Balcony maintenance is a frequent question in strata buildings. However, the answer is complicated. Most apartment owners believe that their balcony is their responsibility due to its personalized use; however, it’s a mix of common property and lot ownership, and it complicates things when ownership is presumed incorrectly. This can lead to unnecessary expenses, delayed repairs and water damage spreading beyond one apartment.
The Ownership Divide
Balconies are the effective grey area of strata ownership. Usually, the floor slab is common property (owners corporation) and the tiles or surface treatment above are maintained by the lot owner. The waterproofing membrane is underneath and, as it protects the structural integration of the entire building, it operates as common property. The railings may or may not be maintained by each level unit, but this depends on the strata plan drawings.
This gets even more complicated when problems develop. If water starts seeping through a balcony, figuring out what causes balcony leaks? – becomes critical because the source of the problem determines who pays for the fix. A cracked tile might be the owner’s issue, but if the waterproofing membrane has failed underneath, that’s typically an owners corporation expense.
Water Damage Changes Everything
This is where it gets expensive. Water does not know boundaries. If waterproofing has failed on a resident’s balcony and the unit below experiences water damage, structural deterioration of concrete slabs occurs, or mould develops behind internal walls, these are no longer expenses confined to the original owner’s issue.
Owners corporations have a right to repair common property but first must prove that damage occurred as a result of common property and not due to owner’s neglect. Did an owner drill through waterproofing while placing planter boxes? That’s the owner’s responsibility. However, if there was no waterproofing installed or it was poorly done during construction or simply failed without fault, it’s owners corporation territory.
Drainage
Maintenance issues also exist with balconies and drainage. While the drain point is common property, people are responsible for keeping it clear. Bylaws usually exist so that owners must maintain their balconies without making drains ineffective; however, leaves and rubbish can accumulate.
Some owners corporations proactively maintain drainage as part of regular scheduled maintenance. This prevents issues before they start. When they don’t keep assessment schedules, it creates added costs later on and tension between the committee and owners should damage occur.
Paperwork Determines Everything
The strata plan and bylaw exists to articulate where common property ends and lot property begins. However, many older buildings fail to have sufficient plans. An assessment at handover may have deemed certain components common property but there are no clear markers or approved exemptions in place in documentation to determine what was actually meant decades later when components need replacement.
Knowing what’s common property versus unit-owned before things go wrong is imperative. Those with professional assessments have an easier time with confirmation when engineers confirm what’s structural/common property versus cosmetic/lots.
Preventative Measures Reduce Arguments
Most important is that owners corporations should assess all balconies at least annually to look for signs of waterproofing failure, cracks or drainage issues so damages don’t grow beyond initial repairs; owners should know that even if the structure of the balcony is common property, changes cannot be made without permissions first.
If someone decides to install heavy planter boxes or add devices on railings or drill through surfaces to try and maintain issues, any warranties will be void and a liability may occur.
Major Works Are Inevitable
Usually, major works will occur at least one in any building’s life. Waterproofing systems have life spans just like anything else that needs regular maintenance. Therefore, when multiple balconies start failing or presenting issues, it makes little sense to do them on a case-by-case basis as those works cost a substantial amount from the capital works fund.
Therefore, owners corporations that think ahead plan for years to account for these major works so that funds go into place ahead of time before cash is needed quickly from special levies. Lot owners will feel these impacts regardless of whether or not their specific balcony needed work, which is why special levies amount in the thousands per lot owner. Thus, building managers must justify charges with scope of works to understand what went wrong, costs, when it will happen and why it can’t wait.
