Whose responsibility is the power cable between meter room and condo in a large condo building?

[AsiaCheese]

The meter in the common meter room on the floor is working (PEA says), there is power on the breaker next to it (the building tech says), but no power from the mains cable at the fuse box. The management office ladies say "your problem" - isn't the cable (some 80 meters in the roof of the corridor) part of the common area?

[scubascuba3]

It's common area, obviously, contact a farang committee member, sometimes office staff can be useless 

[Crossy]

I would agree ^^^, it's common area, condo issue!

 

Is there another breaker/fuse in the line, possibly in a utilities room on your floor?

 

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's common area, obviously, contact a farang committee member, sometimes office staff can be useless 

...useles and make up answers on the spot and demand that owners/residents accept these answers without question. 

 

Been there done that, we had a new office manager start work, She instantly put up signs in the 2 lifts:

 

-Owners can come to the office counter to ask questions once a month however must first submit in writing a request for a queue number, date/time to come to ask their questions'.

 

... and about 10 more items.    

 

Came to a head quickly when a sudden water leak was damaging the ceiling in the condo just below.

 

Condo owner suffering damage went quickly to office but is confronted with the new managers 'rule' just above.

 

Owner suffering damage quickly contacted the official 'juristic person' for our condo (Thai lawyer who was a snr. mngr at a famous international management consulting company in Bkk., engages quickly, pleasant guy, perfect English, always takes action promptly). 

 

Juristic person calls all committee members and person suffering watr damage and the person suffering damage and asked them to meet him at the office counter 1 hr hence.

 

90% of committe members turned up, juristic person asks new manager who authorised her to create these new rules? Her response 'Me, I own the building so I make the rules. She also claimed that by Thai law her position (Admin. Mngr.) gave her the authority to claim she owned the building. She also said 'did you get a queue no. and date/time for this meeting with me?

 

Within less than an hour the committee members present voted and she was dismissed on the spot.

 

Maintenance man then quickly despatched to the water leak and 10 minutes later all fixed. Owner above agreed to recify all water damage and all completed within a few days.

 

Committee then had a special meeting to make some real 'rules' about the authorities of the Admin. Mngr. person.  Including;  'Admin' Mngr' must get written permission of Juristic Person and one committee member before taking any action / putting up any notice.' 

Edited June 24, 2023 by scorecard

[AsiaCheese]

57 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I would agree ^^^, it's common area, condo issue!

 

Is there another breaker/fuse in the line, possibly in a utilities room on your floor?

 

No breaker in between; it's around 80 meters of uninterrupted cable from the common electric meter/main breaker room to where it first reappears at the in-condo breaker box.

[TimeMachine]

I can't see anything common about the cable. If it's a cable only going to your room, (nobody else is using it.) which it should be then it's your cable and your responsibility after the meter. Just because it's location is in common area doesn't automatically make it common to all rooms. Same with water pipes. After meter , it's all user/owner pays. You could argue that common area walls have moved and that caused the damage to the cable, but that's a stretch and not likely to be proven.  Btw old breakers in my room where not opening at higher currents. While you are at it replace all xx year old breakers. I installed safety breakers too in room.

Edited June 24, 2023 by TimeMachine

[Dan O]

In a condo structure you own and are responsible only for items inside your condo, interior wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Any service running to your condo, water, electric and gas are common area elements and building responsibility untill the service enters your condo. 

[TimeMachine]

The use of the word common is hard to twist. A cable that only one person uses or one room uses is not common. There however is the ability for by laws in your condo rules and regulations. Unless there is something over riding the common definition specifically for electrical cables running along the hallway then your only chance is a compassionate manager. As it is in most places, what happens and is decided on one day and with who can vary dramatically.

Probably be nice and ask for a compromise. Pay half each maybe would be a good outcome for a home owner.

[Crossy]

Leaving aside the common/owned part for now, you obviously want to get your juice back on ASAP.

 

I would ask the condo juristic if they have a recommended sparks who can come and investigate the issue and provide a quote to fix it.

 

Based on said quote you can decide if it's a "just get it fixed" job or a "let's talk about this issue" job.

 

Cables don't often just fail; it could have been damaged by other works (that contractor is responsible) or badly installed in the first place.

[TimeMachine]

9 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Leaving aside the common/owned part for now, you obviously want to get your juice back on ASAP.

 

I would ask the condo juristic if they have a recommended sparks who can come and investigate the issue and provide a quote to fix it.

 

Based on said quote you can decide if it's a "just get it fixed" job or a "let's talk about this issue" job.

 

Cables don't often just fail; it could have been damaged by other works (that contractor is responsible) or badly installed in the first place.

Good advice. Best to know the exact fault completely. Could be a silly situation whereby a dirty contact on a breaker or reading the wrong breaker number  trolled the previous electrician. Or a miriad of other things. We are all not perfect. Be with the chap who investigates and make sure nobody is using guess work to diagnose and confirms results.

Edited June 24, 2023 by TimeMachine

[Crossy]

ChatGPT is hedging its bets: -

 

[TimeMachine]

17 minutes ago, Crossy said:

ChatGPT is hedging its bets: -

 

That's quite the perfect answer for Thailand. 

[digbeth]

We had to replace the water mains in our condo, it is agreed that the main pipes to the meter comes out of the common fund, (the meter was the condo's not the water company) and anything behind the meter to the room belongs to each room's owner, as long as the work is being done any owner that wanted to can replace their pipes when the work is being done, any that didn't agree can keep their old pipe run but if they wanted to replace it a later date, they'd have to pay for the removal and fixing back of the ceiling at their own cost

 

granted, the run was only from each floor,

 

I don't see why if only 1 guy' power cable need replacing and the whole condo should be responsible for it