Concordia Pacific can assist owners’ corporations and strata managers to respond effectively to enforcement actions brought by local councils relating to the common property of apartment buildings and other strata developments.
Concordia Pacific has broad experience in dealing with enforcement cases brought against owners’ corporations under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, the Local Government Act, and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.
Our services include:
- Liaising with council enforcement officers and negotiating solutions to regulatory compliance issues.
- Preparing written representations to Council concerning Notices of Intention To Give Orders, in order to ensure that the council’s officers fully understand the factual circumstances of the case, the limitations on council’s enforcement powers, and any practical or financial difficulties that the owner’s corporation might encounter in attempting to carry out the requirements of a proposed Order.
- Handling appeals against council enforcement orders before the Land and Environment Court.
- Defending owners’ corporations against enforcement proceedings brought by councils, including Penalty Infringement Notices and Court Attendance Notices before the Local Court as well as actions for injunctions and penalties in the Land and Environment Court.
Concordia Pacific can provide owners’ corporations, their executive committees and their strata managers with carefully considered guidance about how to react strategically to a regulatory action initiated by a council. We can assess whether the council’s action is valid under the applicable law, and whether the remedial action that the council is seeking is appropriate and justified in the circumstances of the case. We can also help you to explore whether there is a basis for settling the case with the council, and can assist you to negotiate alternative approaches to solving the issue of concern in a practical, cost efficient manner.
In each matter in which we act, Concordia Pacific will vigorously protect the interests of the owners’ corporation. We will proceed assertively to ensure that proceedings involving councils are concluded quickly and that the costs of resolving the matter are kept to a minimum.
