Keep­ing you up-to-date with the lat­est legal devel­op­ments, leg­is­la­tion changes and case precedents.

Lat­est publications

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…

Impor­tant Stra­ta Law Changes — Effec­tive 1 July 2025

The Stra­ta Schemes Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Act 2025 (Amend­ing Act) intro­duces fur­ther reform in Gov­ern­men­t’s ongo­ing review of the stra­ta legislation. On 1 July 2025, the sec­ond tranche of changes under the Amend­ing Act com­menced, which will impact or give effect to the following: enhanced pro­tec­tion of own­ers cor­po­ra­tions from stra­ta man­agers, build­ing man­agers and oth­ers…

Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions / Asso­ci­a­tions now sub­ject to Unfair Con­tract Terms 

Under the new stra­ta law reforms com­menc­ing 1 July 2025 (the Stra­ta Schemes Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Act 2025 (No. 14) NSW) a key change that will impact own­ers cor­po­ra­tions and asso­ci­a­tions[1] are the unfair con­tract terms (UCT) pro­vi­sions.In line with Aus­tralian Con­sumer Law, UCT will now be banned and will apply to:con­tracts for a sup­ply of…

Unfair con­tract terms in out­dat­ed stan­dard form con­tracts could cost you a fine of $50 mil­lion (Com­pa­nies) or $2.5 mil­lion (Indi­vid­u­als)

If you have not reviewed your stan­dard form con­struc­tion con­tracts since 9 Novem­ber 2023 (when the amend­ed Com­pe­ti­tion and Con­sumer Act 2010 (Cth) – Sched­ule 2 (ACL) became effec­tive), you could be at risk of any/​all unfair con­tract terms being declared void and hav­ing to pay a penalty. This means that:Any stan­dard form con­tract…

Impor­tant Work­place Rela­tions Changes Effec­tive 1 July 2025

Employ­ers and employ­ees alike should be aware of impor­tant changes in the work­place rela­tions are­na, effec­tive 1 July 2025. From that date:the high income thresh­old for unfair dis­missal claims will increase to $183,100 per annum (from the present $175,000 per annum) and the com­pen­sa­tion lim­it will be $91,550 (equiv­a­lent to 6 months of the revised high income thresh­old amount) for dis­missals…

Cur­rent state of the con­struc­tion and infra­struc­ture market

The build­ing and con­struc­tion indus­try is sig­nif­i­cant and com­plex, with a land­scape which is con­stant­ly changing.It is cur­rent­ly char­ac­terised by: sig­nif­i­cant pub­lic invest­ment in nation­al infra­struc­ture with a $213 bil­lion pipeline over 5 years to finan­cial years 2027 – 28plan­ning approval delays par­tic­u­lar­ly in NSWhigh costs of constructioncon­tin­u­ing and increas­ing con­struc­tion relat­ed insolvenciesa chron­ic short­age of housinga…

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