Leaking Roof & no strata funds to fix

It doesn't matter if there's no money in the sinking fund, the Owners Corp has an absolute responsibility, without limit, to maintain and repair common property.  That means if they don't have the money, they have to raise it – their finances certainly aren't your problem.

Also, your landlord has responsibilities to provide accommodation to a reasonable standard and this is something the landlord should have been chasing from the moment he or she was first notified of the problem.

Now, you can either tell the landlord this, or take action via Fair Trading to force the landlord to force the Owners Corp to fulfill their legal obligations.  Meanwhile you should also ask for a rent reduction backdated to the time when you first notified them that there was a problem.

Maybe explaining that this is an option may be enough to get them to do something about it.  But you do have grounds for asking for an early release from your tenancy agreement.

Go to tenants.org.au and have a look at some of the fact sheets there – they'll tell you everything you need to know.

The CTTT are idiots. They should have told you need to take action directly against the Owners Corp – it's just cheaper if you take action against the landlord to force them to take the action against the Owners Corp.

But be clear on this:  It's the Owners Corp who have to fix the ceiling and you can force them to do that.

So contact Fair Trading (Tel: 13 32 20) and tell them that you want to take action against the Owners Corp for failing to maintain Common Property. You are allowed to do this as, under the Strata Act, tenants are “interested parties”.

Or just get things rolling yourself and raise a claim for MEDIATION (download the form HERE).  This action is against the OWNERS CORPORATION (not the landlord).  It's the Owners Corp who have to fix the leak and you have the right to demand that they do. Mediation is an obligatory first step in the process, and only after that can you ask for an ADJUCATION (THIS form).

Once that is underway, you should take action against the landlord to get your rent reduced for failing to address essential repairs and to refund you the $75 it cost to raise a claim against the OC. The landlord's duty in this case was to make sure the Owners Corp repaired the ceiling.  They failed so you can ask for a rent reduction backdated to the time you first complained.

The relevant information about claiming against the landlord is in this Tenants NSW fact sheets HERE 

However, there is a way to short-cut this.  Tell the Executive Committe and Strata Manager of the building what you plan to do and explain that they are going to have to do it anyway so they may as well save themselves the time and expense of fighting it – they WILL lose – and just get it done.