Walker Corporation Pty Ltd v The Owners – Strata Plan No 61618 [2023] NSWCA 125

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Walker Corporation Pty Ltd v The Owners – Strata Plan No 61618 [2023] NSWCA 125 Hearing dates: 14 April 2023 Date of orders: 5 June 2023 Decision date: 05 June 2023 Before: Leeming JA at [1] Mitchelmore JA at [2] Kirk JA at [59] Decision: 1. The application for leave to appeal is granted. 2. The applicant is to file and serve a notice of appeal in the form of the draft notice of appeal within 7 days. 3. The appeal is dismissed with costs. Catchwords: LAND LAW — Strata title — Strata managing agent – where three owner corporations of Finger Wharf development at Woolloomooloo passed resolutions terminating appointment of strata managing agent and appointing new one – where strata managing agent is different to managing agent appointed for Wharf as a whole by building management committee as a result – where clause of strata management statement ("SMS") required owners' corporations to "appoint and retain" the same strata managing agent as the building management committee appoints as strata manager for Wharf as a whole – whether clause of SMS inconsistent with Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), not authorised by Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 (NSW) or uncertain Legislation Cited: Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 (NSW) Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW) Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) Cases Cited: The Owners – Strata Plan No 74232 v Tezel [2023] NSWCA 35 White v Betalli (2007) 71 NSWLR 381; [2007] NSWCA 243 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Walker Corporation Pty Limited (Applicant) The Owners - Strata Plan No 61618 (First Respondent) Robert Edmund Quickenden (Second Respondent) Jeffrey Kent Smoot (Third Respondent) Alexander Peter Kathestides (Fourth Respondent) Cynthia Jean Jackson-Nagy (Fifth Respondent) Fotoulla Lazaridis (Sixth Respondent) Paul Margolin (Seventh Respondent) Vivian Paraskevi Mavrocordatos (Eighth Respondent) The Owners - Strata Plan No 61770 (Ninth Respondent) Annabelle Romaine Warren (Tenth Respondent) Laslo Abonyi Nagy (Eleventh Respondent) Lilting House Pty Limited (Twelfth Respondent) The Owners - Strata Plan No 61619 (Thirteenth Respondent) Douglas Thomas Dean (Fourteenth Respondent) Schielang Pty Limited (Fifteenth Respondent) Anthony Mervyn MacDonald Miller (Sixteenth Respondent) Hall Plain Superannuation Fund Pty Limited (Seventeenth Respondent) Christopher William Townsend (Eighteenth Respondent) McCormacks NSW Pty Limited (Nineteenth Respondent) Strata Choice Pty Limited (Twentieth Respondent) Representation: Advocates: J Ireland KC (Solicitor) (Applicant) JS Emmett SC and J Jaffray (First to Eleventh, Thirteenth to Fourteenth, Sixteenth, Eighteenth and Twentieth Respondents)