Burst pipes and leaks
across Randwick

That depends on which pipe failed, and it is worth establishing before anyone starts. If the failure is in pipework serving only the flat above, it is generally that lot owner's. If it is the shared stack or a riser running through the building, it is generally the owners corporation's. In a small block with no manager there is often nobody on site who knows which, so the plumber ends up being the person who establishes it. We do that first and put it in writing, because it decides who the invoice goes to.

For an emergency, yes, and you should: stopping water damage is not something to wait on. For anything beyond making it safe, the owner or the agent has to authorise the repair, and in a block it may be the owners corporation rather than your landlord. Around here a great many occupants are renting on short postings, so this comes up constantly. Call us, we will make it safe, and we will tell you plainly who needs to approve the actual repair.

That is the normal situation in these walk-ups and it is workable. What it means is that there is no one holding plans, no maintenance history, and often no clear idea of where the isolation valves are. We work it out on site: trace the run, establish whether it is serving one lot or several, and identify what can be shut off without cutting water to the whole building. Then whoever is on the committee has something concrete to act on.

In a building of that age, probably, and it is better to plan than be surprised. The riser was installed once, for the whole building, and it has aged at the same rate behind every wall. A pinhole in one flat does not mean that flat was unlucky, it means the others are next. One failure is a repair. A second, in a different unit, within a year or two is the signal to look at the riser as a whole rather than patch a third time.

Without opening walls on spec, because in a shared building that damage is somebody else's as well as yours. We isolate and watch the meter to prove a loss, then narrow it down by sectioning what valves exist. Acoustic listening picks up water escaping under pressure through the structure. In a walk-up, tracing which unit a run actually serves is half the work, because the layout is rarely as tidy as the floor plan suggests.

Turn it off. In a flat that may be a valve under the sink or in the bathroom; if there is none, the block's isolation is usually in a common area near the entry or in the laundry. If water is anywhere near a switchboard or a light fitting, kill the power first and stay out of it. Then tell the flat below, because in a walk-up water travels down through floors faster than anyone expects and they may not have noticed yet.

Detection is $300 to $600, including isolating, sectioning and acoustic tracing, with the location marked before anything is opened. A burst repair once located is $400 to $1,200 depending on access and what has to be lifted. Making a burst safe out of hours is $250 to $500. Where the block needs a written finding on whether it is lot or common property, that is included rather than charged, because it is the thing that decides who pays the rest.