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Each townhouse in our block has a door leading into the courtyard. Who is responsible for maintaining the deadlock on the door to the courtyard? Govt strata docs talk of “entrance door” locks as the OCs responsibility (original lock and its replacement) but no mention of other exterior door locks. I assume the front door is the entrance door.
As for screen doors on the courtyard doors – who’s responsibility are these? All units had an original screen door on these doors but many have been replaced by their owners. I can’t find any reference to these.
In particular, one owner or previous owner, has replaced a screen door with one not the same size as the original, and has thus had to cut a mortice to take the lock bolt which was far too thin (not enough timber left intact) and now wants to claim damage because, surprise surprise, it broke through the thin timber surrounding the mortice. So I’m trying to understand ownership and responsibility in these issues based on strata law or conventions.
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The first thing to do is check where the boundaries of the Lot are on the Strata Plan, and the year that your Plan was registered.
See the following document for the preferred interpretation that Fair Trading uses to deal with these issues:
The OC is responsible for doors, windows and walls on to the courtyard (unless the plan was registered before 1 July 1974 – refer to the registered strata plan).
From the Memorandum the door to the courtyard is referred to merely as a “door”. There is a separate classification for an “Entrance Door”. I may be wrong but it would appear that if Fair Trading wanted to classify the door to the courtyard as an “entrance door” then they would have used this wording in the information provided in the section explaining the responsibility for “Balcony and Courtyards”.
In addition, the term “Entrance Door” is described separately in the Memorandum. Note that this is singular and not plural. This suggests that a Lot only has one Entrance Door. In my opinion, if more than one Entrance Door was contemplated as being possible on a Lot then the plural of “door” (i.e. “doors”) would have been used. Based on this interpretation the door to the courtyard would not be an Entrance Door therefore any deadlock on it would be an Owner responsibility.
Security doors, other than those installed by an owner after
registration of the strata plan, are the OC’s responsibility to maintain.It is clear that the door that you have mentioned is not the original door. It is therefore the Lot owner’s responsibility to maintain and repair.
Unit 1 has posted the same question in a different topic. I have deleted the second question as this is just a waste of time and resources. If you have additional information, post it in your original topic (this one). Please don’t disrespect the people who offer their time and expertise free of charge by asking the same question in another thread. What’s the point of that?
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
@unit1 said:
The problem with the forum is that you can’t receive email that someone has replied to the topic so it just sits there unread by the poster or contributor.The problem is that you haven’t bothered to read the instructions on “watching” and “subscribing” posted here.
The respectful way of dealing with this issue is to move it if you as the administrator feels its in the wrong place. Deleting it disrespects the poster who may genuinely have a query.
Yeah, because I have nothing better to do with my time than clear up after people who can’t be bothered to read the instructions, especially when things aren’t working the way they want them to.
And one of the instructions you failed to read was to not repost the same question in a different area.
By instructions, I mean Topics like How to use this Forum and posts like Things that will get you banned from this Forum
I was going to add some valuable information to this site in other sections for others in a similar situation as I find myself in from time to time, but what is the value if you treat posters like this?
True, I treat everyone with utter contempt which is why there are only 20,000 posts in more than 4,000 topics. That said, I have just read in the instructions that abusing posters is one of the things that will get you banned.
So, before I have to recuse myself, can I just say to everyone struggling with posts, JRTFI (which, as we all know, means “Just Read The Forum Instructions”)
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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