When a Waterfall was Not on your Wish List
I’m going to preface this blog with a disclaimer, I am not a Lawyer and nothing contained in this blog should be regarded as legal advice. Now that’s out of the way.
Building defects, and in particular water ingress, are all too familiar in new apartment complexes. The Conversation reported in February this year that between 50% and 80% of multi-unit buildings have defects serious enough to be the subject of strata committee involvement. That’s huge, and scary.
Personally I feel that our growing impatience and “I want it now” culture has a lot to do with this, along with the privatisation of building certification.... let’s see how many people I upset from this comment.
You’ve just moved in to your new apartment, excited and ready to enjoy the relaxed lifestyle that living in strata has promised to you and then the storm hits, heavy rain, wind and out of nowhere, the feature you never asked for, your brand new waterfall, through the window frame and cascading down right next to your pride and joy 75” 4K Smart TV and very quickly your beautiful expensive timber floor is covered in a 10cm deep pond.
No doubt you will now be alternating between being a blubbering mess and candidate for taking over Adam Sandler’s leading role in the movie Anger Management. It’s not a good feeling.
First point of call for you is your Building Manager/Body Corporate or Strata Manager or your Committee, depending on how your building is managed. Take photos, make notes of where the water is coming in from and try to be patient, unfortunately dealing with building defects is not an overnight fix, there are going to be experts trying to locate the where, how and why, then there will be original builders inspecting to determine their responsibility and if you’re really unlucky Building Regulators and Lawyers.
Try to stay sane and I wish you all the best.
I’m Kellie Wright creator of Strata Influence and I help owners of apartments who think a body corporate manager is a necessary evil to see that the right manager can actually be a valuable asset to them.
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