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Take a Walk Around! – The Duty to Inspect.
A body corporate, usually via its Committee, has an ongoing responsibility toconduct regular inspections of the common property.
What they didn’t do in the West…
A recent case heard in the Western Australian Court of Appeal,
Drexel London(afirm) v Gove (Blackman)
, affirmed the statutory duty to keep the commonproperty in good and serviceable repair but stopped short of requiring regularinspection by specialist experts.In that case a builder had substituted Jarrah wood for Oregon whichsubsequently rotted causing a balcony to collapse which seriously injured severalpeople. The Court considered
whether the body corporate had conductedinspections of the common property from time to time in order to determinewhether any repair, maintenance or replacement was required.A body corporate must have a system in place for periodic monitoring of themaintenance and state of repair of the common property with particular regard tosafety issues. Identification is the key to ‘maintaining’.In consideration of a previous NSW case
, the judge re-affirmed that theobligation to inspect does not require inspection by anyone more highly qualifiedthan an experienced managing agent or a person with general buildingmaintenance skills, unless the body corporate has reason to believe thatinspection by a specialist is required.
[2009] WASCA 181.
2
Ibid, at paras [193]-[241].
3
Ridis v Strata Plan 10308(2005) 63 NSWLR 449.
The situation in Queensland – a Higher Standard?
This duty exists also under Queensland law and requires that a body corporatecontrol and manage the common property for the benefit of all lot owners. Thishas also been determined to include all persons who lawfully use the commonproperty.
However, while the duty in other states is to maintain common property in goodand serviceable repair, the statutory duty in Queensland is to also maintain to ‘astructurally sound condition’. Does this suggest knowledge required to a higherstandard, something akin to specialist experts inspecting the common property?
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