Who pays for tiles when a bathroom membrane fails?

NSW

Maintenance & Common Property

Rules & Bylaws

An original bathroom membrane has failed and must be replaced. Does the owners corporation also pay to replace the undamaged tiles and fixtures?

Our bathroom is original, and the waterproofing membrane has failed, causing damage to the lot below.

The owners corporation’s contractor has advised that to comply with current building codes, the entire bathroom needs to be stripped out, the membrane replaced, and the tiles and fixtures renewed.

As the bathroom and membrane are original and there’s nothing wrong with the tiles or fixtures, shouldn’t the owners corporation pay to replace them? The work is only needed so the owners corporation can repair the common property membrane. Is that correct?

The bathroom is tiled in marble, and we’ve told the owners corporation we’ll accept a standard white tile instead of a like-for-like marble replacement to keep the cost down.

Which by-law or part of the legislation can we quote? Who is responsible? The building is about 30 to 40 years old.

Where the common property memorandum applies, original floor tiles and waterproofing are the owners corporation’s responsibility, which may extend to undamaged tiles and the removal and refitting of fixtures.

The NSW Government Common Property Memorandum stipulates that original floor tiles and associated waterproofing affixed to common property floors at registration of the strata plan fall within the owners corporation’s responsibilities for maintenance, repair or replacement. This may extend to otherwise undamaged tiles and the removal and refitting of bathroom fixtures under sections 106 and 122 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW). Responsibility for rectification is subject to verification via the following:

The registered strata plan and boundary notations, including registration date.
The registered by-laws and any adopted common property memorandum.
Evidence of original construction and any later bathroom renovation approvals.
Contractor’s detailed scope, compliance justification and fixture reuse assessment.