The Owners Strata Plan No 97315 v Icon Co (NSW) Pty Ltd (No 2)

The case involved The Owners Strata Plan No 97315, the body corporate of a strata plan, and Icon Co (NSW) Pty Ltd, a property developer. The dispute centred around the allocation of costs for a reference to the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2017 (NSW). The case was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The body corporate sought to recover costs associated with the reference from Icon Co, which was the developer responsible for a particular lot within the strata plan.

The primary legal issues the court had to address were whether the body corporate was entitled to recover costs associated with the reference and, if so, the extent of those costs. The court had to consider the statutory framework governing the recovery of costs in strata schemes and the principles of fairness and justice in allocating costs between parties in such disputes. The court also had to determine whether the reference was necessary and whether both parties had acted unreasonably in their conduct leading up to and during the reference.

In its decision, the court held that neither party had succeeded in establishing their preferred case. The court found that the reference was necessary and that both parties had acted unreasonably. Given the mutual failure to establish their preferred cases, the court determined that neither party was entitled to recover costs from the other. The court emphasised the importance of parties considering the proportionality and necessity of their actions before engaging in costly legal proceedings. The court also noted that the principles of fairness and justice required that costs should not be awarded to a party who had not succeeded in their primary claims.

The final orders of the court were that neither party was entitled to recover costs from the other in relation to the reference. The court also noted that the parties should bear their own costs of the proceedings. This decision highlights the importance of careful consideration of the necessity and proportionality of legal actions in strata disputes, as well as the potential consequences of unreasonable conduct by either party.