Australia: Construction & Planning

The Court of Appeal of the NSW Supreme Court has found that emailing a link to documents stored in an online repository did not constitute valid service under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA), and that strict compliance with the Act’s one-business-day service requirement was necessary to establish jurisdiction.

The New South Wales Government has introduced Decennial Liability Insurance (DLI), a groundbreaking 10-year no-fault insurance policy for new apartment buildings that guarantees protection against serious defects even if developers or builders become insolvent. This legislative reform, passed through the Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, fundamentally changes how apartment owners are protected from structural failures and serious defects.

Easements present significant challenges in property development, from securing third-party consent for infrastructure connections to navigating strict statutory requirements under Queensland's Planning and Building Acts. Understanding when easement holder consent is mandatory, what legal remedies exist when landowners refuse cooperation, and how approval conditions requiring new easements can create project uncertainty is essential for developers navigating these complex property rights.

The NSW Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 has passed both houses and received assent, introducing significant reforms to building regulation and insurance requirements. Key changes include expanded coverage for Decennial Liability Insurance, enhanced powers for NSW Fair Trading and the Building Commission, and modifications to professional indemnity insurance exemptions for building practitioners. While some provisions take immediate effect, major reforms including the DLI expansion

Significant changes are on the horizon for NSW’s building and construction industry, reshaping prefabricated construction, building approvals, design variations and regulatory accountability.

Victoria's planning enforcement regime has undergone significant transformation following the 2016 Corkman Irish Pub demolition scandal. The new legislative framework introduces unprecedented powers for courts and authorities, including commercial benefit orders, industry exclusion provisions, and civil penalties with lower burdens of proof. These reforms fundamentally reshape how planning violations are prosecuted and penalized across the state.

Bartier Perry recently acted for homeowners in two separate cases in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal). In both matters the homeowners were successful, demonstrating that builders who perform residential building works and fail to comply with the statutory warranties pursuant to section 18B of the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) (the HBA) could face significant financial liability.

Renovating within a strata scheme is rarely just a matter between a lot owner and their builder or contractor. Even works carried out entirely within a lot can affect common property – sometimes in ways that are not immediately apparent. For this reason, the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA) establishes a structured approval regime designed to balance a lot owner’s right to renovate with the Owners Corporation’s responsibility to protect other lots, the common property, and the scheme as a whole.

In the ever-evolving landscape of the building and construction industry, legal practitioners and expert witnesses must remain vigilant to the nuances of expert evidence admissibility. The recent case of Max Build Pty Ltd v Owners - Strata Plan No 54026 highlights the importance of an expert’s qualifications, the reliability of expert reports, the requirements of admissible expert opinion evidence, and the role of legal practitioners in shaping expert evidence.