Pub­li­ca­tions

11 June 2026

Strata Plan 92183 v Samdora Pty Ltd [2026] NSWSC 406 | 'Substantive Control' over Works & s37 of the DB&P Act

In this case, the plain­tiff (Stra­ta Plan 92183) brought pro­ceed­ings alleg­ing defec­tive res­i­den­tial build­ing work in rela­tion to 9 town hous­es locat­ed in Manger­ton, NSW.Rel­e­vant­ly SP92183 claimed that both the builder’s direc­tor (Mr Nas­sif) and the developer’s direc­tor (Mr Chah­wan) had both breached their duty to exer­cise rea­son­able care to avoid eco­nom­ic…

13 Apr 2026

No Appor­tion­ment for Sec­tion 37 DBP Act Claims even where the alleged con­cur­rent wrong­do­er is not a sub­con­trac­tor of the builder

Kapi­la v Mon­u­ment Build­ing Group Pty Ltd [2025] NSWSC 1306 con­firms that builders and nom­i­nat­ed super­vi­sors can be held ful­ly liable for build­ing defects under sec­tion 37 of the Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act 2020 (NSW), even where oth­er pro­fes­sion­als, such as engi­neers, archi­tects or cer­ti­fiers, also con­tributed to the defects…

26 Mar 2026

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 builder retains a con­trac­tu­al right to rec­ti­fy. NSW courts have con­sis­tent­ly reject­ed this propo­si­tion, con­firm­ing that defec­tive work con­sti­tutes a breach at the time it is performed.The notion of ​“tem­po­rary dis­con­for­mi­ty” is some­times…

20 Mar 2026

When can an own­er com­mence pro­ceed­ings in the 6 months after the expiry of the statu­to­ry war­ran­ty periods

When a defect claim emerges in the final six months of statu­to­ry war­ran­ty peri­ods, own­ers may still have time to act. This update explains when pro­ceed­ings can be com­menced under the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW), fol­low­ing recent Supreme Court guidance.Own­ers cor­po­ra­tions often dis­cov­er defects in their build­ings in the last 6 months…

17 Dec 2025

Know Your Con­struc­tion Con­tract — A Cau­tion­ary ​‘Time Bar’ Tale from West­con­nex M5 Motor­way Tun­nel Project Sydney

The NSW Court of Appeal has con­firmed that Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions can seek freez­ing orders to stop devel­op­ers using SPV struc­tures from divest­ing assets, strength­en­ing recov­ery prospects in defect litigation.Con­struc­tion con­tracts often include detailed pro­vi­sions set­ting out pre­scribed regimes for the pro­vi­sion of claims. Such regimes pro­vide for the form and detail…

17 Dec 2025

One Devel­op­ment, Two Tow­ers and Two Occu­pa­tion Cer­tifi­cates (one Inter­im and one Final). When Does the Home Build­ing Act Statu­to­ry War­ran­ty Peri­od Commence?

The NSW Supreme Court has clar­i­fied when statu­to­ry war­ran­ty peri­ods start for staged devel­op­ments under the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW). In The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 93543 v Zhang (No 3) [2025] NSWSC 571, the Court exam­ined com­ple­tion dates for sep­a­rate build­ings, impact­ing lim­i­ta­tion peri­ods for defect claims.Most pro­ceed­ings brought…

5 Nov 2025

Prov­ing Major Build­ing Defects Under the Home Build­ing Act

What qual­i­fies as a major defect in res­i­den­tial build­ings under NSW law? Defects can range from minor issues to seri­ous struc­tur­al prob­lems, but under­stand­ing the legal def­i­n­i­tion of a ​‘major defect’ under sec­tion 18E(4) of the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW) is crit­i­cal before mak­ing a claim. This arti­cle explains the key…

13 Oct 2025

The risk of builder insol­ven­cy mid way through a con­struc­tion project is real (and will prob­a­bly be expensive)

What hap­pens if your builder becomes insol­vent mid-project and why is the risk so high? Builder insol­ven­cy dur­ing con­struc­tion can lead to severe delays, sky­rock­et­ing costs, and com­plex legal dis­putes. This arti­cle explores why insol­ven­cy risk is increas­ing, what it means for home­own­ers and devel­op­ers, and the prac­ti­cal steps you…

1 Sept 2025

AS4000:2025 – What is all the fuss about?

What’s new in AS4000:2025 and why does it mat­ter for con­struc­tion con­tracts? After near­ly three decades, the AS4000 Gen­er­al Con­di­tions of Con­tract has been updat­ed to reflect mod­ern leg­is­la­tion, indus­try prac­tices, and clear­er draft­ing stan­dards. The 2025 edi­tion intro­duces a For­mal Instru­ment of Agree­ment, flex­i­ble dis­pute res­o­lu­tion options, and pro­vi­sions aligned…

7 July 2025

Con­struc­tion con­tract time­frames and their inter­ac­tion with the NSW Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment legislation.

Mark Glynn, Con­struc­tion Part­ner at Swaab con­sid­ers the recent deci­sion of Shar­vain Facades Pty Ltd (Admin­is­tra­tors Appoint­ed) v Roberts Co (NSW) Pty Ltd [2025] NSWSC 606TimeTime is an impor­tant aspect of the deliv­ery of a build­ing and con­struc­tion project.A suc­cess­ful project con­tract not only spec­i­fies the time with­in which the works must be car­ried…