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| From: | SP52948 owner |
|---|---|
| To: | Peter Bone BCS Strata Management |
| Subject: | REQUEST FOR MAINTENANCE: SP52948 Garden beds and external walls on towers 17 Oct 2012 |
| Date: | 17/10/12, 11:10 pm |
Hello Peter,
As the EC stated tonight, all issues have to be properly lodged and they will deal with them.
I am quite OK with it. Let's move on.
Here is the request for maintenance/repair in accordance with Strata Management Consolidated Act 1996, Part 2, Section 62:.
62 What are the duties of an owners corporation to maintain and repair property?
(1) An owners corporation must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(2) An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(3) This clause does not apply to a particular item of property if the owners corporation determines by special resolution that:
(a) it is inappropriate to maintain, renew, replace or repair the property, and
(b) its decision will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme or detract from the appearance of any property in the strata scheme. Note. The decision of an owners corporation under subsection (3) may be reviewed by an Adjudicator (see section 138).
I am requesting work be done on garden beds and external walls as required.
Note that we are dealing with Part (3), (b) which talks about appearance of any property in the strata scheme. We do not have special resolution NOT to repair/fix them, so the Section 62 applies in full.
I took liberty to walk around the complex and take some photos last weekend.
I did not have much time to organize them on the web, but you can still see them if you wish.
There is enough evidence to show where we really are with the complex maintenance.
And this was just a brief check, without proper tools like infrared cameras, and so on...
I do not want you to take my side or my opinion.
Last month, to show that something is being done about maintenance (in preparation for the AGM and the CTTT case), a few gaps in the garden walls and on the building in Block A were "fixed". Sadly, that was just a "patch" not a fix. The garden beds are moving again and the old gaps are showing even in places that were "repaired" only a month ago... Waste of our money (I think around $15,000.00). A proper repair is needed not a patchwork.
What I saw was lot of cracks (some major), chalking, blistering and bubbling, water leakages, poor drainage between Block C and B and so on.
Ask yourself a simple question, if you were a buyer of the property in the complex and walked around to see the area, what would you do? Most people make purchase on appearance, not substance. So, apart from the dangers that these faults can cause (flooding, water ingress, concrete cancer, dampness, health hazard - children play between the buildings and if somebody gets hurt because the garden bed collapses...), the visual presentation is a deterrent.
The committee think that "small" cracks are not an issue on the outside of the buildings. That is wrong:
Water ingress and ponding can cause structural issues. Measures need to be taken to prevent the damage which water can cause. The only reason the building materials biodegrade is because they are affected by water. It is fundamental to the preservation and maintenance of all buildings that they remain as watertight as their design will allow. Any defect permitting access of moisture into the fabric of a building must be remedied or treated, further entry of water must be prevented, and the area affected by water dried out.
EC is wrong about painting not being needed: it is a PREVENTATIVE MEASURE (See attached Institute of Strata Title Management, Feb 2012, Page 32).
I would love not to worry about all these problems. But pretending they do not exist will not help anyone.
I expect a proper response at the next EC meeting, as the law prescribes.
Sincerely,
