Maiorana v The Owners - Strata Plan No. 1418

In the case of Maiorana v The Owners - Strata Plan No. 1418, the dispute involved the plaintiff, Maiorana, who alleged that alterations made to the common property by the defendant, the body corporate of the Strata Plan, caused damage to her apartment. The case was heard and determined in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The plaintiff sought damages for the alleged harm resulting from the changes to the common property, which she claimed were done without her consent and without proper consultation.

The legal issues before the court centred on the extent of the body corporate's obligations to consult with lot owners before making alterations to common property, and whether the body corporate's actions breached any statutory or common law duties. Additionally, the court had to consider whether the damages claimed by the plaintiff were reasonably foreseeable and whether they could be attributed to the alterations made by the body corporate.

The court found that the body corporate had not breached its duty to consult with the lot owners before making the alterations to the common property. It held that the statutory framework governing strata titles did not impose an obligation on the body corporate to consult with individual lot owners before making such changes, as long as the alterations were within the ordinary course of maintaining and managing the common property. The court further determined that the damages claimed by the plaintiff were not reasonably foreseeable and could not be directly attributed to the alterations. Consequently, the application for damages was dismissed.