Driveway repair on property under strata management

Have an investment property in Victoria for 8 years. PM has changed 4 times since then and I feel this agency is getting worse.

The latest PM emailed me on 1 March 2017 about the paving on my driveway moves and affects the neighbour. There has not been any more news until recently I finally get 2 quotes for $3500 - $4500 for each property (to repair 72msq pavement).

I asked that it should be covered under strata. PM said that the manager of the strata thinks it's my responsibility and PM also added that the neighbour claims I should pay for everything.

Now, I come to the understanding that anything from the wall paint inward is my responsibility and anything else is under strata.

I pay for my strata fees and I have only landlord insurance since having building insurance means I will double pay. I just learned that driveway is a common property and repair is not under insurance (am I correct?).

Is this situation my responsibility or strata should pay for the repair fully?

If driveway is not strata's responsibility, then how I can protect myself from paying for this kind of repair in future since insurance doesn't cover?

I also include pictures of the paving.

Thank you for the assistance

 

Is it a townhouse, villa or unit?

Strata or community title?

What is on your strata plan as forming your lot?

Is the area shown included in the common property? (likely as it is outside of any walls and is accessible by anyone). Photos only show the damage but don't provide any context.

 

You mention strata manager thinks it's yours but you've found it's common area.
Whoever is correct will 'likely' give you your answer based on limited facts given.
At a guess I'd say it's strata.

 

Is it a shared driveway?
Check the property plan, it will show private & common property boundaries.

 

Thank you everyone for giving me directions. I'm not a fan of strata, and I know one day I will have to face matters like this.

The property is a detached house and has a owner corporation. It has its own driveway (I have never been at the property site so I rely on pictures and googlemap)

Is attached what you mean by strata plan or it's different one?

From the picture, it looks that the only common property is the car street. That's where my confusion is.If that's the case, how can I protect the area outside the building such as the driveway and garden?

Is strata law the same throughout each state in regard to common property or it's case to case basis by the strata company?

 

If the driveway you mentioned is not inside number 3 to 23 boundaries, I don't how see it can be a private property and owner has to be solely responsible.

There's 'common property' written on the plan, which I think is the share driveway. Owners corporation is responsible for repairs & maintenance of common property.

Just a thought slipped my mind - I hope your tenant didn't do this damage though.

 

It looks like someone has dug and replaced pavers or driven on them in a heavy vehicle when wet. If it wasnt a Strata activity to dig and it was the former owner / tenant then you may be liable for the common property damage.

 

Thank you for the replies.

I was only told that the paving was moving. I'll ask the PM for clarification.

If it's my responsibility, how can I protect myself from having to be out of pocket in the future.
What sort of insurance would cover areas between the building and the common area?

Thank you again for the help.

Kind regards
Yonas

 

There are pavers missing. IMG 7155 show a strip of them.....One even at 90degrees. In the upper end of the image someone has done this to two vehicle tracks like ruts..... I reckon there were broken pavers and tried to flatten it out and didnt fill the gaps explaining the movement. And they repaired it badly. All looks like it leads to your garage.

That said it likely is a deductible repair if the pavers are relaid and others added. If replaced then its not a repair

 

Hold the tenant responsible for their damage on inspections. Is there a history of agent pics or reports ?

 

The situation right now is both the PM and OC manager are not on my side. I can understand the OC manager, it's not new, but the PM has given me the impression she's lazy from the delay she caused and the email responses I have been getting.

My next step is to get someone proper to have a look, ie engineer or certified person,not handyman from the quote I was provided.
Do you have ideas whom I can contact to provide deep inspection on the paving?

My next step is changing PM.

Thank you guys

 

Has any work been done at the property or complex recently? Eg: NBN, maintenance

 

Not that I know of.

I can ask the PM, then again I may not get the correct answer.

On this matter she directly throw the argument that the OC manager said it's me to pay.

I can play the blaming game here because of the PM's conduct on the matter, however it will not go anywhere, I will end up being in more stressful situation.

It's also strange that I have my landlord insurance covering the contents and rental, and from the plan it shows that the common property is only on the street part, leaving the outside of the building and driveway plus garden uninsured.
And I don't what sort of insurance will cover those areas.

 

Assuming if your tenants did the damage, does your landlord insurance covered property damaged by the tenants?

I'm guessing the areas outside each individual houses and connected to the main driveway are still common property. So those area should be covered by owners corporation. It might just because your tenant caused the damaged, that's why you as your owner, is liable from the strata's point of view.

 

Thank you @purplecat. That is another idea to consider.

Then again how can I find out if it's the tenant that caused it.

The reply from the OC manager was that the driveway is not Common Property, hence it's my responsibility.

I really need suggestion on whom should I call to do a proper inspection on the paving (aside from Ghostbuster of course =D)

 

On your plan which is your lot number?

If the area serves 2 properties then there is some commonality about the area.

You mention $3500 - 4500 for each property. What are the properties?

Who actually complained? Seems that it was your neighbor in which case why would he/she be concerned about a driveway that belongs to you?

Wouldn't think any insurance would cover a driveway except if it was willfull / impact damage and you can prove who did it.

Have you tried to talk to the neighbor? They may have more clarity as to what has actually happened.

It does look like a section was dug up and then badly relayed. If you look at pic 7153 and enlarge it you can see 2 breaks in the outer surrounds of the paving, this most probably equates to a full paver giving to you by the 2 half paver gaps.

Paving contractor would be the trade that pave. You would need to double check as to how they intend stabalising the ground so that the pavers do not move again.

"In Victoria, a paving contractor will need to hold a Domestic Builder Limited (DB-L) registration card with an additional "B" designation (DB-L-B) if they pour concrete paving. For paving jobs valued under $5000, registration (the equivalent of licensing in other states) is not required."

http://www.licensedtrades.com.au/licensed/paving

 

Thank you for the explanation.

The neighbour complained because the movement affected his driveway and because he said there's no action from my side, his driveway gets affected again and now he wants me to pay for the whole lot.

I wouldn't have a clue because I'm in WA and I appointed a PM to manage the property. my emails asking the update in the issue wasn't replied, so I thought everything was ok, till lately this becomes an urgency. This started from 1 March.

I'm thinking to get a legal advisor on this. Will this be an expensive path to go for?

And I would like to get a certified person to investigate what really happens to the driveway and why it needs to re do the whole 72msq.

 

It's Lot 20,the neighbour is on Lot 21.

 

Awww that's tricky especially with the PM you got.

So no 19 got their own driveway?
Do you know in the plan which part of the driveway is the part OC is talking about? Is it the rectangle between 4 & 12?

Another thought - how about you made a call to your insurer & see what are your options? Should you deal with OC directly? Can you claim if you can prove PM negligent? Or prove tenant caused the damage? How can you better protect yourself etc?!

 

18, 19, 20, 21 & 22 all share that area - clearly marked as common property.

I can't see how the PM or OC can say that it's not. As to the liability for damage - who caused it? How far does it extend up the driveway? The OC may have a claim against you if the tenant caused the damage but it's their responsibility to repair.