I have received a response from the letter of demand in an earlier article. Here is some of what the Squatters Run
Association body corporate had to say:
Regarding the Cost of re-keying my apartment when a key went missing during body corporate works in my apartment:
The view of Council is that it is unreasonable for you to expect the Association to reimburse you for the cost of improving the
security of your premises, given that you advised Alpine Strata on 18 April that the missing key was one of ‘about a dozen’.
It is clear that any of these keys could have been copied whilst in the hands of other parties (agents, tenants, etc),
thereby compromising the security of your apartment and that in consequence the re-keying you ordered was not caused only
because one specific key was mislaid.
I'm flabbergasted! Is the Squatters Run body corporate council accusing the fire station or Alpine Strata or Thredbo booking
agents, including one of the body corporate councillors who is also a booking agent, of copying keys and compromising security
of properties within Thredbo? I could account for all my keys except
for the one that went missing when in the hands of tradesmen working on a body corporate problem at the request of
Alpine Strata on behalf of the body corporate.
I hope all Squatters Run property owners remember this the next time the body corporate or Alpine Strata wants access to your property.
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Regarding the Insurance excess I had to pay on my contents claim because of a body corporate problem:
The excess payable by you when making a claim on your contents policy for damage to or loss of your personal property is a
matter between you and your insurer. The events which gave rise to your claim were not the fault of the Association and in
consequence it has no liability for the damage to your property which resulted. Had the Association been at fault
(ie if, for example, you could prove that the Association had in fact caused the leak), your insurer could have recovered the
full amount of your loss and you would not be out-of-pocket. On our understanding, this is not the case; hence the Association
is not liable. If your insurer believes otherwise, the usual practice would be for your insurer to make a claim against the
Association's insurer.
This response should serve as a warning to every property owner in Squatters Run! And as for "the leak", there was no "leak",
it was a back flow up from a body corporate pipe into a private residence. If the pipe was not the responsibility of the body corporate
then why did body corporate insurance pay for it's repair?
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There will be more on this matter in the future.