The Owners – Strata Plan No. 1377 v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 8427 [2020] NSWLEC 1558

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: The Owners – Strata Plan No. 1377 v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 8427 [2020] NSWLEC 1558 Hearing dates: 15 September 2020 Date of orders: 15 September 2020 Decision date: 15 September 2020 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Douglas AC Decision: See orders at [17] below. Catchwords: TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS) – trees causing damage to driveway, fence and pipes – whether damage to infrastructure is caused by the trees Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 Cases Cited: Yang v Scerri [2007] NSWLEC 592 Texts Cited: Inner West Council Tree Management Development Control Plan (February 2020) Category: Principal judgment Parties: The Owners – Strata Plan No. 1377 (Applicant) The Owners – Strata Plan No. 8427 (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: W Van Ede (Solicitor) (Applicant) A Farmer (Solicitor) (Respondent)

Solicitors: J S Mueller & Co (Applicant) Lawyers Chambers on Riley Pty Ltd (Respondent) File Number(s): 2020/75733 Publication restriction: No

Judgment

This decision was given as an extemporaneous decision. It has been revised and edited prior to publication.

Background 1. The Owners – Strata Plan No. 1377 (the applicant) share a side boundary with a property owned by The Owners – Strata Plan No. 8427 (the respondent), in Summer Hill. The dispute is based on damage to driveway pavement, retaining wall, fence, stormwater pipe and services, located near or on the common property boundary, allegedly caused by the roots of a row of trees located within the respondent's property, close and loosely parallel to the boundary. 2. In an attempt to remedy damage that the trees have caused, are causing, and are likely to cause in the near future, the applicant made an application, pursuant to s 7 of Pt 2 of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (the Act).