Apartment pipe defect - who pays?

Our Experts Answer:

A body corporate has a statutory duty to maintain and repair common property in s.138(2) Unit Titles Act 2010.  Mains pipes are common property.  Damage arising to an owner's unit or personal property, as a result of defective pipe work (particularly where the pipes serve more than one unit), would, therefore, be a matter of negligence on the part of the body corporate.  This would be due to a failure by the body corporate to keep the pipes in a state of good and reasonable repair.  This is, ordinarily, not withstanding if the body corporate was unaware of the damage or disrepair. An owner could, therefore, make a claim in damages against the body corporate for payment of the costs associated to rectify the damage. It would be a matter for the body corporate to either pay the costs to the owner up front in order for him/her to repair the damage him/herself or repair the damage itself.  Alternatively, the body corporate may wait for any claim to be made by the owner of the particular unit and take it from there.