False fire alarm fees can be thousands of dollars. Act quickly to find out and charge the culprit or your owners corporation may end up footing the bill...

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A Sneak Peek at the Latest VCAT Strata Decisions
False fire alarm fees can be thousands of dollars. Act quickly to find out and charge
the culprit or your owners corporation may end up footing the bill…
Owners corporation rules only apply to lot owners, occupiers, lessees and sub-lessees.
So what happens if an occupier breaches the rules then disappears? Is the lot owner left to
foot the damage bill?
In the recent VCAT case of Lee a visitor to one of the apartments drove his vehicle into a
sprinkler in the building’s carpark and caused over $6,000 worth of false fire alarm fees. The
owners corporation charged that false fire alarm fee directly to the lot owner who leased out
the apartment because it was easier to access the lot owner’s funds rather than locate and
pursue the visitor for compensation.
VCAT agreed with the lot owner in Lee that she shouldn’t have to pay the false fire alarm fee
that was incurred by her occupier’s negligence. Now, the owners corporation is left to foot the
bill or to try and recover the fee from the visitor who caused the damage.
Case Reference: Lee v Owners Corporation No. 501391P (Owners Corporations) [2013]
VCAT 1942 (20 November 2013)
4 December 2013
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Nicole Wilde, Senior Solicitor, TEYS Lawyers Melbourne (03) 9600 1128
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