Maintenance of a balcony leaking into the section below

If a balcony is leaking into the apartment below, who is responsible for the damage into the below unit?

Basically the first question will be – What is the status of the balcony that is leaking?

  • If it is common property then the Body Corporate is responsible for the maintenance

Section 3 of the STSM Act

  1. (1) A body corporate must perform the functions entrusted to it by or under this Act or the rules, and such functions include—

(l) to maintain all the common property and to keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair;

  • If the balcony is part of the section (to be determined by looking at the sectional plans) then the owner will be responsible for the maintenance

Section 13 of the STSM Act

  1. (1) An owner must—

(c) repair and maintain his or her section in a state of good repair and, in respect of an exclusive use area, keep it in a clean and neat condition;

  • If the balcony is an exclusive use area (EUA) then you need to determine what kind of EUA it is
    1. If it is an EUA ito the plans then the Body Corporate will be responsible for maintenance thereof
    2. If it is an EUA ito the rules you will need to see what the rules say about the responsibility of maintenance – if the rules state that the owner is responsible then he/she is; if the rules say nothing about maintenance then the Body Corporate is responsible

This also relates back to the fact that an EUA is still part of the common property – EUA rights are mostly usage rights