Karimbla Properties (No 13) Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney; Meriton Apartments Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney; Karimbla Properties (No 25) Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney [2019] NSWLEC 133

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Karimbla Properties (No 13) Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney; Meriton Apartments Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney; Karimbla Properties (No 25) Pty Limited v The Council of the City of Sydney [2019] NSWLEC 133 Hearing dates: 18 and 19 June 2019 Date of orders: 24 September 2019 Decision date: 24 September 2019 Jurisdiction: Class 3 Before: Moore J Decision: See orders at [86], [87] and [88] Catchwords: LOCAL GOVERNMENT RATING - system of categorisation for rating purposes - applications for re‑categorisation from business to residential - Council approves re-categorisation from 1 July 2017 - each application sought an earlier (but different in each proceedings) effective date for the re-categorisation - appeals against the Council's operative date for re‑categorisation - range of issues, including jurisdictional ones, raised by the Council - consideration of whether, taking each case for the relevant owning company at its highest on jurisdictional and legal issues, it was appropriate, is a matter of discretion, to award the extent of retrospectivity which would arise from the operative dates sought by each owning company - as a matter of discretion, not appropriate to order earlier operative date for each re-categorisation - each proceedings dismissed with costs reserved. Legislation Cited: Local Government Act 1993, ss 511, 516, 518, 521 and 523 to 527 Local Government (General) Regulation 2005, reg 122 Cases Cited: Bayside Council v Karimbla Properties (No 3) Pty Ltd (2018) 236 LGERA 1; [2018] NSWCA 257 Karimbla Properties v Council of the City of Sydney; Bayside City Council; and North Sydney Council [2017] NSWLEC 75 Meriton Apartments Pty Limited v Parramatta City Council [2003] NSWLEC 309 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Karimbla Properties (No 13) Pty Limited (Applicant - 226551 of 2017) Meriton Apartments Pty Limited (Applicant - 226569 of 2017) Karimbla Properties (No 25) Pty Limited (Applicant - 350949 of 2017) The Council of the City of Sydney (Respondent in all matters) Representation: Counsel: Mr C McEwen SC/Mr S Nash, barrister (Applicant in each matter) Mr P Clay SC/Ms E Bathurst, barrister (Respondent in all matters)