Hi, this is Dong Li from NextGen Strata.
During my career as a strata manager for nearly ten years, there are more and more concerns over building defects and cases where owners have little clue on how to deal with defects.
Hopefully, this article can help you and your neighbours, living in a relative newly built strata complex in relation to how to deal with rectifying building defects:
Step 1: report to your strata manager/building manager with a detailed description of the problem(s) with photos preferably
Step 2: follow up with builder/developer directly to expedite the process, this can take 2-3 times with 3-5 days interval in between. Please keep all email or SMS or any written correspondence.
Step 3: ask your strata manager to engage a qualified expert to identify the cause of the damage (including BCA or AS breach, photos, the recommended method of rectification and, preferably, the cost to rectify the issue with the scope)
Step 4: ask your strata manager to write a letter of demand with the contents of “Step 3” to the builder/developer with a reasonable timeframe for rectification (e.g. 14 days), the purpose of this is to place the builder/developer on notice and provide the owners corporation with an opportunity to recover the cost should the rectification work not be done within the abovementioned timeframe.
Step 5: get the work done as per “Step 4” should the work not be done within the timeframe
Step 6: if your defects form part of the owners corporation defects claim, this particular cost of rectification can be added to the entire cost of the claim and seek for recovery should the case be settled with the builder/developer.