JS Mueller & Co Partner, Bruce Bentley, comments on ‘Sunset Clawbacks’ in the Sydney Morning Herald Domain.

Top strata lawyers have called for NSW property protections to be brought into line with other Australian states after it was discovered that the owners of seven apartments in a single new block sold off the plan had been victims of “sunset clawbacks”.

Click here to read the full article – Top Lawyers Call for Changes to Sunset Clawbacks

About JS Mueller & Co

JS Mueller & Co has been servicing the strata industry across NSW for almost 40 years. We are a specialist firm of strata lawyers with in depth and unmatched experience in, and comprehensive knowledge of strata law and levy collection. We are there to assist you every step of the way.

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

JS Mueller & Co Headquarters
Level 1, 240 Princes Highway
Arncliffe Sydney Australia 2205
www.muellers.com.au

Media inquiries: Contact Julie Schoneveld on 02 9562 1266 or 0435 939 491

Senior Lawyer, Adrian Mueller reminisces…

“In 1980 my parents took me to the Gold Coast for a holiday. It was my first adventure in Queensland. I was 2 years old. We stayed at the (in)famous Iluka hotel.

The Iluka was built in the 1970’s. It was an iconic building – one of the Gold Coast’s first high rises. It had 72 luxury apartments and was a stone’s throw from Cavill Avenue.

It held fond memories for me and, I imagine, many families who enjoyed wonderful times together at the Iluka.

You can imagine my horror when I recently discovered that the Iluka has been demolished. Why? Because of concrete cancer.

You see the owner of the building was faced with a dilemma. Repair the concrete spalling which had been left untreated for decades at exorbitant cost or demolish the building. The owner chose to demolish.

A leading architect Professor Holden, Head of Architecture at the Griffith University in Qld, has said that high rises built in the 1970’s have an average lifespan of 40 years.

That is a sobering thought for apartment owners many of whom cannot afford special levies to repair widespread concrete spalling.

So what is the solution? For some buildings, it may simply be too late. The Iluka is a case in point.

For other buildings, the key is preventative maintenance. As unpalatable as it might be, apartment owners need to realise that spending a little to detect and treat concrete spalling at an early stage saves money in the long run.”

Adrian Mueller also acknowledges that the challenge for strata managers and other stakeholders is to convince owners to invest in proactive maintenance to protect their investment by spending a little in the short term to save big money down the track.

Says  Adrian “Convincing owners to spend now to save later is no mean feat. But it is achievable. And doing so can avoid potential disasters.

I will miss the Iluka.”

Adrian specialises in strata law and those areas of the law that particularly deal with building defects.

“An apartment is someone’s home and most valuable asset. That is something worth protecting and knowing where you stand is vital” says Adrian.

For more information on concrete cancer, visit the following websites – Concrete Cancer or Remedia Structural Repairs

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

Short term lettings might void strata insurance policies leaving no cover for property damage caused to strata apartments and common property by unruly tennants.

This issue came to the fore again last month when a Canadian couple returned to their property to discover it had been wrecked by visitors who had booked the property via the popular Airbnb site.

Unfortunately, short term lettings of strata units are becoming a major contributor to building disharmony with the current law not providing effective solutions.

At JS Mueller & Co we believe each building is different and that the problem of short term lettings can only be dealt with properly by way of specific by-laws giving owners corporations greater powers to deal with the problem.

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

Cantonese speaking, JS Mueller & Co Lawyer, Clifford To, talks Strata Law with SBS Cantonese Radio, nation-wide.

If you understand Cantonese and/or have Chinese Cantonese speaking clients listen to the full radio interview here – Chinese Property Owners in Australia

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

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About JS Mueller & Co

JS Mueller & Co has been servicing the strata industry across NSW for almost 40 years. We are a specialist firm of strata lawyers with in depth and unmatched experience in, and comprehensive knowledge of strata law and levy collection. We are there to assist you every step of the way.

JS Mueller & Co Headquarters
Level 1, 240 Princes Highway
Arncliffe Sydney Australia 2205
www.muellers.com.au

Media inquiries: Contact Julie Schoneveld on 02 9562 1266 or 0435 939 491

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.

Did you know that if your strata scheme has building defects your rights to compensation are subject to strict legal time limits?

If your building is less than 7 years old we can help you navigate through the maze of defect, warranty and insurance claims.

We can provide you with comprehensive advice setting out all of your options for getting the defects fixed or recovering the cost of repairs. We can advise you:

• Who to claim from?
• How to go about it?
• The time limits within which you must act

Miss the time limits – lose your rights!

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.

• 11 Days until 1 December 2014!
• Do not get caught out!
• The time to act is now!
• Have your buildings inspected by a building consultant to check for defects!
• Avoid losing your rights to make a building defect claim!

1 December 2014 the home building legislation in NSW will change. The changes to the legislation may mean that some owners corporations will lose all of their rights to make claims for building defects.

• 34 Days until 1 December 2014!
• Do not get caught out!
• The time to act is now!
• Have your buildings inspected by a building consultant to check for defects!
• Avoid losing your rights to make a building defect claim!

At JS Mueller & Co we work with a number of reputable building consultants and engineers. We can organise a building inspection for any building that you manage to check for defects before the 1 December deadline.

But you must act quickly otherwise you may run out of time.

If you would like to discuss the changes to the NSW home building legislation or have JS Mueller & Co organise a building inspection, please contact us now on the details below.

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

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.