Ghafoor v Ryte Homes Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 370

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Ghafoor v Ryte Homes Pty Ltd [2024] NSWSC 370 Hearing dates: 2 April 2024 Decision date: 11 April 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Technology and Construction List Before: Ball J Decision: (1) Declare that the determination of the second defendant issued on 28 November 2023 in respect of Adjudication Application number ABCDRS NSW 561 in favour of the first defendant against the plaintiffs in the amount of $39,725 (the Determination) is void; (2) Order that the first defendant be permanently restrained from taking any steps to enforce the Determination; (3) Order that the first defendant pay the fees and costs charged by the second defendant in relation to the Determination; (4) Order that the amount of $44,149.34 which was paid into Court by the plaintiffs, together with any interest thereon, be paid to the plaintiffs; (5) Order that the first defendant pay the plaintiffs' costs of the proceedings on an indemnity basis. Catchwords: BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION — Adjudication — Application to have adjudication determination made void — Whether parties had entered a 'construction contract' as defined in s 4(1) of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) CONTRACTS — Formation — Incompleteness — Executed contracts — Whether contract was signed and agreed to by all essential parties Legislation Cited: Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) Cases Cited: Crown Green Square Pty Ltd v Transport for NSW [2021] NSWSC 1557 Lendlease Engineering Pty Ltd v Timecon Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 685 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Farhan Ghafoor (First Plaintiff) Sadaf Akram (Second Plaintiff) Mohammad Murtaza Hussain (Third Plaintiff) Areej Aslam (Fourth Plaintiff) Ryte Homes Pty Ltd (First Defendant) Jonathan H Sive (Second Defendant) Australian Building & Construction Dispute Resolution Service Pty Ltd (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: F Anwar (Plaintiffs) M Najem (Solicitor for First Defendant)