Emergency Repair Contacts

Life threatening situation

Your obligations

In an emergency situation, often the exact cause of an issue will not be known immediately. As a resident within a body corporate development, you are required to:

• Take reasonable steps to mitigate further risk or damage (eg if there is a water leak, put a bucket and a towel down to dry the water)
• Take steps that mitigate the risk in a cost-effective way (eg if the power goes out at 2am, wait until morning to call an electrician to minimise the cost)
• Do not assume that costs will be reimbursed, make conservative decisions to the extent that you can do so safely.

Is it a body corporate maintenance responsibility?

Consider whether the problem is just affecting your lot/property, or if it is also affecting other lots within your development.

For example, if your apartment/lot has no hot water but your neighbours do, that generally indicates the issue is with your own lot, and is not a body corporate issue.

Will the issue result in an insurance claim?

Insurance may respond to sudden damage (eg. storm damage, break-in, burst-pipe, fire, vehicle impact).

Insurance generally does not respond to issues that are due to a maintenance failure (eg. hot water system stops working due to deterioration of parts).

Insurance companies generally do not provide emergency assistance, but may consider the details of a claim during their normal business hours. It is usually still up to the owner of the lot to deal with their own emergency situation, and then to make an insurance claim after the event.

For emergency insurance advice (including whether you are entitled to temporary accommodation under an insurance policy) – please contact your insurer. Your insurer’s name will be shown on your most recent AGM minutes in the insurance motion.

Building & Maintenance

Damage to buildings will generally need to be made-safe temporarily.

Examples include:

• Damaged doors during a burglary
• Damage due to a fire (where the property remains habitable)
• Vehicle impact damage to buildings
• Emergency make-safe builders:

Council

Electricity

If the issue is affecting only your lot:
Check your switchboard to see if any safety switch has tripped. If so, try unplugging your appliances and re-setting the switch as a faulty toaster or kettle can cause power to trip.

Contact an electrician if the situation is an emergency, including if a person in the home relies on electricity for a life-aid system.

If the issue relates to the supply of electricity to the entire building, then that will may require an electrician to investigate at the cost to the body corporate. However, consider the impact of incurring an afterhours call fee.

Fallen Trees

If a significant branch or tree has fallen and that tree is not damaging the building or blocking the common property it may be necessary to telephone a tree lopper.

Gas

If your gas supply is interrupted, contact your gas retailer (eg Origin, AGL etc)

Gates or Common Garage Doors (eg basement doors)

If the gate or common garage door stops working at 2am, can it wait until morning to call for help to minimise the cost?

Warning!
Private garage doors will always be the responsibility of the lot owner to fix. While the damage might technically be covered by insurance the cost to repairs will often be below the insurance excess and thus your responsibility.

Glass Breakage

Broken glass windows and doors can usually be replaced on-site, and are often strong>not covered by the body corporate due to the insurance excess.

Hot Water

Unless your complex has a shared hot water system or no unit in the complex is getting hot water. Loss of hot water will generally be a maintenance issue for you at you. Most plumbers will be able to talk you through re-starting the system to see if you can get it working again without a callout fee.

Locks

This is simply a matter for you to arrange with a locksmith and pay for.

Pest Control

If a sudden pest infestation happens it become necessary to call a pest controller. However, it is normally unlikely to be the cause of an after-hours call out.

Plumbing (Water and Sewer Issues)

Check with your neighbours – if multiple lots have a similar issue that may indicate:-

• A blockage or failure on the Council property or on the body corporate common property.
• Burst pipes in the common property may require a plumber, but consider if the loss of water is so high that it warrants an afterhours call out fee.

Warning!
If the issue is only affecting your lot (eg. blocked shower drain) – this will be your own cost.

Roof & Gutters

Roofs and gutters may leak during rainfall. Consider if the amount of water entering the unit and necessity to make an after-hours call out. If there is just a small drip of water generally that does not justify incurring an after-hours call our fee.

For significant roof damage, contact the

Note: Roofs usually cannot be repaired during rain for safety reasons. If a roof leak develops, you will generally need to wait until the weather clears before the roof can be repaired. Use common sense to minimise damage if this occurs.

Telecommunications & Intercoms

It is unlikely that a telecommunications issue will be an emergency issue. However, if it is please contact