In January 2020, the NSW Government announced its legislative strategy to restore public confidence in the building sector by 2025. The next phase has now commenced with the introduction of four proposed changes to the legislative framework. The proposed bills and regulations are open for public consultation and will be introduced in NSW Parliament in […]
Boulus Constructions Pty Ltd v Warrumbungle Shire Council (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1368 When the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (DBP Act) came into effect, section 37 imposed a new duty on building practitioners and persons who carry out construction work to exercise reasonable care to avoid economic loss to building owners, including […]
Soft Technology JR Limited v Jones Lang Lasalle Limited [2022] NZCA 353 Weber v Hastings District Council [2022] NZHC 1405 The New Zealand courts have recently had their say on two significant aspects of the law relating to real estate agents. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Soft Technology JR Limited v Jones Lang Lasalle […]
With construction industry participants seeing an increase in costs, rise and fall clauses have been floated as a solution for easing current cost pressures. Essentially, a rise and fall clause in a construction contract shifts key project pricing risks from the contractor to the principal. In this update, W+K’s Construction PI specialists Aaron Bolton, Robert […]
In the wake of the High Court’s landmark decision in Voller, social media platform providers and their insurers are still awaiting clarity on the defamation issues raised in the case. The Voller decision confirmed that Facebook page operators were liable as ‘publishers’ for defamatory third-party comments left on their social media posts. However, the defence […]
Following the recent decision in Goodwin, the Supreme Court of NSW has handed down another decision that considers the scope of the duty arising under the DBPA and to whom it is owed. In Pafburn, the court established the duty is prima facie owed by those who are able to control how the construction work […]
On 19 May 2022, the Supreme Court of NSW handed down the first substantive decision on the application of the statutory duty of care introduced by Part 4 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) in June 2020. The effect of this judgment is that, arguably, the statutory duty of care extends to […]
The ABCB has issued an Implementation Report and model guidance documents that address most of the recommendations contained in the 2018 Building Confidence Report. These developments are the latest in an ongoing effort to address building defects and failures Australia-wide. While significant consumer and industry benefits associated with consistent adoption of the model guidance have […]
The past year in the construction industry has been punctuated by a collection of legislative reforms, pandemic responses and technology advances. It’s also been a challenging time in which the industry has been dealing with the continued fallout from market-shaping events, such as the Lacrosse and Grenfell Tower fires, and heightened rates of insolvency. Against […]
On 21 March, the Treasury released a consultation paper about the regulation of secondary service providers of cryptocurrency assets (CSSPs). The consultation paper highlights the current ‘patchwork’ nature of regulation of crypto assets, noting that some crypto assets may already be subject to the existing Australian Financial Services (AFS) or consumer law frameworks. The paper […]
