Pub­li­ca­tions

Sep 1, 2020

Can we build bet­ter build­ings in NSW?

The con­struc­tion indus­try in New South Wales is in cri­sis and has been at an impasse for a pro­longed peri­od of time. The ques­tion as to why we have so many build­ing defects, par­tic­u­lar­ly in mul­ti-storey res­i­den­tial apart­ment build­ings, was being asked long before the Opal and Mas­cot tow­er dis­as­ters and…

Aug 31, 2020

NSW Con­struc­tion Indus­try Reform

The NSW Build­ing Com­mis­sion­er, David Chan­dler OAM, is at the ready with ​‘boots on the ground’, to ​‘rid the indus­try of dan­ger­ous builders, devel­op­ers and cer­ti­fiers’ and improve con­sumer con­fi­dence in the buy­ing of res­i­den­tial apart­ments in NSW with the com­mence­ment on 1 Sep­tem­ber 2020 of the Res­i­den­tial Apart­ment Build­ings (Com­pli­ance…

Jul 16, 2020

Mer­i­tas — An Intro­duc­tion to Tem­po­rary Changes Affect­ing Busi­ness­es in Aus­tralia and New Zealand

Look­ing for busi­ness and legal guid­ance regard­ing COVID-19 updates and pro­grams in Aus­tralia & New Zealand? This doc­u­ment has cov­er­age across the region with mem­ber firms who are here to assist. Please vis­it any of the COVID-19 resource mate­ri­als for more com­pre­hen­sive updates.  View here…

Jun 24, 2020

The NSW Con­struc­tion Indus­try – where are we at in 2020?

No-one could have antic­i­pat­ed the impact that so many unre­lat­ed, but col­lid­ing events, has had on all indus­try sec­tors through­out Aus­tralia in 2020. Whilst the long-term eco­nom­ic impact of these events on the con­struc­tion indus­try is unknown, this indus­try is one sec­tor which has been able to con­tin­ue work­ing, even…

May 15, 2020

Stra­ta Schemes Gen­er­al Meet­ings in light of COVID-19

It has just been announced that the NSW Par­lia­ment is con­sid­er­ing reforms to the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015 (SSMA) to remove the need for face-to-face meet­ings and allow own­ers cor­po­ra­tions to oper­ate elec­tron­i­cal­ly. In the mean­time, own­ers cor­po­ra­tions are still required com­ply with their oblig­a­tions to hold meet­ings in…

May 14, 2020

Is your stra­ta scheme functioning?

We recent­ly act­ed for a lot owner/​building man­ag­er in a Stra­ta Appli­ca­tion to the NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal (NCAT) suc­cess­ful­ly seek­ing orders for the removal of the exist­ing stra­ta com­mit­tee and the com­pul­so­ry appoint­ment of a stra­ta man­ag­er to the scheme under s237 of the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015 (SSMA 2015)…

May 13, 2020

COVID-19 | Con­struc­tion Works With­in Stra­ta Schemes

With the intro­duc­tion of the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment (COVID-19 Devel­op­ment – Con­struc­tion Work Days) Order 2020 on 31 March 2020 (the Order), stra­ta schemes may be faced with deci­sions to make regard­ing the con­tin­u­a­tion or com­mence­ment of build­ing works dur­ing the Gov­ern­ment imposed restric­tions and social dis­tanc­ing guidelines.  Impact of…

Apr 8, 2020

COVID-19 | The Com­mer­cial Ten­an­cies Code | 8 April 2020

In our pre­vi­ous update, we out­lined some of the mea­sures the Prime Min­is­ter intend­ed to imple­ment to pro­vide sup­port and relief for com­mer­cial ten­ants and land­lords in finan­cial dis­tress as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. On 7 April 2020, the Nation­al Cab­i­net announced a manda­to­ry code of con­duct (click here) (Com­mer­cial Ten­an­cies Code)…

Mar 31, 2020

COVID-19 | Changes to the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 | 31 March 2020

On 29 March 2020, the Hon. Josh Fry­den­berg MP, Trea­sur­er, announced changes to the way for­eign invest­ment is reviewed in Aus­tralia.The two key changes are: All mon­e­tary screen­ing thresh­olds in the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Act) have been reduced to $0 mean­ing all pro­posed for­eign invest­ment into Aus­tralia (unless…

Mar 31, 2020

COVID-19 | Prop­er­ty Updates & Alerts

COVID-19 | Changes to the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 | 31 March 2020On 29 March 2020, the Hon. Josh Fry­den­berg MP, Trea­sur­er, announced changes to the way for­eign invest­ment is reviewed in Aus­tralia. View the key changes here.COVID-19 Advo­ca­cy Alert | Loan relief mea­sures for com­mer­cial land­lords | 3…