Pub­li­ca­tions

14 Sept 2026

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When there is an emergency

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When there is an emergency McArthur v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No. 30924 [2025] NSW­CATCD 207 This case serves as a use­ful guide to own­ers cor­po­ra­tion when con­sid­er­ing access­ing a lot under sec­tion 122(3) of the…

4 Sept 2026

Decen­ni­al insur­ance for new apart­ment buildings

The New South Wales Gov­ern­ment con­tin­ues to address the lack of con­fi­dence in the build­ing indus­try, par­tic­u­lar­ly in rela­tion to stra­ta liv­ing with the recent­ly passed Fair Trad­ing and Build­ing Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Bill 2026 lay­ing the final piece of leg­isla­tive ground­work required to bring Decen­ni­al Lia­bil­i­ty Insur­ance (DLI) to the market. On…

7 Aug 2026

NSW Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 Pass­es Parliament

The Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 (the Bill) passed through Par­lia­ment on Tues­day after­noon 4 August 2026. The Bill is await­ing assent from the Gov­er­nor and will com­mence on a date set by proclamation.Much of the prac­ti­cal oper­a­tion and impli­ca­tion for those affect­ed by the pass­ing of this Bill will be…

31 July 2026

Nichol­son v Stra­ta Plan No 104042 –The Valid­i­ty of Debt Recov­ery Claus­es in By-laws

The recent NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal deci­sion in Nichol­son v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 104042 [2025] NSW­CATCD 202 pro­vides impor­tant guid­ance on the lim­its of an own­ers cor­po­ra­tion’s pow­er to pass by-laws reg­u­lat­ing short-term rental accom­mo­da­tion in the scheme. More impor­tant­ly how­ev­er the deci­sion rein­forces a broad­er prin­ci­ple which…

15 July 2026

10 year long stop on build­ing defect claims rein­forced for con­tri­bu­tion claims

The recent deci­sion in For­tius Broad­way No 1 Pty Ltd V ACN 103 211 141 Pty Ltd (for­mer­ly known as Wat­pac Con­struc­tion (NSW) Pty Ltd) [2026] NSWSC 710 (For­tius) hand­ed down on 25 June 2026 rein­forces the 10-year ​“long-stop” peri­od on claims for defec­tive build­ing work[1], includ­ing con­tri­bu­tion claims, with the Court…

6 July 2026

A High­er Evi­den­tiary Bur­den for Work Orders: The Prac­ti­cal Impli­ca­tions of The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 102171 v Ceerose Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CATCD 137

The deci­sion in The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 102171 v Ceerose Pty Ltd; Zone Q Mil­sons Point Devel­op­ment Pty Ltd v Ceerose Pty Ltd; Ceerose Pty Ltd v South­ern Cross Cli­mate Con­trol Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CATCD 137 is a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment in under­stand­ing the evi­den­tiary oblig­a­tions of an appli­cant when seek­ing a work order under…

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…

19 May 2026

SP6534 v Elkhouri; Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tion SP6534 v Per­pet­u­al Cor­po­rate Trust Ltd [2024] NSW­CA 279 (in Eq. Div) (27 Novem­ber 2024)

Back­ground and PartiesMr. Elkhouri (Elkhouri) owned Lot 11, a pent­house apart­ment in an 11 lot res­i­den­tial stra­ta scheme at Point Piper, Syd­ney. The lot occu­pied the top two lev­els of the build­ing and includ­ed bal­conies and rooftop areas that were com­mon prop­er­ty. When Elkhouri pur­chased Lot 11 in 2007, he had no exclu­sive rights…

18 May 2026

Aus­tralian Anti-Mon­ey Laun­der­ing AML/CTF Tranche 2 laws are coming

Australia’s Anti-Mon­ey Laun­der­ing and Counter-Ter­ror­ism Financ­ing (AML/CTF) Act is designed to stop ille­gal funds from enter­ing the finan­cial sys­tem. It is esti­mat­ed to be a $68 bil­lion prob­lem in Aus­tralia alone. This leg­is­la­tion aims to stop the flow of crime mon­ey and bring us in line with the rest of…

18 May 2026

Ober­to Pty Ltd v The Own­ers Stra­ta Plan No 2004 No 2 [2026] NSW­CATCD 24 & costs in Stra­ta Dis­putes – Rule 38 of Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Rules 2014

After a lot own­er was suc­cess­ful in its claim for dam­ages in an apart­ment build­ing as a result of an own­ers cor­po­ra­tion’s breach of statu­to­ry duty under sec­tion 106(1) of the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015, the Tri­bunal applied rule 38 of the Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Rules 2014 (r38) to award costs…