Our Mill Park office is moving!

We are excited to announce that after 38 years, we are moving from our Mill Park office at The Stables, 314-360 Childs Road, Mill Park VIC 3082 to a new office located at First Floor, 855 Plenty Road, South Morang VIC 3752.

Our new premises is a short five-minute drive from our existing office at the Stables and will provide us with more space and better facilities to serve you better.

Our Mill Park office will formally close its doors at 5:00pm on 21 December 2023 and we will then re-open from the new premises at First Floor, 855 Plenty Road South Morang VIC 3752 at 8:45am on Monday 8 January 2024.

We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for you.

Please note that our phone number (03 9404 1333) and email addresses will remain the same but our new mailing address will be PO Box 531, South Morang VIC 3752.

We will continue to provide the same high-quality service that you have come to expect from us.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to welcoming you to our new office soon.

We wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas, a restful holiday period, and a happy and prosperous New Year.

Builders Warranty Insurance - Key takeaways if your builder goes broke

If your builder goes into liquidation, who will save you?

By Andrew MinAHAN, SENIOR SOLICITOR

The rights of home owners when the company they engage to build their homes will, yet again, be the subject to debate, if not controversy, given the collapse of Porter Davis and Lloyd Group building companies.

Their liquidators will try as valiantly as they can to ensure that the harm to building owners is minimised. But the powers of liquidators are limited, and there will be many other people whose interests will conflict with home owners, such as suppliers, sub-contractors and other creditors of those companies, not to mention the ATO, that the liquidators must also take into account.

Taking these unfortunate factors into account, all people who enter into domestic building contracts will, or should, be aware that if the contract price for the building work is more than $16,000, then the builder must take out insurance for that building work under the Building Act 1993 (Vic).

If you have engaged Porter Davis or Lloyd Group to build your home, and the building works have not been completed, what can you do, and what protection will the domestic building works insurance policy give you?

What not to do?

The first thing not to do is exercise the remedy of self help.

If you are an owner, do not enter the building site, or lock it up.  If someone is hurt or injured, there may be no public liability insurance over the site.  If the injured person takes legal action for compensation for the hurt or injury,  you may be liable to pay any damages awarded out of your own pocket.

Furthermore, the builder had, and the liquidator has, the right to enter the building site. If you enter without the liquidator’s approval, you may be accused of breaching the contract, or trespassing.

Similarly if you are a sub-contractor or supplier do not enter the site to remove building materials, or your tools, without first obtaining the consent of the liquidator. Again you could be accused of trespassing, or theft.

In all of the above cases, obtain legal advice first.

When do you make a claim to the domestic building works insurer?

You should make a claim against the insurer within 180 days from when you become aware that the building company has gone into liquidation.

How much is the insurance cover?

The maximum amount payable for any insurance claim is $300,000.

What is included in the $300,000?

You are entitled to reasonable storage and removal costs and for 60 days alternative accommodation costs.

You are entitled to payment of your reasonable legal and other costs incurred with a successful insurance claim.  

You are entitled to compensation for defective building works.

What is not covered

Liquidated damages: You are not entitled to compensation for any delays in the building works caused by the builder.

Completion costs: The amount payable for completion costs after the builder is liquidated is limited to 20% of the contract price. This limit may be of no consequence if your house is at the final claim stage, but could be disastrous if the building work is at, say, the slab stage.

Fair wear and tear: You are not entitled to compensation for loss and damage due to fair wear and tear.

Excluded works: Depending upon the nature of the work, and what building work the builder was required to carry out, landscaping, paving, retaining walls, driveways or fences are excluded from any insurance claim.

What now?

The liquidators may be able to find buyers for the companies, and the building works may recommence with minimal disruption. Given the number of homes under construction and amounts owned by the companies that may not be possible.

In that case, seek legal advice now.

This article should not be relied on as a substitute for obtaining legal, financial, or other professional advice.  It is intended to provide general information only and is not intended to be comprehensive.  The contents do not constitute legal, financial or taxation advice and must not be relied upon as such.  Please seek specific professional advice tailored to your personal circumstances before taking any action based on this publication.

Should you require professional advice, please contact Andrew Minahan, Senior Solicitor.

PPSR CRITICAL DEADLINE - A MUST READ! TIME TO TRANSITION

PPSR REGISTRATION – 31 JANUARY 2017 DEADLINE

By Kristy Mantzanidis (Solicitor Mahons Lawyers)

The Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) commenced in January 2012. Security interests on more than 35 registers were migrated to the PPSR in accordance with the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA) 2012. Transitional provisions allowed pre-existing security interests such as Australian Security and Investment Commission (ASIC) fixed and floating charges to be migrated across to the PPSR.

There are many additional fields in the new PPSR however that the previous registers did not contain. Importantly, there was a five year grace period to complete and amend any defects in the migrated registrations and this five year grace period to amend security details and ensure that each security interest is complete and correct expires on Tuesday January 31, 2017.

It is critical that if you are the holder of a security interest that migrated to the PPSR you check to ensure the migration was done and is complete by this deadline as any security interests that are not corrected by this date may lose their priority.

If you require any assistance with checking or updating your security interest please contact Kristy Mantzanidis of this office on 03 8877 6888.

Immunisations and the law

Infectious diseases are responsible for millions of deaths every year all over the world. Fortunately, through improvements in medical science, the vaccination of young children has provided an extremely effective way of protecting one of the most at-risk groups from a huge variety of diseases- including whooping cough, smallpox, polio and mumps.

Over the last 50 years, advances in medicine which have increased the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, as well as a more rigorous legal framework at both the federal and state government level that requires children to be immunised, have ensured that over 92% of children aged 5 years of age or older are now ‘fully immunised.’ The concerted vaccination effort all around the world has been so successful that a disease such as smallpox, which killed over 300 million people in the 20th century alone, now only exists in the lab.

In an effort to further increase the numbers of children that are ‘fully immunised’ or up-to-date with their vaccinations, federal and state government have recently enacted legislation to effectively compel parents to have their children immunised. The legislation, which since 1988 has required parents to follow immunisation schedules for their children, has been further broadened to include ‘no jab, no play’ provisions – which are intended to protect the community and individual children from families that choose to take the risk of avoiding vaccination. These provisions are particularly onerous on both the parents and children of families that do not follow the schedule of immunisation.

Changes to the Victorian Law

In Victoria, some of the most drastic measures, implemented by both the federal and state governments include:

·      Removing the ‘conscientious objection’ to immunisation. Effectively, families could previously object to having their children immunised on moral grounds. As there is little medical research or public policy supporting any moral ground to object to immunisation, this particular objection has been removed as a valid reason for not vaccinating one’s children.

·      Removing the ‘religious grounds objection’ to immunisation on the same grounds as above.

·      Parents who do not immunise their children in line with the legislated schedule will not be able to claim the Child Care Benefit (CCB), Child Care Rebate (CCR) or Family Tax Benefit Part A payments from the federal government. This is the case unless the parents can show a valid medical reason for why their child cannot be immunised.

·      Prohibiting children that are unvaccinated from enrolling in childcare centres. This includes kindergarten, family day care, occasional care and long day care, but does not include primary or secondary schools, after care services (in schools), or casual occasional care services (such as at a gym or shopping centre.) Children may only continue to be enrolled in these services if they fall under a medical exemption, are classified as belonging to a disadvantaged group or are undergoing a vaccination catch-up.

Conclusion

Vaccination laws are being tightened to ensure children are safe from preventable diseases that have caused millions of deaths in the past. There are severe consequences for parents that choose to continue failing to vaccinate their children, and these can put their children at a significant disadvantage through their early lives, without even taking into account the risk posed to the child's health. If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk with a lawyer, please get in contact with us on 03 8877 6888.

Disclaimer: This article contains general information only and is not intended to be a substitute for obtaining legal advice.

Buying Property "Off the Plan" - Part 2

As discussed in Part 1 of this article, buying a property “Off the Plan” is the purchase of a property before its completion. With regard to the numerous disadvantages often associated with buying “Off the Plan” as detailed in Part 1, why is it still such a common way for property to be purchased? Why are record numbers of apartments being purchased “Off the Plan”, what are the advantages and how do you know if it is the right option for you?

The advantages of buying “Off the Plan”

There are a number of extremely appealing advantages for the purchaser when buying a property “Off the Plan.” These include:

• Lock in the (potentially discounted) price. One of the main advantages of purchasing “Off the Plan” is that the purchaser will be paying the current market value for the property. This presents dual advantages. Firstly, the purchaser knows the exact amount of money they are paying years before they need to pay it- leaving time to organize how to best finance of the property. Secondly, in the event that the property market rises in value over the time it takes for the property to be completed, the property will be worth more than was paid for it by the time it is completed- but the purchaser will still pay the original purchase price. (However, if the inverse occurs and the property market falls, the property may be worth less than the original purchase price, and the purchaser will still have to pay the full amount.)
• A small initial outlay for a high value asset. While a deposit (usually of around 10% of the full purchase price) needs to be paid to secure the property, the full balance of the purchase price does not need to be paid until the property has been completed. This allows purchasers to save money for a longer period, thereby reducing the amount they must borrow under a mortgage, as well as giving them a longer period of time to shop around for a mortgage that suits them best.
• Tax advantages. In many states (including Victoria) there are significant tax advantages when purchasing “Off the Plan” as compared to purchasing an already completed dwelling. As well as a significant reduction in the amount of payable stamp duty, purchasers may be able to receive tax deductions for the depreciation of fixtures and fittings within the property – however this needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis
• Builder warranties and guarantees. All newly completed dwellings in Australia are subject to warranties and guarantees that protect the purchaser against defects in the structure of the premises. In the event that a property purchased “Off the Plan” has any structural faults, it is the obligation of the builder to repair them.
• Customisation. When purchasing a property that has already been completed or lived in, the purchaser will generally have to accept the property ‘as is.’ Many “Off the Plan” properties offer a far higher degree of customisation, including allowing the purchaser to alter colour schemes, the fixtures and fittings, the finishes and the layouts that will make up the completed property. However, it is important to note that the purchaser’s rights in this regard will be limited by the contract.

Conclusion

As can be seen over the two parts of this article, purchasing a property “Off the Plan” is subject to some fantastic benefits, and some large risks. Determining whether this is the correct option for any particular purchaser is largely dependent upon their individual situation, as well as their appetite for risk. No two “Off the Plan” developments are exactly the same, and many factors, including the reputation of the developer, the current state of the property market, the level of detail in the contract and any protections available to the purchaser are all essential considerations in determining whether a purchaser should go ahead with purchasing “Off the Plan.” Due to the complexity of the contracts involved and the large amounts of money that can be at stake, it is essential to seek legal advice before moving forward with an “Off the Plan” purchase. If you are considering purchasing a property “Off the Plan”, or have any questions about this article, please get in contact with us on 03 8877 6888.

Disclaimer: This article contains general information only and is not intended to be a substitute for obtaining legal advice.