Pub­li­ca­tions

14 Sept 2026

Land­lords Beware: New Tobac­co Laws Could Mean Heavy Fines and Even Gaol Time

How Do New Tobac­co Laws Affect Land­lords in NSW?This year the NSW State Gov­ern­ment is crack­ing down on the sale of illic­it tobac­co and vapes, tar­get­ing not only those sell­ing these prod­ucts, but also the land­lords turn­ing a blind eye to their ten­an­t’s actions. Plau­si­ble deni­a­bil­i­ty is now no longer a valid defence…

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…

7 Sept 2026

A Short Sto­ry about Bullying

In the recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion deci­sion of Appli­ca­tion by Gary Whitham [2026] FWC 3322, Deputy Pres­i­dent Col­man gave short shrift to an appli­ca­tion brought for an order to stop bullying, In fact, it was very short shrift; the entire judg­ment of two para­graphs is set out below:[1] Gary Whitham made an appli­ca­tion under…

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…

11 Aug 2026

More AI Slop in the Fair Work Juris­dic­tion: The Fight Back

In two recent cas­es both the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) and Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia (FCF­CoA) have fought back against the indis­crim­i­nate and mis­guid­ed use of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) by applicants.Ba v Ster­ling Parts Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2026] FedCFamC2G 1245In Ba v Ster­ling Parts Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2026] FedCFamC2G 1245, Judge Symons of…

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…

3 Aug 2026

AI Slop v Fair Work Com­mis­sion: The Scourge Continues

For all the talk of how extra­or­di­nary and trans­for­ma­tive arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) can sup­pos­ed­ly be, it con­tin­ues to be a scourge for the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC). In the recent FWC case of Emmanuel Tis­chler v Ava­da Traf­fic Pty Ltd [2026] FWCFB 174, the Full Bench con­sid­ered an appeal in an unfair dis­missal…

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…

20 July 2026

Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026

The Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026 (NSW) (the Amend­ment Act) was assent­ed on 29 June 2026. The Amend­ment Act amends the Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW) (the PSA), which seeks to impose new pro­ce­dur­al require­ments, and oblig­a­tions on real estate agents. Notably it…

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…