Pub­li­ca­tions

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…

25 Mar 2026

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 your project risk and to ensure your project is com­plet­ed on time and with­in bud­get. Your RFT defines the rules of the game (ten­der process) and the final des­ti­na­tion (the…

24 Mar 2026

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 1 April 2026. This forms part of a broad­er reg­u­la­to­ry over­haul aimed at strength­en­ing con­sumer pro­tec­tion, tight­en­ing com­pli­ance stan­dards and improv­ing account­abil­i­ty across build­ing and real estate indus­tries. The objec­tive is to reduce…

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…

12 Mar 2026

Where is my mind? The rise of con­tentious pro­bate pro­ceed­ings sur­round­ing the issue of tes­ta­men­tary capacity

In New South Wales, fam­i­ly pro­vi­sion and con­tentious pro­bate claims under the Suc­ces­sion Act 2006 (NSW) are increas­ing­ly focused on whether a will was made with valid tes­ta­men­tary capac­i­ty. With an age­ing pop­u­la­tion and ris­ing dis­putes, courts con­tin­ue to apply the long­stand­ing Banks v Good­fel­low test to deter­mine the valid­i­ty of wills…

9 Mar 2026

Kyle and Jack­ie O: The Work­place Rela­tions Law Perspective

The rela­tion­ship between show­busi­ness duos often comes to an acri­mo­nious end. Mar­tin and Lewis split at the height of their fame, with a brief rap­proche­ment bro­kered by Frank Sina­tra after 20 years in which they did not speak to each oth­er. Simon and Gar­funkel have had a frac­tious alliance, even split­ting a first time…

9 Feb 2026

The Paper­cut Deci­sion and the Cur­rent Posi­tion on WFH

The FWC’s John­son v Paper­Cut Soft­ware deci­sion has renewed debate about the lim­its of work­ing from home rights. While some have com­pared it to Chan­dler v West­pac, the cas­es high­light that WFH out­comes depend on indi­vid­ual cir­cum­stances, con­tract terms and employ­er poli­cies. The rul­ing under­scores that no sin­gle case estab­lish­es a uni­ver­sal right…

6 Feb 2026

Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2026 Edition)

Valentine’s Day may appear harm­less, but in work­places it can cre­ate legal and cul­tur­al risks. Even well‑meant roman­tic ges­tures can be unwel­come and poten­tial­ly con­sti­tute sex­u­al harass­ment or con­tribute to a hos­tile envi­ron­ment under the Sex Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act. With employ­ers now car­ry­ing pos­i­tive duties to pre­vent such con­duct, the tra­di­tions of…

12 Jan 2026

Aus­tralia Day Sub­sti­tu­tion: The Legal Issues (2026 Edition)

As more major employ­ers allow staff to work on Aus­tralia Day and take the pub­lic hol­i­day lat­er, impor­tant legal ques­tions arise. With grow­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty and shift­ing views on 26 Jan­u­ary, employ­ers must under­stand the rules around sub­sti­tut­ing pub­lic hol­i­days, ensur­ing gen­uine employ­ee con­sent, and avoid­ing any per­cep­tion of undue influence.It has…

17 Dec 2025

Aqua­land North Syd­ney Laven­der Devel­op­ment Pty Ltd v The Own­ers — Stra­ta Plan No 102091 [2025] NSW­CA 143

A recent NSW Court of Appeal deci­sion gives Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions greater con­fi­dence in defect lit­i­ga­tion, ensur­ing devel­op­ers using SPV struc­tures can­not eas­i­ly avoid liability.An impor­tant deci­sion hand­ed by the NSW Court of Appeal in July has giv­en Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions engag­ing in defect lit­i­ga­tion against devel­op­ers util­is­ing a typ­i­cal spe­cial pur­pose vehi­cle cor­po­rate…