Strata Unit - Balcony Tap Leak/Broken

Hi All,

Just want to confirm my understanding that a tap located on the balcony attached to the external wall is the responsibility of the owners corporation?

Had a broken tap replaced over Easter as it was quite urgent as it could not be turned off and the bill is quite expensive being a public holiday callout.

NSW Fair trading mentioned all maintenance on the balcony is the responsibility of the strata. Unit is only about 15 years old so the strata scheme rules would be the current ones.

Repairs and maintenance

Anyone had similar experience. Just after confirmation of my understanding is correct.

Cheers

 

Depends why. Taps dont normally "break". Hopefully the receipt indicates a emergency repair due to a jammed washer etc
Plumbing may be your responsibility on a balcony ? Its not a balcony repair but a plumbing repair down steam of stopcock.
Read #8 in both sections. I think the second applies to you.

https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/369945/Common_Property_Memorandum.pdf

 

I'm with @Paul@PFI

It is likely that the water from that tap comes through your water meter, and as such past a stop/isolation valve, and will be your responsibility (just like the kitchen tap).

It would be the strata responsibility if it was in a common area supplied by common water meter.

Quickest way to check would be to turn on the problem tap and go check if your water meter is spinning

 

The Balcony is considered common property and from my understanding common areas and things connected to common walls are the responsibility of the owners corporation.

Its like the paint on the balcony, the pipes, the lighting fixtures and the glass doors etc....all that is looked after by strata. Since the tap on the balcony is connected to a common wall my thinking is its strata responsibility.

Strata laws and responsibilities are confusing - there should be a clear cut definition of exactly what is responsible and by who.

I've reached out to fair trading to see what they say.

Internal taps yes I understand they are the responsibility of the lot owner.

 

The balcony may be "common property" but it has been designated for your use exclusively.
You probably wouldn't expect strata to change the balcony light globe

 

True but the light fixture yes I would expect strata to change it if it was faulty. Its "physically" only designated for my unit exclusively as well. Same as the tap fixture itself. Tap doesn't have any replaceable parts like a light bulb usually they had to replace the entire tap or spindle.

 

Most units aren't individually metered although owners receive a charge for the water service usage is part of the strata levies.

 

The kitchen tap if under a window is on a common property wall. Do you really expect the “other owners” (another word for the body corporate) to pay for the emergency repair of your kitchen tap.
And think about those tenants near you who always have those problems on Long weekends when plumbers charge double Or triple why should you pay towards their kitchen taps.
The tap is visible on the balcony so would be within the airspace of the lot and maintained by the lot owner, in exactly the same way that the kitchen tap is within the airspace of the lot and maintained by the lot owner.
The pipes that are within the wall are maintained by the body corporate. Of course this is not black and white as it would depend on your strata plan and bylaws which are attached to your purchase contract.
If you ring two people at the dept of fair trading you are likely to get 3 different answers.
1 read your strata plan and by laws for deviations.
2 use the act to determine where the boundaries are.
3 don’t expect your neighbours to pay for your bills as you will have sky high levies once the landlord owners catch wind of what they can possibly claim every time the tenant has an ‘accident’

 

What? That makes no sense. A kitchen tap is "internal" to your lot. There is no debate that this will be the responsibility of the lot owner. The Balcony in its entirety is common property and so are all the external walls that are enclosed to the balcony. So as such anything attached to the external walls of common property should be managed by the building management.

Anyway fair trading seems to agree (well the ppl I have talked to that this should be strata paid). Lets see what happens. The bill was around $500 so its not going to kill me but I just want to make sure that I am not paying for something that I should not be paying for.

Yes there may be some caveat on the strata plan so if strata do not agree to pay I will be asking for a copy for the exact section that explicitly says this type of thing is the lot owners responsibility. and running it past fair trading to ensure its all legit. Its for future reference as well.

Anyway lets see what happens. Strata responsibilities is all a mess imho. After decades and decades not even sure why there is so much confusion and different information coming from numerous sources. This is a very simple issue and a clear and definite demarcation should already exist.

 

Because over the decades you are referring to, buildings and their construction has changed, people like to tinker with the rules, and in turn the strata bylaws are building specific !

Believe Fair trading if you like, but your bylaws overrule them

 

Strata responsibilities are not a mess. It is simply that it takes 2-3 hours to understand them. If you read the free booklet here https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/367946/FT-045-Strata_Living_Guide.pdf this will give you the evidence you need one way or the other on everything including whether your balcony is common property. You must have a copy of your bylaws and the strata plan with you to refer to.

A balcony is generally not common property, only the boundaries are common property it is the same as a kitchen wall with a window in it. If a balcony was common property you wouldn’t be allowed exclusive use.

I may be wrong as some buildings have one long balcony where every unit has access to the one balcony on each floor. (see picture below)In this case the balcony and the tap thereupon is common property. Only the boundaries of a lot form the common property and the reason it is not one rule for every building is that every building is different. On your strata plan black solid lines are the common property markings.

You own and maintain everything within the airspace of your lot. The kitchen tap and presumably the balcony tap would be within the airspace of the boundary of your lot.
The ingress piping would more likely be in the common property wall in which case it is maintained by the body corporate.
So if your balcony tap is within the airspace of your balcony, and you own the airspace, then you would pick up the bill.

If the tap forms part of the common wall and does not protrude from the common wall and you received permission to carry out the repair, then you are entitled to a claim.

If you did not receive permission to carry out the repair, claims do not have to be honoured, if you have gone ahead because of an emergency. But, the OC may ex gratia refund you.

Usually in an emergency the first step is turn off the mains in your lot (usually the main tap is found low down in the kitchen or laundry) until you make contact with the owners corporation.

 

I'm really confused with all this. If there are cracks in the external facade on the balcony (i.e. the structural part of the balcony), how is that different to the cracks in external facade on any other wall of the building? In this scenario, that should be the body corporate's responsibility to repair, surely?