Mayfair Apartments' balcony defects cost Morris Property Group over $40k

Two separate apartment owners, Phillip and Pamela Nash and Kevan Brown, the executor of the estate of the late Peter Mayoh, filed a claim to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal over primarily balcony waterproofing defects.

The respondent, Morris Property Group, was the developer of Mayfair Apartments which are located at the corner of West Row and Alinga Street.

Both apartment owners bought an off-the-plan unit from Morris Property Group, with the sale including conditions that building works should be undertaken in a "proper and workmanlike manner" and the seller agrees to repair in a "prompt and timely manner" if defects are notified.

The applicants claimed the waterproofing of their respective balconies was not undertaken in a proper and workmanlike manner. Additionally, Mr and Mrs Nash claimed the waterproofing of their bathroom was defective.

Morris Property Group denied any of the works were defective and described the claims as "grossly exaggerated".

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In October 2018, Mrs Nash first noticed a problem when moisture was leaking through Mr Mayoh's balcony, which was directly above her own, causing the formation of calcium deposits and stalactites on the soffit, and calcium staining on the wall and balcony floor tiles.

Mr and Mrs Nash met onsite with the defects manager, Gordon Smith from Morris Property Group in November 2018, who told them the problem with Mr Mayoh's balcony would be rectified first and then the damage to their own balcony would be repaired.

Over several months no action was taken until Mr Smith instructed the Nashs to organise a time for inspection with Saba Tiling, the organisation involved with the balcony construction.

In February 2020, Saba emailed Mrs Nash informing her the balcony painting would take three days. Further correspondence occurred but work did not start.

Mrs Nash also reported the bathroom entry threshold floor angle had "blow out", which led to further emails with Morris Property Group however work was still not done.

The entrance to the bathroom was eventually replaced in August 2020, however the balcony works still had not begun.

After further correspondence, Mr and Mrs Nash eventually heard nothing from Mr Smith or Morris Property Group and the couple arranged for an external consultant, George Pudja, to inspect the side in March 2021.

"The biggest problem with this balcony design is that there is NO separation between units," Mr Pudja said.

"This presents as an enormous problem should one balcony be renovated, as there is no compliant way to isolate one balcony from another."

In giving oral evidence to the tribunal, Mr Pudja used his 24 years of experience as a building consultant to relay the most common problem is products themselves "rarely fail" and it is rather the "application and installation" that creates fault.

"I would say out of literally thousands of balconies I have inspected, I have probably found a handful that were compliant. The rest, they just don't apply them according to the guidelines," he said.

Michael Orlov, a tribunal senior member, found both the balconies and the Nash's bathroom were not undertaken in a "proper and workmanlike manner", concluding Morris Property Group was liable to the claims.

Mr and Mrs Nash were awarded $23,080.96 while Kevan Brown as executor of the estate of the late Peter Mayoh was awarded $20,120.42.

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