The wrong use of a word has landed Sydney developer Ecove with a land tax bill it could have avoided, after a NSW planning tribunal ruled it had a "lease" over an Olympic Park development site, rather than a "licence".

Privately owned Ecove, which has already developed three residential towers in the 640-hectare space that hosted the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic games, faces the impost after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled its 2014 development agreement with Sydney Olympic Parks Authority provided for a construction lease, rather than a licence to access the land.