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On 15 January 2020, the Appeal Panel of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“NCAT”) published a joint decision in two cases: The Owners—Strata Plan No 74835 v Pullicin (“Pullicin”); and The Owners—Strata Plan No 80412 v Vickery [2020] NSWCATAP 5 (“Vickery”).

In Tan v The Owners - Strata Plan No 22014 (No 2) [2015] the Supreme Court opened the door to lot owners taking derivative actions on behalf of owners corporations. In this case note we analyse the reasoning of the Court that entitled the lot owner in that case to take such action and be indemnified for their costs in doing so.

The Owners - Strata Plan 74602 v Brookfield Australia Investments Limited [2015] NSWSC 1916 illustrates a number of the evidentiary and legal challenges faced by owners corporations in heavily contested Supreme Court defect litigation. In his decision, His Honour Justice Stevenson provides further guidance from the Supreme Court with respect to the statutory and case law landscape in residential building defect litigation.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales has determined that a Council taking on the roll as the PCA in respect of a residential building owed and breached a duty of care to a subsequent purchaser. The decision may be of particular significance to owners in circumstances where they are out of time to pursue other parties or cannot do so for other reasons such as the death, disappearance of insolvency of the original builder.

A number of key amendments to the home building laws in New South Wales have now come into operation. The amendments have wide ranging implications impacting on licencing, defect litigation and home warranty insurance. A number of considerations that arise from the amendments are discussed in this article.