Owners corporations

Allowing an appeal by objecting lot owners from the Queensland Court of Appeal, the High Court held that under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), as it then stood, an adjudicator asked to override the failure of a motion requiring a resolution without dissent must decide whether the dissenting owners' opposition was unreasonable, not whether the body corporate's decision was reasonable, and that the opposition in this case was not.

High Court of Australia, 12 October 2016

Allowing an appeal by objecting lot owners from the Queensland Court of Appeal, the High Court held that under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), as it then stood, an adjudicator asked to override the failure of a motion requiring a resolution without dissent must decide whether the dissenting owners' opposition was unreasonable, not whether the body corporate's decision was reasonable, and that the opposition in this case was not.

High Court of Australia, 12 October 2016

Construing section 12(2) of the Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic), the Victorian Court of Appeal held that an implied easement must be essential, in that no alternative is feasible or reasonably available, and consistent with the reasonable use and enjoyment of the burdened property, and dismissed a body corporate's appeal over implied rights of way through a penthouse, principally to the roof.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria, 27 June 2008

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an owners corporation's appeal against the refusal to set aside consent orders settling a common property claim, holding under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) that its executive committee had authority to instruct counsel to settle and that short notice of the committee meeting did not invalidate that decision.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 21 December 2017

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed a developer's appeal by leave, holding that proceedings an owners corporation commenced without the general meeting approval required by section 80D of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) were not for that reason invalid or bound to be dismissed, Leeming JA, with whom Basten JA agreed, holding that approval must come first but that a breach engages the court's or tribunal's procedural powers to stay or dismiss, and that the breach here had been promptly cured.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 5 December 2014

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an owners corporation's appeal against the refusal to set aside consent orders settling a common property claim, holding under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) that its executive committee had authority to instruct counsel to settle and that short notice of the committee meeting did not invalidate that decision.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 21 December 2017

The New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed an owners corporation's appeal, holding under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) that the duty to renew or replace common property fixtures did not require it to enlarge a working exhaust system for one lot owner, that in the alternative its special resolution not to renew or replace the system was valid and that in any event breach of section 62 gives no action for damages for breach of statutory duty.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 22 August 2013

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an owners corporation's appeal, holding under the Strata Schemes (Freehold Development) Act 1973 (NSW), as in force in 1989, that the plan notation fixing an uncovered terrace's height did not describe its lower boundary, so that boundary was, as was conceded, the top of tiles laid before registration and the waterproof membrane under them was common property the owners corporation had to repair under section 62(1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW).

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 4 October 2007

The New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed a lot owner's appeal, in a dispute under the Strata Titles Act 1973 (NSW), from a Supreme Court judge's decision on a case stated by the Strata Titles Board, holding that the body corporate could not first argue before the judge that a wall it had conceded was common property was not, as evidence could have been called before the Board to meet the point, and remitted the matter with orders protecting the owner from its costs.

New South Wales Court of Appeal, 7 February 2003

The New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed an owners corporation's appeal, holding under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) that the duty to renew or replace common property fixtures did not require it to enlarge a working exhaust system for one lot owner, that in the alternative its special resolution not to renew or replace the system was valid and that in any event breach of section 62 gives no action for damages for breach of statutory duty.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 22 August 2013

The New South Wales Court of Appeal granted an owners corporation leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal, holding that the caretaker deed in issue, for a large strata complex, did not delegate the owners corporation's functions in breach of section 13(3) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW).

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 24 September 2003

Dismissing an appeal from VCAT on a question of law, the Supreme Court of Victoria held that a 2004 body corporate rule banning trade or business in residential lots was invalid, so far as it banned short-term letting, as beyond the rule-making power in the Subdivision (Body Corporate) Regulations 2001 (Vic), and was not saved by section 27(2C) of the Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic), registration or the transitional provisions of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic).

Supreme Court of Victoria, 22 July 2016

The New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and declared that original by-laws made under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW), as it then stood, validly authorised a resort's owners corporation to agree to pay for lot owners and their guests to use a recreation centre about 15 minutes' walk away.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 24 June 2011

Dismissing an appeal from VCAT on a question of law, the Supreme Court of Victoria held that a 2004 body corporate rule banning trade or business in residential lots was invalid, so far as it banned short-term letting, as beyond the rule-making power in the Subdivision (Body Corporate) Regulations 2001 (Vic), and was not saved by section 27(2C) of the Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic), registration or the transitional provisions of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic).

Supreme Court of Victoria, 22 July 2016

Under section 113(1)(b) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW), as it stood in 1999, a caretaker agreement by which an owners corporation incurred a debt during the initial period with nothing in its funds was impliedly prohibited but not void, and the New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed the caretaker's appeal.

New South Wales Court of Appeal, 2 March 2005

Under section 113(1)(b) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW), as it stood in 1999, a caretaker agreement by which an owners corporation incurred a debt during the initial period with nothing in its funds was impliedly prohibited but not void, and the New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed the caretaker's appeal.

New South Wales Court of Appeal, 2 March 2005

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an owners corporation's appeal, holding under the Strata Schemes (Freehold Development) Act 1973 (NSW), as in force in 1989, that the plan notation fixing an uncovered terrace's height did not describe its lower boundary, so that boundary was, as was conceded, the top of tiles laid before registration and the waterproof membrane under them was common property the owners corporation had to repair under section 62(1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW).

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 4 October 2007

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed an owners corporation's appeal, holding that it owed licence fees for car spaces for as long as its 1999 deed with a council that owned them remained in operation, that a roller door it kept on common property after the licence ended was a nuisance, given the council's right of reasonable access to those spaces, and that its electricity cross-claim was out of time under the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW).

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 28 August 2025

The New South Wales Court of Appeal allowed a lot owner's appeal, in a dispute under the Strata Titles Act 1973 (NSW), from a Supreme Court judge's decision on a case stated by the Strata Titles Board, holding that the body corporate could not first argue before the judge that a wall it had conceded was common property was not, as evidence could have been called before the Board to meet the point, and remitted the matter with orders protecting the owner from its costs.

New South Wales Court of Appeal, 7 February 2003

The New South Wales Court of Appeal dismissed a developer's appeal by leave, holding that proceedings an owners corporation commenced without the general meeting approval required by section 80D of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) were not for that reason invalid or bound to be dismissed, Leeming JA, with whom Basten JA agreed, holding that approval must come first but that a breach engages the court's or tribunal's procedural powers to stay or dismiss, and that the breach here had been promptly cured.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 5 December 2014

The Court of Appeal of Victoria, answering questions in a special case referred by the County Court, held that section 137F(1) of the Building Act 1993 (Vic) requires a payment to a lot owner for the State to be subrogated to that lot owner's rights, and that a November 2020 payment of cladding rectification assistance to an owners corporation acting both for itself and for the lot owners is such a payment. On the agreed and assumed facts, the State was subrogated to the rights of the owners corporation and the individual lot owners.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria, 11 April 2025

The Court of Appeal held that, under section 134 of the Building Act 1993 (Vic), where cumulative occupancy permits are issued in stages, time for a building action runs from the first permit issued in respect of the defective building work, not from a final permit.

Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria, 8 June 2022