Property Law Conference 2023
Across the latest developments in property law? With unfair contract terms (UCTs) becoming illegal and significant penalties for breach applying from November 2023, you can’t afford to miss this roundup of the latest and greatest issues across the core areas. Unveil the latest knowledge, tips, and traps across strata, planning and environment, AI in property transactions, building defect disputes, contract defaults, IPSO facto and much more. 2311N04
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
6 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on NSW legislation
Session 1
Unveiling Property Law Updates: AI, Strata, Planning & More
Chair: Robert Schneider, Consultant, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers
THE FUTURE OF PROPERTY LAW: EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND INSIGHTS
Professional Skills
9.00am to 9:30am The Impact of Technology and AI in Property Practice and Transactions
- Consider the risks of AI in conveyancing
- Explore the positives in AI conveyancing
- Examine other technologies in conveyancing
Presented by Rani Gandha, Partner, Turnbull Hill Lawyers
9.30am to 10.00am Property Market Snapshot: The Insights You Need to Know
- Insights into current market conditions for the Sydney property market
- The latest economic indicators and trends
- Analysis of the current market, possible trends to come, and the potential impact for lawyers and property professionals
Presented by Sean Ellison, National Economics & Forecasting Manager, Cushman & Wakefield
10.00am to 11.00am Strata: Updates and Latest Cases
Presented by Ian McKnight, Special Counsel, Pobi Lawyers
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm Year in Review: Critical Property Law Cases in 2023
Legal decisions affecting property law can change best practice, or give an advantage, and quickly.
- Consider several important 2023 property law cases focusing on decisions with relevance to day-to-day practice and avoiding issues which might otherwise prove problematic
- Examine decisions relevant to conveyancing, leasing, and easements cases
Presented by Bede Haines, Barrister, University Chambers
12.15pm to 1.15pm Planning and Environment Law Update for Property Lawyers
Receive an update on Federal and State case law concerning environmental and planning matters and consider the impact on your property law practice.
Prepared by Mark Seymour SC, Barrister, Martin Place Chambers
Presented by Bianca Gallifuoco, Barrister, Level 22 Chambers
Session 2
Managing Building Defects and Contractual Dispute Risk
Chair: Michael Osborne, Principal, Osbornes Lawyer; Accredited Specialist in Property Law
2.00pm to 2.45pm New Unfair Contract Terms Regime and Off the Plan Sale Contracts
From 9 November 2023 unfair contract terms (UCTs) will be illegal and a breach may attract significant penalties. The ACCC and ASIC will prioritise enforcement, potentially including against property developers entering into standard form contracts, selling properties off the plan (OTP). Examine:
- To whom does the regime apply?
- What are the penalties and other consequences of a breach?
- What is a standard form contract?
- When is a UCT "unfair"? What are examples?
- How to prepare for the changes
Presented by Brendan Maier, Partner, Colin Biggers & Paisley; Councillor, Urban Development Industry of Australia (NSW)
2.45pm to 3.30pm Real Property Contract Defaults
- Which contracts?
- Promissory and non-promissory contractual terms
- Typical defaults
- Defaults which justify termination
- Terminating Contracts for Sale
- Terminating Leases
- Recovering Damages
Presented by Maria Tsakirios, Special Counsel, MinterEllison
3.30pm to 3.45pm Afternoon Tea
3.45pm to 4.30pm Ipso Facto and the Impacts on Real Property
- Ipso facto clauses and how they arise in the real property context
- When ipso facto clauses will/will not be enforceable
- Consequences where agreements are assigned, novated, varied, or renewed
- The exceptions for project finance, securities and financial products
Presented by Nick Christiansen, Partner, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
4.30pm to 5.15pm Managing Building Defects and the Impact on Property Development
- Recent cases, including the continuing impact of Mascot and Opal Towers
- Regulatory update: the latest developments in the legal framework
- Managing both the legal and commercial issues involved in building defects and cladding
- Due diligence: what vendors, purchasers and third-parties need to examine
Presented by Sarah Melville, Senior Associate, Baker McKenzie and Holly Scott, Senior Associate, Baker McKenzie
Presenters
Robert Schneider
Robert has extensive experience acting and advising in commercial disputes and specialises in retail and commercial lease disputes and other property related litigation. Robert has assisted a broad range of clients in the property industry, including owners of shopping centres, owners of other retail properties, owners of commercial properties, large retail and commercial tenants and property developers and investors. Robert regularly chairs and has previously presented at external seminars on commercial and retail leases and other property related seminars. Robert has been listed in Best LawyersTM Australia for Alternative Dispute Resolution in the 2020 and 2021 editions as well as the 2022 and 2023 editions.
Rani Gandha
Rani Gandha is the Partner in charge of the Business, Commercial and Property team at Turnbull Hill Lawyers. She acts in a wide range of property work, including acting for buyers and sellers of residential and commercial property and for lenders and borrowers in respect of residential mortgage matters. She has extensive expertise in dealing with all types of real property, including Old System, Torrens Title, Qualified Title and Strata Title. Rani also acts for clients in respect of resumptions of property by Transport for NSW, creating easements by way of Transfer and acts for land developers in respect of subdivisions. She advises clients on commercial and retail property leasing matters including negotiation and preparation of leasing documents and assists clients in a wide range of business issues. Dedicated to ensuring her clients’ interests are adequately protected, Rani users her experience to understand their goals and objectives and gives them realistic and practical advice. Rani also has a keen interest in and practises in Estate Planning (including tax effective Wills and associated documents).
Sean Ellison
Sean Ellison is Cushman and Wakefield’s National Economics & Forecasting Manager for Australia, working out of the Sydney office. He is responsible for modelling and forecasting the performance of various asset classes, providing economic commentary, and contributing to broader thought leadership output. Sean has more than a decade of experience in the property and financial services sectors in Asia and Australia. Prior to joining Cushman and Wakefield, Sean was a Senior Economist with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Singapore and Sydney, responsible for producing RICS’s research output. Prior to this Sean worked as a strategist in the Hong Kong and Singapore financial services industries, where he advised global institutional investors on strategies for Asian equity, foreign exchange, fixed income, commodity and derivative markets. Sean also modelled and maintained forecasts across asset classes and provided a top-down analysis of major economic events. He did his undergraduate work at Brock University in Canada, and graduate school at the City University of Hong Kong as well as Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Ian McKnight
Ian McKnight is a Practice Group leader and widely regarded as a doyen of strata law in New South Wales. His standing has been earned over the course of a 43 year career bestriding property law and strata management. Unique amongst property lawyers, Ian is a genuine specialist. Strata and community title law is not a part time pursuit, it forms the core of his day-to-day legal practice. He brings firsthand experience of the strata challenges to his advice from his time as a director of a corporate strata management firm. A sought after keynote speaker, Ian provides regular education sessions to the Real Estate Institute of Australia and on occasion to Strata Community Australia. He publishes widely on the subject of strata law. Ian counts among his clients strata managing agents, owners corporations, developers, building managers, property professionals, real estate investors and regulators.
David Knoll AM
David Knoll AM is a barrister at 9 Selborne Chambers in Sydney. He was admitted to the Bar in 1998, having been admitted to practice as a solicitor in 1984. He has substantial experience over a broad spectrum of legal areas, including banking and insolvency, commercial transactions, property disputes, professional negligence, and partnerships and corporations law. Regularly briefed to appear and to advise in a wide range of strata title and community association disputes, David’s expertise in these areas has been widely recognised. He is a Fellow of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers, and Editor of Strata Laws NSW.
Bianca Gallifuoco
Bianca accepts briefs to advise and appear in all areas of law, and has specialised experienced in environment and planning law, regulatory law, and administrative law. Prior to coming to the bar, Bianca worked as a senior legal officer in the litigation team at the Department of Planning and Environment. During her time as a solicitor, Bianca worked in litigation, advice and mediation roles. She has experience in civil and criminal litigation in the Local Court, Land and Environment Court, NCAT and the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. Bianca also has experience working in performing arts and media.
Bede Haines
Bede Haines undertakes a diverse range of work including litigating and advising on property disputes, contractual disputes, trade practices and insolvency matters. His experience includes: representing and advising in respect of property disputes including over sale of land contracts, leases, easements, options, service of notices, contracts and property rights; advising property developers, superannuation funds, corporate trustees, large landholders and significant investors in respect of property rights and property disputes; developing strategy in respect of termination of contracts and bespoke contractual clauses to deal with matters which otherwise may often give rise to litigation; conducting a litigation in the Supreme Court, Federal Court, High Court and other courts and tribunals; providing advice in respect of trade practices issues, insolvency issues and debt issues including debt recovery. QUALIFICATIONS include: Bachelor of Arts - University of Sydney; Bachelor of Laws - University of New South Wales. PUBLICATIONS includes: Is it repudiatory for a vendor to erroneously claim interest after issuing a notice to complete, Lexology, August 2017; Deposits and sale of land - take care when increasing deposits under deeds of variation Lexology, July 2017; 'Incentive deeds and contractual penalties', Australian Law Journal, February 2015 'Consents to act and trustee appointments: considering the scope of section 156A(3) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966' Australian Insolvency Journal, 2013 'Strata Management Statements', Australian Law Journal, June/July 2012 'Pre Litigation Protocols', Inhouse Counsel, August 2011; 'Azaleas and the Law', Australian Law Journal, October 2009 'A New Way to Transfer Insurance Business', Insurance Law Bulletin, 2009.
Michael Osborne
Michael Osborne is the principal of Osbornes Lawyers and has been in private practice for nearly 30 years. Osbornes Lawyers is a speciality legal practice focusing on commercial and business law, with particular expertise in real property. Michael is an accredited property specialist, chair of the Advisory Committee for the Law Society of New South Wales for the specialist accreditation scheme in property, a member of the Property Committee of the Law Society. Michael has extensive practical experience in most aspects of property law, including options, sales, acquisitions, strata and community title, and commercial and retail leasing. He particularly specialises in property development - structuring and documenting the acquisition and sale of the site and the associated work: joint venture or shareholder agreements, building contracts, development management agreements, financing and security, leasing, advice on stamp duty and GST, and off the plan sales. In the period 2011 to 2013, Michael served as a member and alternate chair of the Minister for Fair Trading's Experts' Committee on retirement village contracts to draft the standard retirement village contract. That document is now comprised in schedule 2 of the Retirement Villages Regulation 2009.
Nick Christiansen
Nick is a commercial litigator specialising in complex commercial disputes, competition and consumer law claims and regulatory actions, insolvency and corporations law proceedings. Nick has extensive experience in contentious property matters, acting for large landowners, property investors, property developers, corporates, and government bodies. This includes leasing disputes (including retail leases), sale and purchase disputes, option disputes, caveat disputes, disputes relating to mortgages and other securities, and construction and property development disputes. His competition and consumer law practice covers restrictive trade practices and anti-competitive conduct, the trade conduct protections, advertising and marketing, consumer guarantees, and franchising law and regulation. He also acts in corporate and personal insolvency litigation, advises corporate clients in non-contentious insolvency and restructuring matters, and acts for leading banks and financial institutions in enforcement and regulatory compliance matters.
Brendan Maier
Brendan Maier is a partner in the property team of Colin Biggers & Paisley. Brendan provides high quality legal advice on major commercial, industrial, residential, tourism and agricultural projects throughout Australia. He is a leading property lawyer who enjoys applying his industry knowledge and networks to drive commercial value for his clients. Brendan's clients include property developers, construction companies, hotel operators, investment funds, agricultural businesses, banks, utilities and charities. Both his legal peers and the industry generally have recognised Brendan as a property law expert and as a leader. He has been: listed as a recommended lawyer in real estate by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2016; listed as a recommended property and real estate lawyer in Sydney in Doyle's Guide 2016; elected as a councillor of the Urban Development Industry of Australia (NSW); elected as a councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. Brendan regularly publishes legal articles on current trends, and prepares government submissions on policy issues affecting his clients and the Australian property industry more generally. Brendan was admitted as a solicitor in the ACT in 1997 and in NSW in 2000. He is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of NSW, Federal Court and High Court of Australia.
Sarah Melville
Sarah is a Senior Associate in the Projects and Construction Team. Sarah specialises in dispute resolution and risk management in the areas of construction, energy and major projects; including in oil and gas and renewable energy, infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings. Sarah is qualified in Australia, England and Wales and Ireland. She has worked internationally, across several jurisdictions, and has extensive experience in project delivery and across the full range of dispute resolution processes including litigation, expert determination and domestic and international arbitration. Prior to moving back to Australia in 2022, Sarah spent over 5 years working in-house for a global energy corporation, primarily advising on project delivery and dispute resolution for the Future Growth Project, an international major project for the expansion of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan. Sarah was named as a Rising Star 2023 by Australasian Lawyer.
Holly Scott
Holly is a Senior Associate in the Major Projects and Construction Team with extensive experience in the construction industry and dual qualification as a civil engineer. Holly has a special interest in renewables and infrastructure disputes and expertise in large scale litigation in the Supreme and Federal Courts, arbitrations, adjudications, mediations and negotiations. She has acted for a number of international contractors and suppliers of renewable's infrastructure in formal disputes as well as in commercial processes during the life span of projects. Holly is able to quickly grasp the technical engineering concepts involved in many construction disputes and apply that knowledge to commercial outcomes and precise court processes. Holly works flexibly with clients' needs throughout, and prior to, disputes to deliver commercial strategies and practical solutions.
Venue
Cliftons - Margaret St
Level 13, 60 Margaret St
Sydney 2000
NSW
Australia
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