Bankruptcy is a process where a person (‘debtor’) who cannot afford to pay their debts, gives up their assets and control of their finances, either voluntarily or by court order, in exchange for protection from legal action by their creditors who are pursuing payment.
Litigation is generally costly, time-consuming and stressful, with no absolute certainty as to the outcome. In order to minimise the likelihood of being involved in a dispute, it pays to have your building contract reviewed, whether you are an owner, developer, builder or sub-contractor.
Parties to domestic building work disputes are required to obtain a certificate of conciliation from the DBDRV prior to issuing proceedings in VCAT or a court. However, Section 134 of the Building Act 1993 (Vic) (‘the Building Act’) limits the time for building actions be brought to 10 years from the date of the occupancy permit, or, where no such permit has been issued, 10 years from the date of the certificate of final inspection.
If you are a party to a domestic building work dispute,you can refer the dispute to the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria ('DBDRV') by filling out an online application form. A conciliation officer will then make an initial assessment to determine whether the dispute fits the preliminary requirements necessary for it to be accepted by the DBDRV.
Receivership is a legal process in which a suitably qualified person, the receiver, acts as a custodian to safeguard a company’s assets should the company find itself in financial difficulty. Receivership occurs when one or more of the company’s secured creditors, who holds security over some or all of the company’s assets, appoints a receiver to take control over those company’s assets. There is no requirement for a court to approve the appointment of a receiver, however, in special circumstances, a court may do so.
Generally speaking, agreeing to pay for a service (whether it be via booking an appointment or booking a service such as a hotel room) equates to entering into a verbal contract. As with any contract, these agreements come with terms and conditions to which you are bound, including any cancellation policy. Click here for more information.
Engaging a builder to build your home can be daunting – you are committing a significant amount of time and money into developing a valuable asset. In such circumstances, the last thing you want is a dispute with your builder that will take significant time to resolve and extensive legal costs. We provide a guide of steps that can be taken to avoid domestic building disputes with your builder.
Any simple steps that can be taken to avoid domestic building disputes are worthwhile – ideally to avoid a dispute or prevent it from escalating, but otherwise at least to provide you with some protection in the event of a dispute arising. In this article we list some key steps you can take to achieve these goals.
Under section 18 of the ACL, persons involved in trade or commerce are prohibited from engaging in conduct that is misleading or deceptive. This includes a prohibition of conduct that is likely to mislead or deceive. Importantly, there is no requirement that the misleading conduct be intentional, or that anyone suffer any loss or damage as a result of the conduct. Claims of misleading and deceptive conduct can be made by the ACCC or by anyone to whom the misleading conduct was directed – though in the latter case, this would be unlikely to occur unless some loss or damage had been suffered.
What do you do when your property is damaged by water from a neighbouring property? The Water Act 1989 (Vic) sets out the legal position for those affected by water damage originating from a neighbouring property and provides an avenue through which legal action may be taken. Our Litigation Team explains.
