Will Pillar 1 fix what was broke?

Tuesday, 9 March 2021

It has been almost 7 years since the High Court in Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v Owners Corporation Strata Plan 61288 [2014] HCA 36; 254 CLR 185 held, affirming the decision of McDougall J, that a builder does not owe a duty of care to an owners corporation, as the subsequent owner of land, to avoid pure economic loss.  Since then, there has been a dramatic decrease in consumer confidence in residential apartment buildings as a result of the cladding crisis and the highly publicised failures at the Opal Tower and the Mascot Towers. As a result, in New South Wales at least, the law has changed.

The New South Wales government has sought to address these failures by adopting a “6 pillar approach”.  This CPD will discuss the first pillar, namely the regulatory framework that has been put in place via the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (and accompanying regulations) and the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act (NSW). The speakers will discuss the retrospective nature of the duty of care, its interaction with the long stop in building actions, the impact of these laws upon the relevant stakeholders and whether these laws will fix what was perceived to be broken.

Presenters:

• Laina Chan, 2 Selborne Chambers
• Robert McDougall QC, 12th Floor Selborne Chambers