Defective building work and the Home Building Act 1989 (HBA). In Hutchings v Hope [2019] NSWCATAP 59, the Appeal Panel clarified whether the two-year limitation period found in section 18E of the Home Building Act 1989 (HBA) altered the six-year limitation period for breach of contract found in section 14 (1) of the Limitation Act […]
Federal Government to review Security of Payment laws. Last year the Federal Government commissioned a review of its nationwide Security of Payment laws. The resulting “Murray Report’ made 86 recommendations including the adoption of a national framework and the extension of the laws to residential building work. Currently, it is only subcontractors working for a […]
Duty of Care and Strata Owners Corporations. The Government has said that it intends to introduce an over-arching duty of care on the part of ‘building professionals’, to be owed to Owners Corporations. The current problem is that an owners corporation is a creature of statute. It comes into existence on the registration of the […]
Department of Fair Trading and strata mediation. The mediation service offered by Fair Trading can be invaluable in resolving the most common strata disputes involving the use of common property, pets and parking. Overseen by experienced and impartial mediators, the process is free and widely available to occupiers, residents and workers in strata schemes. This […]
The Contractors Debts Act 1997 is often overlooked but, used correctly, can assist unpaid subcontractors, typically tradesmen, suppliers or labourers, when they are owed money by a builder. In these circumstances, the CDA entitles a subcontractor to leapfrog over the builder and obtain payment directly from the principal (or home-owner) who engaged the defaulting contractor. […]
Trader check, your one-stop-shop for information about trades. Trader Check is one part of the Government’s better business reforms and aims to provide consumers with a free, online ‘one-stop-shop’ of information about traders. The Better Business Reforms are scheduled to be introduced into the NSW parliament this month. Currently, consumers search multiple websites to identify […]
It has long been thought that the jurisdiction of the District Court extended to matters arising out of commercial transactions. A number of recent cases have thrown this view into doubt, raising practical, legal and logistic concerns. The jurisdiction of the District Court is limited by value and subject matter. The general grant of power […]
In the Owners—Strata Plan No 66375 v King [2018] NSWCA 170, the Court of Appeal considered a number of issues including the vexed question of liability for design defects. In allowing the Owners Corporation’s appeal against developers, the Court determined that both developers and builders will be liable for design defects in buildings where the relevant […]
Appeal Panel rules on controversy over statutory warranty limitation periods In Gregorio v Cheale [2018] NSWCATAP 118 the Appeal Panel revisited the issue of whether a seven year limitation period applied to statutory warranty claims where the contract was made before 1 February 2012 and confirmed that it does. The appeal concerned a defective works […]
High Court restricts NCAT’s powers – Burns v Corbett In Burns v Corbett [2018] HCA 15 the High Court unanimously held that NCAT does not have jurisdiction to hear matters between residents of different states, otherwise known as ‘diversity jurisdiction’ (see section 75 (iv) of the Constitution. In upholding the Court of Appeal decision the […]
