The window leaked, surely the strata is responsible for my wet carpet!
We have had some wild and crazy weather in Adelaide recently!
Our office recently took over a 1970s constructed building on the Esplanade and with the storms rain has found its way into some of these units where the seals around the windows have weathered and aged.
While some units having water ingress issues was not surprising as the weather was violent enough to find any weak spots to penetrate and persisted long enough to cause some damage, the surprise came with comments above from owners and property managers ”my carpet is wet and the strata is responsible”!
The body corporate owns the windows under section 5 of the Strata Titles Act 1988 and this is not in dispute, however the damaged property being carpet inside the unit is the property of the individual unit owner and is nothing to do with the corporation (whatever the cause).
Once our office received advice that the windows were an issue we arranged for the repairs to the window which is a maintenance issue for the body corporate and is not covered by the insurance policy held by the corporation.
Following the repair of the windows any damage to the building can be arranged as an insurance claim for subsequent water damage while any issues with the carpet are the responsibility of the unit owner and can be addressed at the expense of the owner or as a contents insurance claim through the policy held by the owner.
We recommend that all of our clients maintain insurance over their contents at all times.
As a resident in a unit contents cover is something you can arrange with any general insurer and if you're in a strata you don't need building cover (check if you're in a community title what the insurance situation is). Many of our clients place contents with their car policy and any other insurances for multi policy discounts, while for landlords you can arrange landlords insurance which provides additional benefits for damage or default by tenants in addition to cover for contents such as flooring and curtains and liability cover.
If you are a landlord and don’t have contents cover in place you can arrange cover to meet your needs through Honan Insurance Group who help us to provide great service and fantastic pricing to our body corporate clients.
If you have any queries please give our office a call on 8350 5699.
Our office acts as a distributor for Honan Insurance Group and receives a commission payment for the placing of insurances. Any advice given above is and is to be taken to be general advice.
