The tiles on a wall adjacent to common property are owners corp responsibility, according to the “Who’s responsible …” document.
Note 11: The tiles on the floor or on a common wall that separates 2 lots or the lot from common property are the responsibility of the Owners Corporation. This includes the shower base.
According to section 106 (4) of the Act the owners Corp can delay fixing common property until after a dispute over responsibility has been resolved provided “failure to comply will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme.“
I would say that not fixing the shower tiles affected its safety.
Lack of funds is not a reason for not effecting necessary repairs and your strata manager should know this. A special levy or, preferably, a strata loan should be raised to get the building fixed (if the builder refuses to fix it) then deal with getting the money out of them later.
This is Strata Management 101. If your strata manager doesn’t understand this, they maybe should go and get a job selling real estate where their lack of knowledge or absence of a sense of duty won’t do any harm.
Section 106
Duty of owners corporation to maintain and repair property
(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(2) An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(3) This section does not apply to a particular item of property if the owners corporation determines by special resolution that:
(a) it is inappropriate to maintain, renew, replace or repair the property, and
(b) its decision will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme or detract from the appearance of any property in the strata scheme.(4) If an owners corporation has taken action against an owner or other person in respect of damage to the common property, it may defer compliance with subsection (1) or (2) in relation to the damage to the property until the completion of the action if the failure to comply will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme.