Strata Plan Cancellations in Australasia: A Comparative Analysis of Nine Jurisdictions

A growing number of Australasian jurisdictions now permit a super-majority of owners to terminate a co-owned building scheme allowing proprietors to redevelop, or more commonly, sell the underlying land. This planning tool aids municipal rejuvenation, prevents urban sprawl and provides new housing. In this article, I examine the provisions pertaining to cancellation of unit plans under nine jurisdictions — New Zealand and all eight jurisdictions in Australia. This comparative analysis highlights several unique aspects of the Unit Titles Act 2010 (NZ) such as the way its voting thresholds are calculated and the idiosyncratic application of the ‘just and equitable’ standard in endorsing all forms of plan cancellations. At the same time, New Zealand’s unit title jurisprudence has been described as ‘relatively immature’. This confluence provides the basis to analyse these novel issues from both a doctrinal and comparative perspective across the nine jurisdictions.