Brenchley v The Owners – Strata Plan No 80609 [2022] NSWSC 646

Procedural Posture

Costs Application in Proceedings for Termination of Strata Scheme and Winding Up of Owners Corporation / On the Papers After Orders Terminating the Strata Scheme and Winding Up the Owners Corporation

Legal Issues

1. 1 ["Whether the second defendant should pay the plaintiffs' costs, the plaintiffs should pay the second defendant's costs, or no order as to costs should be made." 'Whether the proceedings produced a successful and unsuccessful party for costs purposes where the strata termination and winding up orders were achieved through a stepwise process with assistance of the Court and compulsory manager.' 'Whether the principles in Re Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs; Ex parte Lai Qin should apply where both sides acted reasonably and the dispute was in substance compromised.']

Ratio Decidendi

No order as to costs was appropriate because all parties accepted from an early stage that the strata scheme should be terminated and the owners corporation wound up; the plaintiffs did not obtain the simple order originally sought but orders of greater complexity made in stages; the initial disputes concerning mortgagees and financial matters were largely resolved through the compulsory manager's report and the Court-assisted process; the second defendant's opposition was reasonably arguable and assisted the Court; no comprehensive merits determination of the parties' rights was required; and the outcome was in substance a compromise in fact rather than a case with one successful side...

Court Disposition

No order as to costs.

Orders

• ['The Court makes no order as to the costs of any party to these proceedings, with the intent that the plaintiffs and the second defendant should bear their own costs of the proceedings.' 'The first defendant was given leave to provide proposed short minutes of order if it considered it necessary for the Court to...