Water damage from unit above

Hi there, we own a unit in Brisbane, queensland and water leaked from the unit above through our bathroom ceiling. This created a hole and some water damage. The body corporate was notified at the time of the incident 6 months ago but no action has been taken. Is it the body corporate's responsibility to fully repair? I would like to understand my position before taking legal action etc. Many thanks:)
 
Is it the body corporate's responsibility to fully repair?

I would guess that should be responsibility of unit above you, and his / her insurance should be fixing this...

BC insurance is for common areas and fixtures like lighting, outside pipes and etc

KK
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Trust your hopes, not your fears.
 
Good luck

I have previously had an identical problem in a multi-storey apartment where the leak originated from an identical bathroom above my bathroom.

The BC had to be involved and coordinate the repairs as I had no knowledge of the upstairs owner. Also, I could nor arrange repair of my ceiling until the bathroom above was repaired.

The BC should coordinate the repairs but not necessarily pay for them. If the fault is with the upstairs unit, they may have a repair claim on the owners directly or via their insurance.

In my case the BC arranged the repairs, but it took about 5 months to finalise much to my annoyance and the inconvenience of my tenant.

If you know the upstairs owner above and can work with them to effect the repairs either at each others cost or via insurance, then I recommend you do it this way.
 
Hi there, we own a unit in Brisbane, queensland and water leaked from the unit above through our bathroom ceiling. This created a hole and some water damage. The body corporate was notified at the time of the incident 6 months ago but no action has been taken. Is it the body corporate's responsibility to fully repair? I would like to understand my position before taking legal action etc. Many thanks:)

Hi Kevin

Welcome to the forum!

The Owner's Corporation holds structural, fire and general insurance over the building.

If this is poor workmanship then it is the individual owner's responsibility if the building is older than the original Builder's Warranty Insurance.

If this is because of damage which has occured and the types and causes of damage would be specified in the insurance contract, then it should be covered by the structural insurance held by the Owner's Corporation.

However, damage is the operative condition. Poor workmanship is not covered by insurance.

My Son's apartment block has had a 'number' of bathroom failures throughout the bulding and speaking with the Owner's Corporation manager, he said that the Insurance company has denied liability as the job was a bodgy job at time of construction, that the damage was not caused by any action of the occupants of the units or actions covered by the insurance policy eg storm damage, burst pipes etc and that as the limited Builders Warranty had now effluxed then each owner had to pay to have the work done.

So happy No: 1 Son has now paid six month's rent to have the shower stall and tiling removed, the rotted floor timbers replaced, the shower stall waterproofed and the bathroom retiled.


As with everything, the responsibility will be defined by the action. If the action (poor workmanship) is beyond the time allowed for claims, then the responsibility falls back to each property owner - in this case, the owner of the property above yours.

If the action was caused by an occupant of the property eg wrenching taps causing seals to break, then this 'may' be covered by that owner's individual insurance.

However, as you are the recipient of the nuisance, it would seem to be your problem but not your responsibility.

The Owner's Corporation Manager should, however, be involved to coordinate access for repairs

Hope this helps
Kristine
 
Just had an incident with a couple of units where I am involved in the BC executive.

Lower unit owner complained that his kitchen was ruined because of a leak up stairs. The leak was actually a broken sewer pipe from the sink to the stack and the owner themselves was responsible.

The lower owner wanted the BC to fix (replace) his 30 year old kitchen although when I went to check there was no worse wear and tear than a 30 year old kitchen would have suffered. To avoid further arguments I agreed that the strata manager could raise a insurance claim but the owner would have to run around and get quotes, thinking that the insurance would deny liability and we as the BC could then step back. The insurance agreed the claim, you could have knocked me over with a feather, $5k for a new kitchen.

Cheers
 
Am just having a similar problem with my unit at the moment.

My tenant came back from holidays to find the ceiling in the bathroom was stained and saggy and the bath had some kind of liquid in it. He reported that upstairs had been doing some reno work before he left.

ATM, strata will be paying for the damage (as far as my rental agency tells me) just waiting for the plumber to give them a quote.
 
I've had an experience with this during the sales process of a unit. The purchaser discovered the leak during their B&P inspection and thankfully BC covered the cost of repairs.

I would definitely make contact with your Body Corporate Manager to seek their stance on the issue.
 
Water Damage

Hello Kevin,

I stumbled accross this site on google. We do carpet water damage work here in Brisbane since 2002 and we sometimes come accross.

In our experience the body Corporate may possibly take care of building faults like this and have an insurance policy that will cover this. BC can be slow, so just have to be patient. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. They don't usually cover contents though (which included Carpets, curtins, rugs, damaged furniture etc.) The tenant usually deals with this.

In most cases the insurance company from the offending unit will not pay damage to your unit. Its silly, i know.

Hope it all goes well for you,
Regards,
Lex
 
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