Rose Litigation Lawyers - September Newsletter

ATO cracking down: An update for your business

The Australian Taxation Office has recently announced in its 2023-2024 corporate plan that its main priorities will include addressing collectible debt.

This plan confirms that the ATO will be taking a stronger stance on outstanding amounts owed by exercising firmer debt collection actions when appropriate.

What does this mean for me and my business?

While the ATO largely held off on taking enforcement action during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has now shifted back into taking a more aggressive approach to recovering tax debts.

That means the ATO will be less tolerant of businesses ignoring the ATO’s requests for...

Navigating Fixed Price Building Contracts

We have noticed an increase in builders seeking to either terminate or increase the contract sum for fixed lump sum building contracts.

It is no secret that the past few years have been challenging for builders, subcontractors and homeowners alike when embarking on new residential building work.

It has been commonplace for builders to offer fixed price building contracts for residential building work. While this practice was successful for a number of years, many builders are now finding that the profits from these jobs have been significantly eroded by...

Unenforceability of Price-Escalation Clauses – Increase to fixed term building contract held to be void

In the recent case of?Perera v Bold Properties (QLD) Pty Ltd [2023] QDC 99,?the?Queensland District Court has ruled against the enforceability of special conditions in new home building contracts which allow builders to unilaterally increase a fixed contract price.??

Summary

On 11 August 2022, Mr and Mrs Perera entered into?a fixed New Home?Domestic?Building Contract with Bold Property Group (“the Contract“).?The Contract was in the standard form produced by the Housing Industry Association. The Contract price was $645,370.?

The build did not start on the anticipated?date.??On 13 October 2022, the Pereras were...

Annual Staff Retreat & Rose Recognition Awards

In September. we held our annual staff retreat and awards night.

The retreat kicked off with a two full days of presentations covering topics including building & construction, insolvency, defamation and client communication. To conclude the weekend we held our awards night followed by dinner and celebrations – and we scrubbed up pretty well!

It was a fantastic opportunity to bring our Gold Coast and Brisbane teams together in one place to commend our people and celebrate their success. We are extremely proud of the part that each team member plays in delivering Remarkable Outcomes to our clients.

Congratulations to all of our award winners, and to our whole team for a valuable weekend and in contributing to the success of our firm.

We welcome your feedback

Here at Rose Litigation Lawyers we are continually striving to be better as we work towards delivering remarkable outcomes for our clients.

We welcome your feedback and invite you to share details of your experience with us via a Google review.

Thank you in advance for helping us to better understand your needs and expectations.

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