Water Damage and who pays

Hi All,

At the beginning of last year, both myself and my neighbour noticed water entering the bottom floor of our terraced apartments which we own. The strata company sent out a builder to review the damage and solve the issue. He came and performed no tests and randomly decided the issue was due to an airconditioner on my roof, despite the fact he had never seen the airconditioner. Long story short, I was demanded to fix the problem and pay all damages. After several months of arguing they finally asked the contractor to come in again and take another look. This time he came with a water meter and worked out it wasn’t my AC. (I never did get an apology )

Ultimately, over the course of another several months they tried to work out the problem with no avail, instead deciding to fix the drainage/weep holes and properly waterproofing the internal cavity to stop the water coming in, rather than working out how the water got into the internal cavity.

From the beginning of the problem until the day they waterproofed the walls etc it took around 9-10 months, with my house flooding slightly each time it rained heavily. As such, I now have mould problems, my paint is bubbling/peeling, my skirting board is damaged and worst of all, my floating floor is warped.

Despite the ineptitude of the builders and the strata company, I am now being told I need to pay for my damages through my insurance, despite the water clearly entering from common property and despite them taking 3/4 of a year to fix the problem thus creating a LOT of damage to my unit. Do I have any grounds to argue that the BC should pay for damages or claim it on their insurance? I have read that carpet is often not covered by the BC insurance but that floating floors are because once they are installed they are “permanent”? Can anyone shed some light on my legal options and whether I can get them to repair any of the damages instead of claiming on my insurance?

Any help would be amazing! Thanks so much