How are most strata disputes resolved? What is the difference between strata mediation and strata adjudication? How long does the process take? How much does it cost?

The NSW Government wants most strata disputes to be resolved quickly, cheaply, and out of court. For this reason an entire Chapter of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (“Strata Act”) outlines, in considerable detail, a process for resolving most types of strata disputes.

This process typically involves, first, strata mediation, followed by strata adjudication, and then an appeal to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Click below to download the presentation and full paper on Strata Adjudications and NCAT from our April 2015 seminar:

• JS Mueller & Co Forum Strata Adjudications and NCAT Paper_Apr15
• JS Mueller & Co Forum Strata Adjudications and NCAT Presentation_Apr15

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

From the entire JS Mueller & Co team we wish you a Safe and Happy Festive Season!

We are taking a short break from the 23rd December 2014 and returning on the 12th January 2015.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266 and leave a message and we will get back to you on our return.

Today, 8 October 2014, the High Court of Australia in the case of Brookfield Multiplex Limited –v- Owners Corporation Strata Plan 61288 & Anor [2014] HCA36 unanimously allowed an appeal by Brookfield Multiplex Limited from a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of NSW holding that Brookfield, the builder of a strata title apartment complex, did not owe a duty of care to the owners corporation of the complex to avoid causing financial loss resulting from latent defects in the common property.

The judgment of the High Court now confirms once and for all that generally the only claim available to an owners corporation for building defects is a claim for breach of statutory warranties under the NSW Home Building Act 1989.

Prior to this High Court decision, owners corporations were entitled to sue for breach of statutory warranties under the Home Building Act and also for breach of duty of care, i.e. in negligence at law.

Unfortunately, the High Court has now held that in general an owners corporation can only sue for breach of statutory warranties, but cannot sue a builder in negligence for a breach of duty of care because the builder does not owe a duty of care to the owners corporation.

For further commentary on this recent judgment of the High Court of Australia please view the following links:

1. Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v Owners Corporation Strata Plan 61288 & ANOR
2. Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v Owners Corporation Strata Plan 61288 [2014] HCA 36 (8 October 2014)

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Strata manager Rachael Kwawegen sentenced to 15 months in prison

A Sydney strata manager who stole more than $1 million from the apartment and business owners whose buildings she looked after has been sentenced 15 months in prison.

Please click here to read the full article – Strata Manager Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Disputes between neighbours take many forms. This paper will consider the law relating to some of the most common and challenging types of neighbourhood disputes that affect owners corporations and strata managers. These are: disputes about access to neighbouring lands; hazards such as collapsing retaining walls, landslips and rock falls; dividing fences and tree disputes.

In modern cities, neighbourhood disputes involving strata schemes are commonplace. And these disputes are likely to increase as the drive towards urban consolidation literally pushes neighbours closer together and into greater conflict.

It is therefore important that participants in strata schemes, from owners corporations to strata managers, have a basic understanding of the most common types of disputes and the laws applicable to them.

Click here to download the full paper – Neighbourhood_Disputes

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Does an owners corporation have to approve development applications and renovations?

Strata buildings are becoming older. This has given rise to an increasing number of renovations that are carried out in strata buildings. This, in turn, has resulted in more owners corporations and strata managers being asked to approve development applications, and building works associated with renovations.

Often requests for development applications or building works to be approved are made urgently and owners corporations and strata managers are threatened with legal action if approval is not given promptly. But does an owners corporation have to approve a development application or allow an owner to renovate his or her unit?

What happens if the owners corporation refuses to approve a development application or permit renovations? Can the owners corporation’s decision be overturned? If so, how? This paper will provide the answers to these questions.

Click here for the full paper – Strata Applications and Renovations

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

How are most strata disputes resolved?

What is the difference between strata mediation and strata adjudication?

How long does the process take?

How much does it cost?

To view the full article please click here –  Strata Dispute Resolution Explained

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Should anyone who turns up to a strata meeting with a gun in their pocket be banned from ever living in a community scheme?

For those of us who have been involved in strata for a while, it’s only a matter of time when a strata meeting will turn ugly.

You’re usually dealing with some very volatile elements in any given strata scheme – it’s about people’s rights and responsibilities. There are people for whom the right to do what they want in the home that they own, goes without saying – which is rarely the right fit with a lifestyle that depends on a sense of community such as strata living.

Logic and reason can be quickly forgotten as recently seen in the news where an elderly Sydney man was involved in the shooting of his building manager during a bitter strata meeting.

Click here to view the full media article.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

There are two schools of thought surrounding the apparent ‘surge’ in Chinese interest in the Australian property market.

One is that the Chinese are ‘only interested in newly built properties and buildings’; the other, that this is not necessarily the case, and the Chinese are actually equally interested in land, or existing homes which they can renovate or knock down.

Whichever trend the current data leans towards, the fact is that Australia is now among the most popular property investment destinations for the Chinese, who are reported to have spent almost $6 billion in Australia’s real estate market last financial year. The driving force behind this sudden influx of foreign investment appears to be due to China’s own financial policies forcing the financially wealthy to seek better returns outside their homeland, making them the fastest growing international property buyers in both the global and Australian real estate markets.

Their interest seems to be sparking strong surges within the Australian property market and, as a result, pushing prices up in Australian capital cities − particularly Sydney and Melbourne. Incomes of the average Australian workers aren’t keeping up with the price rises, which is leaving the market open for an increasing number of wealthy overseas investors.

While Chinese buyers have been active in the Australian property market for some time, it has been during the last twelve months their investment activity has been more pronounced.

Many of these buyers have friends or relatives in Australia to bid for them, but there is no requirement for foreign investors to reside in Australia themselves, subject to the relevant provisions in the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth). This means multitudes of overseas buyers fly into Australia to inspect and buy properties they simply found on the internet.

However, purchasing investment properties in this manner poses significant problems for many of the investors, as the legal requirements surrounding foreign investment in Australia differ greatly from those affecting the domestic investment industry. Building regulations, strata laws, contracts, monetary exchanges and tenancy laws within the Australian property market can be areas fraught with challenges for the Chinese investors, as well as Australian vendors, and it is an area of law that requires specialist knowledge and experience.

“Australian property laws operate very differently to Chinese law. There are many traps for unwary Chinese investors, says strata lawyer, Clifford To.”

With over eight years’ experience in property development, town planning and administrative law, Cantonese-speaking Clifford forms part of the expert team at JS Mueller & Co and is an expert in helping Chinese investors navigate the legal minefield of property investment in Australia.

Chinese investors need to understand the way Australian property laws impact on them. Not having a proper understanding of the law can have disastrous consequences, Clifford says. ”

With a reported, 90 million Chinese searching for investment property online every month, and more than half of them purchased their properties with cash, the impact on the Australia economy is expected to be significant.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.