Most strata buildings never see the inside of a tribunal. But some buildings can't seem to stay away. We analysed 1,986 published NSW court and tribunal decisions involving strata schemes and found that more than a third of buildings that appear once will appear again — and a handful have racked up 9 separate cases over a decade.
If you're buying into a strata building, a single past tribunal case might be a resolved issue. Multiple cases are a pattern — and patterns don't resolve themselves.
672
Unique buildings in dataset
36%
Return for 2+ cases
9
Most cases (single building)
28
Buildings with 5+ cases
The numbers
Of the 672 unique strata plans that appear in published NSW court and tribunal decisions, 430 appear exactly once. That's 64% — the majority of buildings have a single dispute, it gets resolved (or at least decided), and they never come back.
But the other 242 buildings — 36% — return for at least one more case. And once a building comes back, it tends to keep coming back.
How many cases per building?
The tail is long. 28 buildings have five or more published cases. Five buildings have eight or nine. These aren't just buildings with problems — they're buildings where problems have become a way of life.
What repeat offender buildings look like
The top repeat offenders tell different stories, but they share a common theme: disputes that escalate across multiple courts over years.
The caretaker fight
9 cases288–306 Wattle Street, Ultimo (334 lots) — An owners corporation spent four years trying to terminate a caretaker agreement. The dispute bounced between NCAT, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal, generating nine separate published decisions between 2020 and 2024. The core question — whether a pre-2015 caretaker agreement could be terminated under the current Act — required the Court of Appeal to resolve a statutory interpretation issue that NCAT and the Supreme Court had reached different conclusions on.
View SP 64807 on StrataChecks →The decade-long defect case
9 cases46–50 Dening Street, The Entrance (32 lots) — A building defects claim against the builder generated nine decisions across the Supreme Court between 2009 and 2013. The case involved a referee process, multiple rounds of cost arguments, contribution claims between co-defendants, and a Court of Appeal decision on limitation periods. A 32-unit building, four years in court.
View SP 64970 on StrataChecks →The facade that leaked
8 cases79–81 Berry Street, North Sydney (240 lots) — The owners corporation sued the developer over a leaking facade and disputes about shared service costs under the strata management statement. Eight decisions between 2013 and 2016 covered everything from privilege disputes to fiduciary duties to whether the strata management statement was an “unjust contract.”
View SP 74602 on StrataChecks →The lot owner who wouldn't stop
8 cases10 Atchison Street, St Leonards (237 lots) — A single lot owner filed eight Supreme Court proceedings against their owners corporation in roughly eight months during 2023–2024. Every case was dismissed — for irregular commencement, frivolous pleading, vexatious conduct, or abuse of process. The owner was ordered to pay indemnity costs. The building's strata plan now carries eight published Supreme Court decisions, none of which went in the owner's favour.
View SP 93392 on StrataChecks →Why some buildings keep coming back
Repeat tribunal appearances aren't random. They tend to fall into a few patterns:
1. Cascading proceedings
A single underlying dispute generates multiple decisions as it moves through the system — NCAT hearing, appeal, Supreme Court transfer, costs arguments, enforcement. One dispute about a caretaker agreement can produce nine separate published decisions without the underlying problem ever being truly “new.”
2. Complex defects
Major building defects — leaking facades, structural issues, combustible cladding — don't resolve quickly. They involve expert evidence, multiple defendants, contribution claims, and limitation period arguments. A single defect can sustain years of litigation across multiple courts.
3. Dysfunctional governance
Some buildings have ongoing governance problems — hostile committees, contested AGMs, by-law disputes that keep resurfacing. These buildings generate a steady stream of separate disputes, each with its own proceeding.
4. Persistent litigants
Sometimes a single owner drives the count. One lot owner at 10 Atchison Street, St Leonards filed eight Supreme Court cases in under a year — all dismissed. Every owner in that building now lives with a strata plan that has eight published court decisions attached to it, driven entirely by one person's litigation.
What this means if you're buying
A building with multiple tribunal cases isn't automatically a bad buy. But it demands closer scrutiny. Here's what to look for:
Check: Are the disputes resolved or ongoing?
A building that had three cases five years ago, all resolved, is very different from one with three active cases right now. Past disputes are history. Active disputes are your future liability.
Check: What were they about?
Defect cases can run into the millions and take years. By-law disputes are usually cheaper but signal governance problems. Costs-only decisions usually mean the underlying case was resolved elsewhere. Read the catchwords — they tell you what the case was actually about.
Check: Is it one dispute or many?
Nine decisions from one caretaker dispute is concerning but finite. Five decisions from five unrelated disputes — defects, by-laws, levies, governance, renovations — suggests a building where conflict is endemic.
Check: How big is the building?
A 334-lot building with 9 cases has very different dynamics than a 6-lot building with 7 cases. Larger buildings have more owners, more money at stake, and more opportunities for conflict. Smaller buildings with high case counts may signal entrenched personal disputes that are much harder to escape.
The small building problem
Some of the most intense repeat offenders are small buildings. SP 62022 at 84–86 Wolseley Road, Point Piper has just 2 lots — and 7 published court decisions spanning 2006 to 2015. SP 11478 at 7 Kenneth Street, Tamarama has 6 lots and 6 cases. SP 51682 at 10–12 Wayella Street, West Ryde has 6 lots and 7 cases. In buildings this small, a single neighbour dispute can become a years-long war with no escape except selling.
How to check before you buy
Every published NSW court and tribunal decision is searchable on caselaw.nsw.gov.au. You can search for a strata plan number and see every published case that building has been involved in. But reading through hundreds of legal decisions is impractical for most buyers.
That's one of the things StrataChecks does automatically. Search any strata plan number and we'll show you the tribunal case history — how many cases, what they were about, and when they happened. No legal jargon, no manual searching.
Sources & citations
- NSW Caselaw — 1,986 published tribunal and court decisions involving strata schemes (1999–2026)
- SP 64807 (288–306 Wattle Street, Ultimo) — 9 published decisions on caselaw.nsw.gov.au
- SP 64970 (46–50 Dening Street, The Entrance) — 9 published decisions on caselaw.nsw.gov.au
- SP 74602 (79–81 Berry Street, North Sydney) — 8 published decisions on caselaw.nsw.gov.au
- SP 93392 (10 Atchison Street, St Leonards) — 8 published decisions on caselaw.nsw.gov.au
Methodology: “Cases” means published decisions — each building may have additional unpublished NCAT determinations, mediations, or settlements that don't appear in the public record. The 36% repeat rate applies only to buildings that appear in published decisions, not all strata buildings in NSW.
Check a building's tribunal history
StrataChecks shows tribunal cases, financial health, and management details for any strata plan in NSW.
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