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.

Bruce Bentley, partner JS Mueller & Co presented recently at a Legalwise Seminar ‘Strata & Community Title Law Reform’ and Complex Group Title.’

For more information read the paper here – Strata & Community Title Law Reform and Complex Group Title

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

Short term tenancies have long posed problems for community living.  The problem most commonly arises in communities where there is a mixture of permanent residents and short term tenants.  Issues of noise, damage to common property and inappropriate behaviour are often attributed to short term tenants.  Short term tenants vary from backpackers to holidaymakers to short term workers.

Strata schemes have tried to both regulate short term tenants and prohibit short term tenancies by use of by-laws.

Effectively regulating the behaviour of short term tenants has proved difficult.  Short term tenants are exactly that, short term, and are not generally around long enough to be effectively subjected to the laborious and lengthy procedures set out in the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (“the Act”) for enforcement of by-laws.

Click below to download the presentation and full paper on Short Term Tenancies from our April 2015 seminar:

• JS Mueller & Co Forum Short Term Letting Paper_Apr15
• JS Mueller & Co Forum Short Term Letting Presentation_Apr15

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

Last week the NSW Court of Appeal delivered two victories for owners corporations and in the process clarified the operation of important areas of the strata legislation.

The two victories involved:

• Access Rights Being Confirmed – The Connaught Case
• The Right to Start Legal Action Being Confirmed – The Gazebo Apartments Case

Click here to read these strata legal cases – Owners Corporation Rights Vindicated

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

Fair Trading NSW has confirmed that the 1 December 2014 commencement date for the NSW Home Building Amendment Act 2014 has been delayed to 2015.

The amendments will commence in two stages:

Stage 1:
It is anticipated that the critical change surrounding statutory warranties will commence mid-January 2015. The critical change to the warranties will be a shift from “structural defect” (which is the current position) to a warranty which will only cover a building defect which is a “major defect”.

If the defect is categorised as a “major defect” it will enjoy a 6 year warranty otherwise any defect which is not a major defect and/or a non-major item will only have a warranty for 2 years. The new definition of “major defect” will be more restrictive than the current definition of a “structural defect”. The new amendments will have retrospective effect.

Stage 1 will also have other amendments commencing mid January 2015 and they are as follows:

1. For the first time, statutory warranties will be implied into subcontracts entered into by the principal contractor who undertakes residential building work. These changes will allow an owners corporation to enforce warranties as a successor in title against subcontractors.
2. If a defect arises due to an owners defective design or specification the builder will not be held liable for that defect.
3. Within 6 months the owner must notify the builder and the subcontractor of a defect. If the owner fails to do so such a failure may result in the reduction of any damages.
4. Owners must not unreasonably refuse access to a builder who wishes to rectify the defect.
5. Courts will be required to give priority to rectification orders as opposed to monetary orders.

Stage 2:
This stage will involve the provisions that relate to re-drafting of contracts. The contracts will have to comply with the amending legislation hence these will be dealt with in the second quarter of 2015.

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

FAST-TRACK YOUR BY-LAWS – For almost 40 years JS Mueller & Co has proudly built a reputation for providing superior strata legal services.

Our highly-skilled team of specialist strata lawyers has unparalleled knowledge and experience of the strata law that allows us to respond to your by-law requests within 7 days*.

Click here for more information – 7 Day Strata By-laws*

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

JS Mueller & Co Partner, Bruce Bentley talks Home Owner Warranty Protection NSW with Clive Robertson 2UE Radio.

To listen to the full 2UE Radio interview click here.

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.

Bruce Bentley, Partner JS Mueller & Co presented this week at the REINSW Conference 2014 on ‘Trading Within Your Strata Management Agency Agreement’. To see a copy of Bruce’s presentation please click the link below.

Click here to view the full presentation – Trading within your Strata Management Agency Agreement

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