Oceania: Real Estate and Construction

This monthly roundup examines five significant NSW Supreme Court and Court of Appeal decisions from August 2026 that clarify critical aspects of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999, including payment claim validity, procedural fairness in adjudications, and enforcement of judgment debts. The cases address contentious issues such as the 12-month limitation period for payment claims, the relevance of unpaid judgment debts in security for costs applications, and the scope of sec

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.