Hi
I purchased a commercial property from the developer 3 years ago, at the time of our purchase, I found water stain on the ceiling, so I asked the developer to fix it; they came and replaced the ceiling tile, but the leakage issue obviously wasn't fixed; and not long after, there were water marks on the ceiling again.
I left the issue unattended, and a couple of months after that, the developer initiated a strata scheme and appointed a strata management company as our owner's corporations' agent (even though the requirement for appointing an agent had not been met: less than 1/3 of the units entitlements have been sold). Anyway, a general meeting was held, and the proposal (agent appointment, etc) was passed.
I recently decided to talk to strata manager about the leakage, since I do not know the possible consequence of this issue, and I don't want to delay this matter anymore. He referred me to the developer, but the developer sent me back to the strata manager claiming it was their issue.
Based on my conversation with strata manager, he told me about the Home Warranty Insurance, and said my building was within 6 years, therefore, should be covered by the insurance, and developer should fix this. If I insisted the strata agent to fix it, I would be charged for the repair fee. I felt this was outrageous, since the leakage was not my fault but rather a quality failure on the building.
So I did a bit of research myself. I found out that Home Warranty Insurance did not seem to cover commercial property? so what the strata manager said could be false. I also found out about the compulsory strata insurance that had to be taken by owner's corporation (in this case, the strata agent on the developers' behalf), under the NSW Strata Management Act 1996, para 83, that supposedly cover property damage, so am I able to claim my damage under the insurance?
So my question really comes down to: Who should be responsible for the repair? If it is the developer, do they have any liability because the management has now been passed on to the agent? If it is the agent, could I avoid any cost associate with the repair, since I did not cause the leakage?
I purchased a commercial property from the developer 3 years ago, at the time of our purchase, I found water stain on the ceiling, so I asked the developer to fix it; they came and replaced the ceiling tile, but the leakage issue obviously wasn't fixed; and not long after, there were water marks on the ceiling again.
I left the issue unattended, and a couple of months after that, the developer initiated a strata scheme and appointed a strata management company as our owner's corporations' agent (even though the requirement for appointing an agent had not been met: less than 1/3 of the units entitlements have been sold). Anyway, a general meeting was held, and the proposal (agent appointment, etc) was passed.
I recently decided to talk to strata manager about the leakage, since I do not know the possible consequence of this issue, and I don't want to delay this matter anymore. He referred me to the developer, but the developer sent me back to the strata manager claiming it was their issue.
Based on my conversation with strata manager, he told me about the Home Warranty Insurance, and said my building was within 6 years, therefore, should be covered by the insurance, and developer should fix this. If I insisted the strata agent to fix it, I would be charged for the repair fee. I felt this was outrageous, since the leakage was not my fault but rather a quality failure on the building.
So I did a bit of research myself. I found out that Home Warranty Insurance did not seem to cover commercial property? so what the strata manager said could be false. I also found out about the compulsory strata insurance that had to be taken by owner's corporation (in this case, the strata agent on the developers' behalf), under the NSW Strata Management Act 1996, para 83, that supposedly cover property damage, so am I able to claim my damage under the insurance?
So my question really comes down to: Who should be responsible for the repair? If it is the developer, do they have any liability because the management has now been passed on to the agent? If it is the agent, could I avoid any cost associate with the repair, since I did not cause the leakage?
