No Rent Losses for slow Strata Owner

Tezel v The Owners – Strata Plan No 74232 [2022] NSWCATAP 149

GoStrata’s CaseWatch is a short, sharp and easy-to-understand review of important and interesting Court and Tribunal decisions affecting Australian strata title stakeholders.

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Quick Read

The NSW Court of Appeal decision is about a strata owner’s loss of rent claim for her Bondi Beach apartment because of unrepaired water leaks in the strata building that made her strata lot uninhabitable.  The primary issue was about time limits for damages claims made under s.106 applied.  After a series of back-and-forth decisions at NCAT, the NSW Court of Appeal decided that NCAT damages claims must be made within 2 years of awareness of rent loss and this claim was made too late.  So, the decision highlights the need for strata owners to act quickly to take advantage of the easier damages claims provisions in NSW strata laws.

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Implications

The key implications of this strata case are as follows.

• A strata owner can claim for lost rent under s 106(5) when a strata building doesn’t maintain, repair or replace common property.

• That kind of claim arises strictly according to the provisions of the laws.