common strata dividing fence's repair -whole strata company or just one owner to pay?

[needtolearn]

Hi, my friend is one of 4 unit strata owners, but her unit is the only one next to a broken dividing fence ( common strata property ) .

The problem is the other 3 strata unit owners are refusing to contribute to the 1/2 of the dividing fence repair cost ( they have not responded to her letter to them with a proposal to share the cost of repair) . Their strata development has no strata manager and no common strata fund, although the strata building insurance is jointly paid as one by the 4 owners. But recently , with the dividing fence issue still unresolved, one of her co-strata neighbors, failed or refused to pay her/his share of insurance premium - the consequence of which is the insurance period was shortened by 1/4 by the insurance broker.

questions:
1, If my friend refuse to pay the entire half of the repair cost with the adjacent neighbor ( who has already committed to paying half of it), legally who can the adjacent neighbor take to court? , - my friend or the entire strata company of 4 unit owners? In this scenario, who will pay for the legal fees and court costs, etc,?

2. if my friend decides to be nice and pay the entire 1/2 of the fence repair cost alone without any contribution from the other 3, legally, will the future maintenance and repair of this new dividing fence become her sole liability (without any legal requirement for her co-strata neighbors" contributions)?

The dividing fences act and strata title act state that a common property such as a dividing fence repair, is the liability of the whole strata company (i.e. of all strata lot owners who should pay 1/2 of its repair cost with any adjacent neighbor who should pay for the other half).

Any input from your own knowledge/experiences on this type of situation will be greatly appreciated.

 

[beachgurl]

I had someone drive thru my back fence in a strata property. The strata paid for the fixing of the fence no questions asked. As a strata owner you only own the airspace of the property, so all externals are not owned by you. So the repair should therefore fall in the owner of the fence being the strata.

 

[twobobsworth]

Not entirely correct beachgurl. If the fence bound by other lots then it's the lot owners responsibility. If the fence is bound by common property it's then strata responsibility to maintain.

This is in NSW needtolearn so probably irrelevant to your location.

 

[needtolearn]

thanks beachgurl and twobobsworth for your replies.

The broken dividing fence and tree next to it are in the common strata property block of the 4 units.
But only my friend's unit is located adjacent to this block; the other 4 strata unit owners' units are not next to it.

The dividing fence is located between their common strata property/block (of the 4 units ) and the adjacent neighbor's block. And my friend's is the only one adjacent to this block and dividing fence.

the other 4 strata units are far from this block and dividing fence.
I just repeated that , not sure how to explain this clearly.

 

[Meisterin]

I think common sense would dictate that if it is common property then it should be paid for by the owners corporation, ie the Strata.

If some of the owners do not want to pay for it, I would ask your friend to just leave it until a letter of demand or court judgement is served. It will state who is responsible for the fence, and then the Strata would have to fork out the money to pay for the dividing fence if it does not want to go into liquidation.

 

[lizzie]

A diagram might help as I'm a bit confused about who/what/where.

So, there are 5 units/villas in the block in total? Four plus your friend?

Is it the neighbour on the other side of the fence (not in the strata block) that has agreed to pay half - and your friend is trying to get the block of units/villas to therefore pay 1/10th each (1/5th each of the remaining half)?

Is the fence that is in need of repair dividing your friends rear garden area from the neighbour - ie - does she have a courtyard-ish area separated off that is partially bounded by this fence - or is the area a fully open free for all?

How much are we looking at and is it worth the stress?

With no actual body corporate, sinking fund and likewise, are the owners complying with the law? Sounds like they are strata titled units with no strata fund.

Who does the upkeep of the common areas? Costs for this should be coming out of the strata fund ... what happens if the gutters need replacing or the front letterbox gets damaged?

Are they "strata" strata or "dashed" strata - or even torrens?

 

[needtolearn]

thanks, Lizzie, and sorry for my late response.

Yes there are 5 strata units in the block and my friend’s is one of them.

Yes the neighbour on the other side of the fence ( not in their strata block) has already agreed to pay half and each of their strata unit owners has to pay 1/5 of the ½ of the fence repair cost.

She has her own courtyard area separated from the broken dividing fence ( common strata property), but she also has small open brickpaved ( outside the inner courtyard ) area which is open to the broken dividing fence.

The broken dividing fence is about 9 meters long.

There is no strata management/manager, no sinking fund, no strata fees. There is no maintenance or upkeep of common strata property. The common properties are not being maintained. But these common properties are adjacent to her unit only; the other 4 units are not adjacent/next to these common properties.

It is a 5 lot single tier strata scheme registered before 1985 according to her knowledge.