Pub­li­ca­tions

Nov 5, 2025

Stra­ta Law Changes — Effec­tive 27 Octo­ber 2025

What do the lat­est NSW stra­ta law changes mean for own­ers and com­mit­tees? On 27 Octo­ber 2025, the next stage of reforms under the Stra­ta Schemes Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Act 2025 came into effect, intro­duc­ing stronger com­pli­ance pow­ers for NSW Fair Trad­ing, fair­er finan­cial hard­ship arrange­ments for levy pay­ments, and new…

Nov 5, 2025

How does statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion impact build­ing dis­putes in NSW?

How does statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion impact build­ing dis­putes in NSW? Writ­ten laws like the Home Build­ing Act, build­ing codes, and indus­try stan­dards often leave room for mul­ti­ple inter­pre­ta­tions. This arti­cle explains how courts apply statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion rules, such as the extrin­sic mate­ri­als rule under sec­tion 34 of the NSW Inter­pre­ta­tion Act…

Nov 5, 2025

Prov­ing Major Build­ing Defects Under the Home Build­ing Act

What qual­i­fies as a major defect in res­i­den­tial build­ings under NSW law? Defects can range from minor issues to seri­ous struc­tur­al prob­lems, but under­stand­ing the legal def­i­n­i­tion of a ​‘major defect’ under sec­tion 18E(4) of the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW) is crit­i­cal before mak­ing a claim. This arti­cle explains the key…

Oct 13, 2025

The risk of builder insol­ven­cy mid way through a con­struc­tion project is real (and will prob­a­bly be expensive)

What hap­pens if your builder becomes insol­vent mid-project and why is the risk so high? Builder insol­ven­cy dur­ing con­struc­tion can lead to severe delays, sky­rock­et­ing costs, and com­plex legal dis­putes. This arti­cle explores why insol­ven­cy risk is increas­ing, what it means for home­own­ers and devel­op­ers, and the prac­ti­cal steps you…

Sep 1, 2025

AS4000:2025 – What is all the fuss about?

What’s new in AS4000:2025 and why does it mat­ter for con­struc­tion con­tracts? After near­ly three decades, the AS4000 Gen­er­al Con­di­tions of Con­tract has been updat­ed to reflect mod­ern leg­is­la­tion, indus­try prac­tices, and clear­er draft­ing stan­dards. The 2025 edi­tion intro­duces a For­mal Instru­ment of Agree­ment, flex­i­ble dis­pute res­o­lu­tion options, and pro­vi­sions aligned…

Jul 7, 2025

Con­struc­tion con­tract time­frames and their inter­ac­tion with the NSW Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment legislation.

Mark Glynn, Con­struc­tion Part­ner at Swaab con­sid­ers the recent deci­sion of Shar­vain Facades Pty Ltd (Admin­is­tra­tors Appoint­ed) v Roberts Co (NSW) Pty Ltd [2025] NSWSC 606TimeTime is an impor­tant aspect of the deliv­ery of a build­ing and con­struc­tion project.A suc­cess­ful project con­tract not only spec­i­fies the time with­in which the works must be car­ried…

Jul 4, 2025

10 Tips For Stra­ta Reme­di­al Con­struc­tion Contracts

Are you won­der­ing why your stra­ta work to repair or main­tain your stra­ta build­ing is over bud­get, rid­dled with delays, plagued with costs over­runs and vari­a­tions at every turn?It is impor­tant to con­sid­er and fol­low these steps:Before ten­der­ing for the work to be done, have your build­ing con­tract, con­sul­tan­cy agree­ment and/​or sep­a­rate…

Jun 26, 2025

Unfair con­tract terms in out­dat­ed stan­dard form con­tracts could cost you a fine of $50 mil­lion (Com­pa­nies) or $2.5 mil­lion (Indi­vid­u­als)

If you have not reviewed your stan­dard form con­struc­tion con­tracts since 9 Novem­ber 2023 (when the amend­ed Com­pe­ti­tion and Con­sumer Act 2010 (Cth) – Sched­ule 2 (ACL) became effec­tive), you could be at risk of any/​all unfair con­tract terms being declared void and hav­ing to pay a penalty. This means that:Any stan­dard form con­tract…

Jun 4, 2025

Cur­rent state of the con­struc­tion and infra­struc­ture market

The build­ing and con­struc­tion indus­try is sig­nif­i­cant and com­plex, with a land­scape which is con­stant­ly changing.It is cur­rent­ly char­ac­terised by: sig­nif­i­cant pub­lic invest­ment in nation­al infra­struc­ture with a $213 bil­lion pipeline over 5 years to finan­cial years 2027 – 28plan­ning approval delays par­tic­u­lar­ly in NSWhigh costs of constructioncon­tin­u­ing and increas­ing con­struc­tion relat­ed insolvenciesa chron­ic short­age of housinga…

May 29, 2025

Q&A with Swaab's new building and construction partner, Mark Glynn

Why did you choose Swaab?When I first met with Mary Digiglio, Swaab’s man­ag­ing part­ner and Helen Kow­al, part­ner con­struc­tion and stra­ta and there­after the broad­er Swaab lead­er­ship group, I felt an imme­di­ate align­ment with their val­ues and com­mit­ment to client service.Our moral com­pass­es were aligned, and this was the most impor­tant fac­tor in my…