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Hi Again,
We sent an electrician out to review our ensuite ventilation as my tenant has reported mould on their clothes, ensuite at back of walkinrobe.The electrician came back with ventilation exhaust working but not sucking due to possible blockage. I reported to the strata manager, they sent out a ventilation expert recommending that we upgrade as the exhaust van is inadequate (approx 5 year old building), and stating impossible to tell if blocked or not.We have agreed to source our own quote to upgrade and requested if we upgrade and it is proven that the ventilation system is in fact blocked will the Owners Corporation fund this. Basically, they came back and said no they won’t and to prove it is blocked.Any suggestions? The upgrade has been quoted at $1500 and I feel I am being pushed into upgrading for no apparent reason, and the blockage should be looked at first, the other 29 units have not reported either problems (think its 29)….Thanks in advance.
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OverIt – We’re not privy to all the issues, although I suspect there are some additional and perhaps long-standing ones between you and your Committee, on the basis of this and your other posts it’s clear that your Unit has a range of mould-related problems albethey apparently due to different causes, and further that you’re prone to initiating your own paid investigations instead of affording your O/C the first opportunity to maintain its Common Property.
I’ve previously explained the down-sides of your approach, and even though you regard that as necessary (?) and it’s been in circumstances where you have a tenant that understandably you wish to retain, and on the basis of your Property Manager’s advice (who should know better), it has the potential to muddy the waters of responsibility and raise issues with payment; and it has!
What does that tell you?
Anyway, from what you’ve advised here, in general terms provided the ventilation system is communal and it’s not blocked due to misuse, it’s the Owners Corporation’s problem and it should at least properly investigate to definitively identify the cause of the problem that you’ve reported,and how to rectify that.
So as you’ve indicated on your other post, add the ventilation problem to the list of those that you wish to submit to Mediation, and perhaps in future discuss any maintenance and repair matters within your Unit with your Strata Manager (who works for you) in the first instance.
OK…this and your other posts may have indicated dyslexia, but I’m not physic.
Hopefully formal mediation will resolve your issues and show you the best way forward; good luck!
As Whale said, we’re not psychic, but neither are you.
Why don’t you go out to your investment property and take a gander yourself?
Tenants often do not adequately describe a problem (the exhaust fan’s not working).
Property “Managers” don’t personally inspect reported problems.
Your electrician obviously could see the ventilation fan blades turning and pondered whether there is a blockage.
The SP’s ventilation “expert” is no expert if he states it’s impossible to tell whether the duct is blocked or not. Wasn’t that why he was sent?
The SM is no “expert” in common sense to suggest you spend $1500 on a more powerful exhuast system if they haven’t positively determined the duct is not blocked.
Last, and not least, landlords seldom know what tenants get up to in their leased premises.
Perhaps the filter on the exhaust fan has merely been blocked by fluff from their fluffy luxurious bath sheets.
Perhaps they take hour-long conjugal sauna sessions in the en-suite.
As this is an en-suite, such activity would also fill the bedroom with steam, causing condensation on the window, so perhaps your other problem, the reported window “leak” is nothing to do with the nearby (?) downpipe at all.
The exhaust system can be “tested” simply by holding a flattened handkerchief over the grill. If the hankie stays in place, it is working, if it falls to the ground, the system is not. If you can hear the fan running, there is a good chance of a blockage. There may be a filter in the ducting which needs cleaning, it should be accessible.
You seem to be running around in circles based on 3rd-hand assumptions.
If I were you, I would not be going to a CTTT mediation based on any assumptions, only facts, or you may end up with egg on your face. I’d get all of my ducks (ducts?) in a line first.
@OverIt said:
Thank you Whale and Kangaroo, this is what I also suspected I am so confused, what’s causing what, I have my managing agent who is very trusted and have been using for years not just on this property going out to do an inspection and take multiple photos on top of what is already taken and then we will take this issue and the multitude of other issues that I haven’t even touched on to mediation.
If your property manager is going out to do an inspection, why don’t you go with? Do you live in a different state or something?
You’ve already spent money on an unnecessary electrician. Most people of average competence can flip a switch and hear whether a motor is running and see whether the blades are turning.
Apart from the hankerchief test, a ventilation “expert” ought to have some sort of (non-toxic) smoke machine to see whether (and where) it comes out the other end.
Perhaps you could tell us more about the layout of the exhaust system. It may not be common property. The fact that the OC’s ventilation “expert” recommended that you upgrade suggests that it may be Lot property, otherwise they would have recommended to the OC that they upgrade.
1) Is it a communal system venting into a vertical stack?
2) Is it individual to your Lot venting horizontally to a grill on an outside wall?
I can’t answer your last question.
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