Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Apr 16, 2014 2:48 pm Hi all, We have a situation that needs your comments. At the end of our demolition, we received a phone call from council advising of damage to council kerb/gutter across the road from our site. They advised that the damage was caused by the delivery truck, when it was dropping the 20 tonne excavator, and a neighbour apparently witnessed the whole thing. Council is now invoicing us the owners of the house because according to them the demolition company have a contract with us, not with council, so council can't take the matter up direct with them. We then forward the invoice to the demo people who [surprise surprise] won't have a bar of it. My take on this is council should not be invoicing us and should invoice direct to the demolition company. Reasoning are as follows: 1. Demolition company is not on our property or within our boundary when damage occurs. Anything outside should be their own responsibility. If the delivery truck hits a parked car on the street - is this our fault because they are on their way to our job? 2. Demolition company damaged a Council property - which means Council will then have the right to take the matters up to them direct. Council have the witnesses and they are the ones who need to provide proof that it has been damaged by the truck. What are your view? Comments are greatly appreciated. We have not yet paid the invoice. Many thanks. Cheers, jez Re: Wrongly invoiced by Council? 2Apr 16, 2014 7:34 pm Our council charge a damage bond when your application has been approved for these very matters. If anything gets damaged it comes from that fund. I cannot remember how much the fee is . This is Great Lakes Council Quote: A final inspection will be carried out by Council's responsible officer and the bond (minus the administration fee) will be considered for refund: Once all works, including landscaping, driveway construction, turfing, etc, have been completed StroudCpl K, L & 4 Kids Merlot Guest (with minor changes) Land Purchased 13/09/2012 Re: Wrongly invoiced by Council? 3Apr 17, 2014 12:32 pm The fact that councils often require bonds for potential damage to their property in the course of your business, indicates they may not be able to sue you directly. . Consider these points. 1.The demolisher is there at your behest. He is under your employ. Technically you had the right to instruct him on how to load/dismount his equipment to prevent council property damage. Thus you were in a position to prevent the damage. 2. you would have signed an agreement with the demolisher, and that agreement should have stated that the demolisher would cover all costs regarding damage to public property. I bet it didnt? 3. there is the issue of the demolishers public liability insurance. What does it cover.? 4. But most importantly, council would have issued you a demolition permit. This would most likely have a condition that any such damage , YOU are liable for. I suspect point 4 will define the problem for you.. Thus council has correctly billed you. You must pay, and then you have a right to counter claim against the demolisher for negligence in one of various ways as stated in points 2 - 3. Remember a solicitor will cost you $2000+ to file papers and take the demolisher to Civil court for a day. If you win, there is no guarantee of a payout. and you have to spend more money on legal fees to wind him up. IT will be probably cheaper to pay the invoice Which Im guessing is 500 - 1000? Chalk it up to experience. This is what you get if you dont supervise some tradies/workmen. Lack of care and a "fk you" attitude. (oh dear hope I dont upset anyone here ) Re: Wrongly invoiced by Council? 4Apr 21, 2014 10:42 pm Thanks qebtel. Thought as much. We didnt have to pay bond to council for the demo stage. We have thought of taking the council to NSW Ombudsmand but I suspect we need to get their approval later on in the project and the thought of them being difficult then is too much. Its $1600 by the way, as its the stormwater intake not just a regular gutter. It is quite sad that we as the client have to supervise constantly even after paying our hard earned cash. Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 6842 We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 9904 This was on google. Development controls 2.3.1 Front setback D1 New buildings within residential areas shall adhere to a front building line, which is 5.5-6m to the… 1 2714 |