Another thought I had is maybe the fireplaces are treated the same way as dryer vent cleaning or fire inspections. Even though smoke detectors are inside suites, the council does the annual inspections and maintenance because it impacts building safety. It's possible the fireplace servicing is treated the same way, but every 2 years.

If you really wanted to know, you can also look at the council financials and you'll see whether or not fireplace servicing is budgeted for, and/or when the last time the council paid someone to do it.

First you get a legal demand letter to pay, usually after 60 or 90 days. Then if you don't pay after that, they put a lien on your unit.

You're also usually responsible to pay the fees associated with the demand letter and the lien, on top of your overdue fees.

It's easier to get away with not paying fines than it is to not pay your fees.

That seems weird to me, I understand your responsible for damage in your unit but I wouldn't think you're responsible for damage caused to your unit by things that are looked after by the strata.

It's been a long time since I lived in a strata but I had a very similar situation twice in my townhouse, was issues with the roof and it leaked on my ceiling both times Strata paid to have my ceiling fixed. I'd understand if your dishwasher leaked and damaged your floor or your tub leaked but we're talking about something causing damage that isn't technically the OP's responsibility to maintain. Just like he'd be responsible if his tub leaked to fix the unit under him strata should be responsible to fix the damage to his unit. Imagine you had a leak and you flooded your downstairs neighbour and you're like yeah that's damage to your unit and since your responsible to fix damage inside your unit it's not my issue.

Yes this is often the thing that surprises people the most when it comes to living in a strata.

In the SPA, it says "An owner must repair and maintain the owner’s Strata Lot, except for repair and maintenance that is the responsibility of the Strata Corporation under these bylaws."

It's says nothing about responsibility, where the damage came from, etc. Just that the owner must repair their own strata lot. Full stop.

So that's why owners are always told by the strata that it's their responsibility to fix their own unit. If a common pipe in the ceiling leaks, the strata fixes the pipe and the owner fixes the ceiling.

There are always exceptions though. Some stratas, when fixing the original source of the damage, will also fix your unit too. If that happens, consider yourself lucky.

Also, if the damage is significant enough that the strata's insurance is activated, the strata's insurance will fix your unit. If the damage doesn't trigger the strata insurance because it falls below the deductible, then each owner is responsible for their own repairs.

If you end up claiming on your own insurance, and you can prove another unit damaged your unit because of negligence, then you can try to recover your damages at the CRT. But you must prove they were negligent. If a dishwasher leaks because of bad luck, and was otherwise maintained and/or fairly new, that's not negligent. If they forgot left their sink running and it overflowed, that's negligence.

In this twisted insurance world, I think activating this strata's insurance to fix this leak might bite me in the ass when our rates go up and my fees shoot up to cover the new rates.

Are you talking about using your condo insurance to fix your unit's water damage caused by the common pipe? If so, that's where you need to ask for a few quotes and calculate if the deductible + premium outweighs the one off cost.

Or, if your strata is planning to repair the common pipe through their contingency fund, see if they are able to grab a quote to have the repair done by the same company. The cost share might benefit both parties.

You can only activate the strata's insurance if the total damages exceed the policy deductible, which can be anywhere from $25k - $500k