I wonder if you can clarify a strata question that is very grey with regards to my floorboards.
Our building in Sydney NSW was completed on the year 2000. Each townhouse has a section of floorboards in the lounge room.
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Our Strata manager says the floorbords are not common property and are the owners responsibility.
This contradicts the following – last year we had some rectification works relating to waterproofing and some of the town houses did have some water damage to their floorboards and the strata paid for the repairs to the floorboards.
When I asked the strata manager about sanding polishing floorboards, they said NO as these are the owner’s responsibility. When I asked the EC, the chairperson said that because the other units had damage caused by the reification works and the builders, the owners corporation had to pay for them.
I find this inequitable and am really confused. What do I do?
It is not uncommon for the Owners Corporation to repair lot property resulting from damage caused by the common property. Therefore, whilst the flooring may not be common property, the Owners Corporation would still be responsible to repair flooring where their property has caused the damage.
However to determine if your flooring is common property or lot property, and which party is responsible for general repair and maintenance of the flooring, the following should be confirmed:
- Type of timber flooring , hard flooring or floating floors
- How the timber flooring is installed, is the flooring attached to the common property in any way, i.e. screwed, glued to the floor slab.
- Is the timber flooring part of the original building, i.e. installed at the time of construction and not replaced or altered by an individual owner(s) since construction
- Are there any special by laws that transfer responsibility of maintaining the flooring to either party, the individual Owners or the Owners Corporation
In summary, if the flooring was installed at the time of construction, has not been altered since by an individual owner(s) and is affixed to the common property floor slab within your lot, and there is no special by law in place to determine who is responsible, the flooring will be deemed to be common property and the Owners Corporation would be responsible to repair and maintain. Please note there is an argument excluding the polish/lacquer, which is lot owner responsibility as it is our view that the polish sits within your lot space. It is the upper surface of the floor and the starting point of your cubic air space in as much as you own the painted surface of the common property ceiling in your lot.
Therefore, in practice, while the Owners Corporation are responsible to repair and maintain the floor boards, any cost for application of polish would be payable by you.
In conclusion further assessment of the need for re-sanding will assist in determining who’s proper responsibility the polish is, as there are alternate arguable views regarding the responsibility to repolish the flooring.