We help devel­op­ers, investors, own­ers cor­po­ra­tions, builders, home­own­ers and lot own­ers, with the full range of plan­ning, real estate, con­struc­tion and stra­ta law solutions.

Our team has a wealth of expe­ri­ence, knowl­edge and deep legal exper­tise in con­struc­tion, prop­er­ty, leas­ing and stra­ta law, which means we can resolve the most com­plex front-end and back-end prob­lems and can assist in dis­putes involv­ing mul­ti­ple parties.

We help devel­op­ers with large scale res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial prop­er­ty devel­op­ment, which requires com­pli­ance with var­i­ous legal require­ments, includ­ing build­ing codes, envi­ron­men­tal reg­u­la­tions, and local bylaws.

Our clients seek­ing con­struc­tion advise, under­stand we bring a depth of expe­ri­ence and under­stand­ing of var­i­ous legal frame­works, includ­ing the Nation­al Con­struc­tion Code (NCC), the var­i­ous Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment Acts, and the WHS Act, includ­ing exper­tise in both con­struc­tion con­struc­tion law and con­tract law which is crit­i­cal for our clien­t’s project success. 

When things go wrong, hav­ing deep exper­tise and indus­try knowl­edge in stra­ta law and reme­di­al build­ing work in par­tic­u­lar, means we are often sought out in defec­tive build­ing cas­es against cor­po­rate builders and/​or cor­po­rate developers. 

Use­ful links:

No mat­ter how rou­tine or com­plex the busi­ness issues you face, Mer­i­tas’ net­work of law firms is with you every step of the way. Mar­ket-lead­ing firms offer a full range of legal ser­vices, which enable you to do busi­ness any­where. Wise coun­sel and prac­ti­cal solu­tions are just a phone call or e‑mail away. Dis­cov­er the breadth and depth of the prac­tice and indus­try sec­tor capa­bil­i­ties avail­able to you through Meritas.

Publications

Tem­po­rary Dis­con­for­mi­ty in Build­ing Defects: Myth, Not Law

The ​“tem­po­rary dis­con­for­mi­ty” argu­ment in con­struc­tion dis­putes sug­gests that defec­tive work iden­ti­fied before prac­ti­cal com­ple­tion is not a breach while the…

The impor­tance of a Request for Tender

Issu­ing a request for ten­der (RFT) is more than just secur­ing the best or low­est price. An RFT is your oppor­tu­ni­ty to man­age…

More Changes for Stra­ta — effec­tive 1 April 2026

The Fair Trad­ing and Build­ing Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Bill 2026 was passed by par­lia­ment dur­ing Feb­ru­ary 2026 with the changes effec­tive on…

In the News

Michael Byrnes quot­ed in the arti­cle, Five legal ques­tions about Jack­ie Henderson’s law­suit against ARN answered”, pub­lished in Mum­brel­la on 2 April 2026

Michael Byrnes quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Five legal ques­tions about Jack­ie Henderson’s law­suit against ARN answered”, pub­lished in Mum­brel­la on…

Michael Byrnes appeared on the Game Chang­ers Radio pod­cast host­ed by Craig Bruce and Irene Hulme on 31 March 2026 to dis­cuss the legal pro­ceed­ings com­menced by Jack­ie O’ Hen­der­son against ARN

Michael Byrnes appeared on the Game Chang­ers Radio pod­cast host­ed by Craig Bruce and Irene Hulme on 31 March 202…

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 31 March 2026 to dis­cuss the legal pro­ceed­ings com­menced by Jack­ie O’ Hen­der­son against ARN (from 6:05 to 37:30)

Michael Byrnes appeared on McK­night Tonight with Robert McK­night on 31 March 2026 to dis­cuss the legal pro­ceed­ings com­menced by…