would want confirmation a claim has been filed and follow up so it does not get forgotten or you get more bul#shi& told.

I would also put everything in writing.

Best of luck
Brian