News & Publications
It’s Beginning To Sound A Lot Like Christmas…
We are officially in the silly season! It is the season to have fun with family and friends, and as we all know, “fun” frequently equates to “noise”. Noise complaints are common around this time of the year. The reason for this is that gatherings are more frequent, go...
Unreasonable Refusal to Make a Common Property Rights By-Law
The matter of Kaye v The Owners – Strata Plan No 4350 [2022] NSWSC 1386 (Kaye) was an appeal from the Appeal Panel to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court considered whether an Owners Corporation had unreasonably refused to make a common property rights by-law. The...
Case Note – The Owners – Strata Plan No. 19410 v King atf The Cascade Trust [2022] NSWCATAP 326
In the recent case of The Owners – Strata Plan No 19410 v King atf the Cascade Trust [2022] NSWCATAP 326, the Owners Corporation appealed a decision made by the Tribunal that it undertake specified repairs to prevent water ingress to the second bedroom in one of the...
Strata Renovations: The Importance of a Good By-Law
Lot owners are often referred to us by their strata manager when they want to renovate their lot. The reason is that the work will involve waterproofing, involves structural elements, changes the external appearance of a lot or may require consent under other...
My By-Law Has Been Passed – What Next?
Once your by-law has been passed by special resolution at a general meeting of the Owners Corporation, there is one more step you will need to undertake before your by-law is enforceable: Registration. This step is often forgotten as many lot owners assume that having...
When Will The Tribunal Make An Order To Appoint A Compulsory Strata Manager?
In the case of Dunstan v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 79749, an order was made to appoint a compulsory strata manager for a 12 month period to exercise all functions of the Owners Corporation and strata committee. The strata scheme consists of 13 units built in 2008....
The Australian College of Midwives Ltd v The Owners – Units Plan No. 1475 (Unit Titles) [2022] ACAT 73
1. This dispute related to a ten-storey concrete building known as City Plaza that was subdivided by the registration of Units Plan No 1475 in April 1996. The ground floor contains eight commercial units numbered 1 to 8. The first floor contains seven commercial units...
“NOT SO IRON CLAD” – Strata Plan No 92450 v JKN Para 1 Pty Ltd & Anor [2022] NSWSC 958
Background Facts The Owners- Strata Plan No 92450 (owners corporation) commenced proceedings against the developer (JKN Para 1 Pty Ltd) (JKN) and builder (Toplace Pty Ltd) (Toplace) regarding, amongst other defects, what it alleged to be combustible aluminium...
Owners Corporations beware – Take Care when Terminating a Caretaker’s Agreement
Did the resident caretaker’s behaviour amount to gross misconduct to the extent that the Owners Corporation was entitled to terminate the Caretaker’s Agreement? If it did, were there provisions in their Agreement which could reserve the caretaker’s rights upon...
What Can an Owners Corporation do if an Owner or Occupier Breaches the By-Laws of the Scheme?
The by-laws for a strata scheme are binding upon the owners corporation, owners and occupiers. If an owner or occupier breaches any of the strata scheme’s by-laws, the owners corporation can take steps to enforce those by-laws. Before commencing proceedings, we...
Hill v Construction Occupations Registrar; Jones v Construction Occupations Registrar (Administrative Review) [2021] ACAT 21
On 10 December 2019, the Building and Construction Legislation Amendment Act 2019 amended the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 (COLA) among other things to allow for rectification orders to be made in relation to directors of licensed corporations. The...
The Owners – Units Plan No 3115 v The Trustees of the Master Builders Fidelity Fund Scheme [2019] FCA 115; The Owners – Units Plan No 3115 v The Trustees of the Master Builders Fidelity Fund Scheme [2019] FCAFC 227
These cases involved a large residential apartment complex in Bruce called Elara Apartments which suffered from significant building defects. Elara Apartments was constructed by B & T Constructions (ACT) Pty Ltd (the Builder). Initially the owners corporation...