Is a landlord responsible for paying to repair damage their tenant caused to common property?

My personal opinion is that tenants should be responsible for damage caused if it is wilful or due to lack of care as too often the strata plan is left to pick up the costs but this has to be reasonable and enforceable.

It is unclear in this instance but assuming the damage is accidental as part of your tenants moving out of the property I can provide the following guidance:

The first option for any owner or for the Owner's Corporation re damage to the common property is a claim via the Owner's Corporation insurance policy. Whether this is a possibility would depend on the specifics of the incident, the policy in place and also the excess limit in place. However each owner has the right to claim on the strata insurance, as part of the Owners Corporation they contribute to the insurance policy via their levies. The strata manager working with the insurance broker would ordinarily lodge this claim on behalf of the owner but the insurer will consider a claim directly from an owner. If the excess for the policy exceeds the amount being claimed this avenue would not be available as the insurer will not consider the claim.

It is possible that the Owners Corporation have adopted a by-law that would potentially deal with this matter and they are therefore claiming under for example a 'recovery of costs' or 'moving in and out' by-law which might allow them to seek costs incurred by the strata plan from a tenant or owner.

However if the by-law is making the owner responsible to pay the costs instead of the tenant it is debatable that as this purports to make a person liable for the act of another person, where the owner has no knowledge or control over what their tenant has done, that this could be considered harsh, unconscionable or oppressive under Section 139 (1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. The fact that it is easier administratively for the Owners Corporation to pursue you for the fee rather than your tenant does not mean that the by-law is valid.

It is important to remember that an Owner's Corporation must act reasonably and if this is not the case all owners have options to seek either mediation or refer the matter to NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.