Pub­li­ca­tions

Jun 24, 2020

The NSW Con­struc­tion Indus­try – where are we at in 2020?

No-one could have antic­i­pat­ed the impact that so many unre­lat­ed, but col­lid­ing events, has had on all indus­try sec­tors through­out Aus­tralia in 2020. Whilst the long-term eco­nom­ic impact of these events on the con­struc­tion indus­try is unknown, this indus­try is one sec­tor which has been able to con­tin­ue work­ing, even…

May 15, 2020

Stra­ta Schemes Gen­er­al Meet­ings in light of COVID-19

It has just been announced that the NSW Par­lia­ment is con­sid­er­ing reforms to the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015 (SSMA) to remove the need for face-to-face meet­ings and allow own­ers cor­po­ra­tions to oper­ate elec­tron­i­cal­ly. In the mean­time, own­ers cor­po­ra­tions are still required com­ply with their oblig­a­tions to hold meet­ings in…

May 14, 2020

Is your stra­ta scheme functioning?

We recent­ly act­ed for a lot owner/​building man­ag­er in a Stra­ta Appli­ca­tion to the NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal (NCAT) suc­cess­ful­ly seek­ing orders for the removal of the exist­ing stra­ta com­mit­tee and the com­pul­so­ry appoint­ment of a stra­ta man­ag­er to the scheme under s237 of the Stra­ta Schemes Man­age­ment Act 2015 (SSMA 2015)…

May 13, 2020

COVID-19 | Con­struc­tion Works With­in Stra­ta Schemes

With the intro­duc­tion of the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment (COVID-19 Devel­op­ment – Con­struc­tion Work Days) Order 2020 on 31 March 2020 (the Order), stra­ta schemes may be faced with deci­sions to make regard­ing the con­tin­u­a­tion or com­mence­ment of build­ing works dur­ing the Gov­ern­ment imposed restric­tions and social dis­tanc­ing guidelines.  Impact of…

Apr 8, 2020

COVID-19 | The Com­mer­cial Ten­an­cies Code | 8 April 2020

In our pre­vi­ous update, we out­lined some of the mea­sures the Prime Min­is­ter intend­ed to imple­ment to pro­vide sup­port and relief for com­mer­cial ten­ants and land­lords in finan­cial dis­tress as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. On 7 April 2020, the Nation­al Cab­i­net announced a manda­to­ry code of con­duct (click here) (Com­mer­cial Ten­an­cies Code)…

Mar 31, 2020

COVID-19 | Changes to the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 | 31 March 2020

On 29 March 2020, the Hon. Josh Fry­den­berg MP, Trea­sur­er, announced changes to the way for­eign invest­ment is reviewed in Aus­tralia.The two key changes are: All mon­e­tary screen­ing thresh­olds in the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Act) have been reduced to $0 mean­ing all pro­posed for­eign invest­ment into Aus­tralia (unless…

Mar 31, 2020

COVID-19 | Prop­er­ty Updates & Alerts

COVID-19 | Changes to the For­eign Acqui­si­tions and Takeovers Act 1975 | 31 March 2020On 29 March 2020, the Hon. Josh Fry­den­berg MP, Trea­sur­er, announced changes to the way for­eign invest­ment is reviewed in Aus­tralia. View the key changes here.COVID-19 Advo­ca­cy Alert | Loan relief mea­sures for com­mer­cial land­lords | 3…

Mar 31, 2020

COVID-19 | Advo­ca­cy Alert | Loan relief mea­sures for com­mer­cial land­lords | 30 March 2020

Fur­ther to our updates on 26 March 2020 and ear­li­er today, the Prime Min­is­ter announced last night that the Nation­al Cab­i­net agreed to a mora­to­ri­um on evic­tions over the next six months for com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial ten­an­cies in finan­cial dis­tress who are unable to meet their com­mit­ments due to the impact…

Mar 30, 2020

COVID-19 | The lat­est on com­mer­cial ten­an­cies | 30 March 2020

Fur­ther to our update on 26 March 2020 regard­ing the COVID-19 Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment (Emer­gency Mea­sures) Bill 2020 (Bill), on Sun­day 29 March 2020, the Prime Min­is­ter announced that the Nation­al Cab­i­net agrees that short term inter­ven­tion is need­ed for com­mer­cial tenancies. At this stage, there is noth­ing more than a set of…

Mar 26, 2020

COVID-19 Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment (Emer­gency Mea­sures) Act 2020 (NSW) – RETAIL LEAS­ES ACT 1994 (NSW)

The COVID-19 Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment (Emer­gency Mea­sures) Bill 2020 (NSW) was passed by both Hous­es of the New South Wales Par­lia­ment on 24 March 2020, which received assent yes­ter­day (Emer­gency Mea­sures Act). Amongst oth­er things, the Emer­gency Mea­sures Act intro­duces a new Part 11 (Response to COVID-19 pan­dem­ic) into the Retail Lease…