Unit titles.
Tim Rainey is one of New Zealand’s leading experts on the Unit Titles Act 2010 and has appeared in a large number of the leading cases considering the rights and obligations of parties under that Act as well is its predecessor Act, the Unit Titles Act 1972.
Tim was an early advocate for the use of schemes for the repair of defective Unit Titles developments under section 48 of the Unit Titles Act 1972 (now section 74 of the Unit Titles Act 2010) and drafted a number of the early schemes sanctioned by the Courts. Tim has also appeared on many of the cases establishing the limits of such schemes as well as the limits on the powers and duties of Body Corporates more generally.
This has included acting for the Body Corporate in what is now the leading authority on the power of the Courts to set aside service agreements entered into by the developer of a unit title property while they exercise control over the voting rights of the Body Corporate: Body Corporate 396711 v Sentinel Management Ltd [2012] 13 NZCPR 418. That case is also notable for confirming that in New Zealand a developer was, in that period, in a fiduciary relationship with the purchasers and could not act to profit themselves at the expense of the purchasers. Other notable cases include:
- Body Corporate 201036 v Broadway Developments Ltd [2009] 11 NZCPR 233 where the High Court decided (for the first time) that the ultra vires doctrine constrains the power of a Body Corporate to enter into contracts with third party service providers.
- Body Corporate 198072 v Bank of New Zealand [2011] 3 NZLR 249 in which the High Court discussed the limits on its discretion to make orders establishing a scheme for the repair of unit title property under section 48 of the Unit Titles Act 1972.
- ABCDE Investments Ltd v van Gog [2012] 13 NZCPR 539 in which the Court of Appeal considered the relationship between the rights and obligations of unit owners under the Unit Titles Act and those rights and obligations imposed by an encumbrance registered over the titles to the units.
- Russmorr Ltd v Body Corporate 345866 [2016] 18 NZCPR 56 in which the Court of Appeal considered the vires of an agreement entered into by the body corporate to lease one of the units for a manager’s apartment.