In an interesting court case, an owner sued the body corporate for losses because the insurance would not pay for the cost of fire damage to a unit in a complex.
The basis for non-payment was that the unit did not have a valid certificate of compliance (COC) for the electrical connections.
While this was a commercial building it would equally apply to a residential property.
In this case, the owner claimed that the body corporate had failed to insure the building in terms of the law, which they are obliged to do.
The body corporate had insured the building and the value of the insurance was not in dispute.
The only reason that the insurance company did not pay out was because the COC had expired.
The claim failed because the court said that the body corporate was empowered to look after the common property and not the owner’s own property.
The body corporate had a valid policy on the building but the owner had not obtained a COC for the inside of his unit.
The court concluded that an owner is responsible for the maintenance of the inside of his unit and therefore he could not make a claim against the body corporate.
Far too many owners believe that the trustees are responsible for everything in their buildings or complexes yet clearly this is not the case.
An owner must take full responsibility for anything inside their individual unit.
Could this mean that an owner might be responsible for damage caused in another unit due to his negligence?
I am suggesting that owners should be reminded that COCs last two years and need to be renewed to avoid losses.
- Mike Spencer is the founder and owner of Platinum Global. He is also a professional associated property valuer and consultant with work across the country as well as Eastern Europe and Australia.