The owners of Opal Tower have launched a class action against the NSW Government, seeking compensation for new defects found in the building.

It is the second lawsuit filed against the state-owned Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA), which owns the land the building sits on. Last year the owners launched legal action for individual losses they claim to have suffered due to lower property values and rental income.

SOPA is named as second defendant in the latest class action filed in the NSW Supreme Court. Icon, the builder of the 36-storey block, is first defendant, according to a copy of the court summons seen by insuranceNEWS.com.au.

A spokesman for SOPA declined to comment as the matter is before the court.

Residents were forced to evacuate on Christmas Eve in 2018 from the then recently completed tower after cracks were found in the structure.

According to local media reports, new defects have been found in the common areas by independent experts engaged by the owners, prompting them to launch the latest class action.

Opal Towers Owners Corporation Chairman Shady Eskander was quoted as saying the new defects have pushed up the insurance premium to $1.1 million. insuranceNEWS.com.au has reached out to Mr Eskander and the lawyer representing the plaintiffs for more details.

The NSW Government also declined to comment on the latest legal action but says it has delivered on its promise to reform the building and construction industry.

It says the new legislation, the Design and Building Practitioners Bill and the Residential Apartment Buildings Bill, will give consumers “peace of mind” when they enter the property market.

“For homeowners with existing defects in their buildings, the legislation provides new protections and recourse by stipulating that anyone carrying out building work has a legal duty to avoid construction defects both for new buildings and retrospectively for buildings built up to 10 years before the legislation was passed,” the spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“This gives homeowners in properties built in the past 10 years new legal rights to recover the cost of repairing defects from responsible third parties through the courts, and has been universally welcomed by consumer groups.”