Good morning, everyone.
I was awoken this morning by a loud bang. I rolled over only for my wife wake me a few minutes later to tell me someone had driven into our garage door and buckled it quite badly.
We live in a block of units above individual garage spaces with tilting doors which form the exterior of the building.
My question is, who is responsible for the cost of repairing our unit's garage door?
Is it the onus of the individual unit or the responsibility of the strata?
That would be the logical answer if we knew exactly who did that.
The garage isn't common property, so Strata won't help you.
The onus is on whoever has the garage on their title.
But it's not the garage that got damaged, the garage door did. Aren't all external walls (including doors & windows) normally considered common property?
EDIT. Taken from http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Tenants_and_home_owner…
Areas of common property
Common property boundaries of each lot are generally formed by:
the upper surface of the floor (but not including carpet)
the under surface of the ceiling
all external or boundary walls (including doors and windows).
Ahh I misunderstood. The garage door AS a boundary, is an interesting one.
Thanks for the info :)
I've a feeling the door is common property, BensonP, as it forms the facade of the ground floor of the building. As with balconies, while they are for individual use they can't be treated as an individual's own. For example, I can't replace it with any garage door I choose, I have to replace it with one consistent with all the others and approved by the strata.
I misunderstood. I would agree with the above that it's common property. :)
Yep I'd definitely be calling your strata this morning.
Also found this on Fair Trading website:
Can I do my own repairs to common property?
Only if you have the permission of the owners corporation. If common property needs repair or maintenance, the owners corporation should undertake that work, not an individual owner.
Thanks, Musthazbargains. I was about to investigate if I could bang it out with a plank of wood and mallet (though it would only have been a temporary fix).
The strata management company is on leave until Monday!
What happened to the person who crashed into it?
or their car…
At the moment this is unknown.
Is your building pre or post 1974 SP registration as common property definitions changed then.
I think it was bulit in the late-70s, Sheila Dealer. Is that safe to assume SP registration would be post-1974?
Sounds as though it should be a Strata problem. Our apartment block is 4 years old and we had a damaged garage door. A successful claim was submitted to the owners corporation. I’m not sure whether we were able to claim on insurance or not.
Yes a garage door is common property, which means the strata has to pay for repairs or a replacement. They might use their insurance if it needs replacing.
Hopefully you can track down the person who caused the damage, so the insurance company can send them the bill.
Thanks for all replies.
Will have to wait until next week to see what the strata management say. In the meantime the door has been secured.
It should be the responsibility of the bastard that crashed into it!