In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner, Juliette Nairn, discusses the body corporate industry and the processes within the body corporate Commissioner’s Office.
In this video, OMB Solicitors’ Partner, Cameron Marshall, talks about building contracts from a builder’s point of view.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Special Counsel, Jennie-Rae Goff, talks about the importance of having public liability insurance for your business.
In this video, Samuel Layani, Solicitor at OMB Solicitors, defines sports injury claims and discusses what they are.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Property Law Specialist, Simon Bennett discusses some of the common problems that OMB encounters with property transactions.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner, Tom Robinson, talks about amendments that are being proposed to our Body Corporate Act.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner, Juliette Nairn, talks about building contract disputes and bodies corporate.
In this video, Wills & Estates Solicitor Harley Wilkinson talks about the importance of timing in making a Will.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Special Counsel and Family Law Solicitor, Chrissy Trueman, talks about what financial agreements are in family law matters.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Property Law Specialist, Simon Bennett discusses the importance of sunset dates in property transactions.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner, Tom Robinson, talks about management rights particularly dealing with assignments and variations.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Special Counsel, Jennie-Rae Goff, discusses the things you need to know about work injuries.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Wills & Estates lawyer, Richard Dawson, shares the things that happen that make it necessary to update your Will and your Power of Attorney.
Transcript
Hi there, I’m Richard Dawson, the partner in the estate team here at OMB. Today I’m going to be talking about have you updated your will and power of attorney? And is it time for you to do so.
If you haven’t looked at it recently, I’d like you to think about a number of circumstances which might give rise to whether or not you should update your will and power of attorney.
For example, have you actually looked at it in the last five years? Just imagine what you were doing five years ago and I guess everyone life changes.
But what happened five years ago that is different to today, and should that be a circumstance where you would update your will? Have you married in that time? Have you divorced in that time? Have you found yourself a new partner? Have you got more children or grandchildren? And are they named in your will?
You might also consider the beneficiaries and the executors who are appointed in your will and the attorneys appointed under your enduring power of attorney, and ask yourself, are those people the most appropriately named persons to hold those positions under your current circumstances?
If the answer to that is no, then it’s definitely a time for you to update your will and or your power of attorney. So what I’m asking you to do is go and revisit, have a look at your current will and power of attorney and if it needs updating, just reach out to us and we’ll take it over from there and we’ll keep it as simple and straightforward process as we possibly can.
Thanks again for listening.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Property Law Specialist, Simon Benett, talks about what you need to know about a “put and call option agreement” in property matters.
Transcript
Hi there, Simon Bennett from OMB Solicitors. Today I wanted to have a chat to you about a document called a put and call option agreement, now you may have heard this term, but you may not fully understand what it does or why you might use it.
So a put and call option agreement generally refers to an agreement between two parties, and let’s take a property transaction, for example, where one party, the seller, might grant a put and call option to a buyer who’s looking for some flexibility.
They may be looking for some flexibility to conduct due diligence, they may be looking to on sell the property or something of that nature or even delay the actual contract date for one reason or another. Now, the put and call option agreement provides that flexibility, but it also provides certainty, and that’s really important.
So how does it work? Well, one party grants a call option, so the seller grants the buyer a call option, where the buyer can call on that option so they can affect that option to force the seller to enter into a contract, which is all predetermined and usually attached to the agreement to sell the property, if we’re dealing with a property transaction to sell that property to that buyer.
Now, if the buyer does not exercise that call option, the seller has certainty because they may exercise the put option which has been granted to them by the buyer and the put option is an option to force a sale of the property by the seller to the buyer. So the buyer will be forced to purchase the property.
So the certainty comes in that if one of the parties requires the transaction to proceed and enter into a formal contract, it will happen. That is, either the buyer by way of the call option or the seller by way of the put option, and only in the event that neither party wished the transaction not to proceed would it not proceed.
So there’s the certainty and the flexibility is until such time as that option is exercised, we do not have a formal contract, and as I said, there is a number of different benefits and uses for that and if you’d like to understand a little bit more about how you might use a put and call option, give us a call at OMB property team and we’ll be pleased to give you a hand.
In this video, Rebecca Purcell, a Solicitor at OMB’s Litigation team, talks about neighborhood tree disputes and how OMB Solicitors can help you with your litigation matters.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Specialist in Family Law, Abbi Golightly, talks about how the OMB family law team can help you resolve your family law matter.
In this video, OMB Solicitors’ Partner, Cameron Marshall, talks about what you need to do and how Gold Cost Lawyers can help when you as an owner of land have a development happening next door and you get a request for access to your property.
Transcript
Good morning, my name’s Cameron Marshall, I’m a partner at OMB Solicitors. Today I’m going to talk about what happens when you, as an owner of land, have a development happening next door and you get a request for access to your property.
It’s a very common occurrence on the Gold Coast, development is what built this city and it will continue to do it in the future. That said, it when someone comes and asks you for access to your land, what do you do? Well, there’s a few things you can do, and I’m going to go through those today with you.
So the first thing is don’t panic, okay? It’s a very common occurrence of a developer wanting access, especially for swing plans for cranes over a neighbour’s land, okay. So first thing, don’t panic, it’s common. We at OMB can help you out and deal with it.
That brings me to step two. What do you do? You come and see OMB Solicitors and we will help negotiate what they call a access deed if you wish to give access to your property and that brings me to a little bit of the law on this situation is, firstly, you own your land, you don’t have to give access to the developer next door if you don’t want to.
I’ll raise one caveat with that, there is legislation, the Property Law Act, which does provide that a landowner is able to seek access through the access of the legislation, if it is essential for the use of their property to have to be able to access your land, okay.
So there is a provision in the law that allows access to be sought through the courts, but that’s granted only after a certain process is satisfied and criteria are ticked off. So I’m not going to go through that today, but I just wanted to step one is you don’t have to give access. But there are some caveats to that statement.
The next part I wanted to discuss is why would you give access to a property owner wanting access to your land? Well, there’s a few reasons. The first one, and it’s an important one, is it gets you a seat at the table, so to speak, of the development next door. So a tenant of law that goes back for hundreds of years is a landowner can do what they want with their property, okay.
So if someone’s wishing to build a development next door to your property, as long as it’s compliant with the appropriate approvals, they can do so. You have limited right of objection to what happens on their land because it is their land.
However, if they want access to your land, then you get a seat at the table to be able to have a say in things that you otherwise may not get a say in. I’ll give you an example, work hours. The development approval will have a work hours from the council.
You may decide if you, say, operate a business or if you’re a body corporate, that you may wish for a little bit quieter period from a 6:30 start that’s allowed and want to push it out to say, 7:30.
You could negotiate with the landowner next door to be able to be a part of the access provisions that those hours of work are changed, otherwise you wouldn’t get it. Another thing you normally would be able to negotiate is an indemnity.
If something happens and damages your property, you get a right of indemnity, usually under the deed of access as a condition of you providing access to the property.
That means if something happens to your land or your property, you’ve got an easier right of compensation and a right of recovery against the developer next door.
Another reason is compensation, compensation can be sought and asked for and is commonly given when a developer is wanting access to a property. Of course it can’t be unreasonable, but it allows some type of compensation for you giving up the right of the use of your land for a period of time.
There’s also insurances cover, you can make sure that are taken so the developer has the appropriate cover in the case that something goes wrong, hopefully it won’t, but if it does, you want to ensure that they’ve got appropriate cover.
There’s other things that can go into the deed, but generally it is a way of ensuring protection for your property as a trade off for the use of your land for a period of time.
It’s not an indefinite period of time, of course it’s up to you how long it extends, but it’s usually for the extent of the development. So if a landowner next door is wanting access to your property, don’t panic, come and see OMB solicitors and we can walk you through the process without stress.
Thank you.
In this video, Harley Wilkinson, a Solicitor at OMB’s Wills & Estates team, discusses contested estate matters in family provision applications and how our Gold Coast lawyers can help you with your estate planning matters.
Transcript
Hello, my name is Harley Wilkinson, I’m a solicitor in the wills and estates team here at OMB. So I just wanted to talk very quickly about contested estate matters and family provision applications.
So while a lot of what we do here at OMB in the wills and estates team is giving advice about estate planning and estate administration, both in Queensland and New South Wales, we also give advice to executors and beneficiaries in a range of contested estate matters.
Whether you’re in Queensland or New South Wales, an eligible person is able to contest an estate by making a family provision application with the relevant Supreme Court. However, not everyone can make a family provision application.
There are certain eligibility criteria that apply, in New South Wales for example, firstly, you’ve have to be an eligible person, and I’ll get to that in a minute. Secondly, you need to have been either left out of a will or not been left adequate provision, or not received what you thought you might be entitled to.
So eligible persons typically include a spouse and children, although there are certain other categories of people that also fit that description and are eligible to apply.
So the process of applying for further and better provision, making family provision application in either the supreme or New South Wales Court can be confusing and complicated, and there are certainly some differences with respect to the law and the procedure between Queensland and New South Wales.
So there are some strict time limits that apply both between the New South Wales and Queensland jurisdictions, and there are some differences. So rather than wait and let it go, give us a call, get some advice, we can let you know where you stand and what the process is.
In this video, OMB Solicitors Partner and Accredited Specialist in Family Law, Abbi Golightly, talks about the importance of seeking legal advice after separation and how Our Gold Coast family lawyers can help.
Transcript
Hi, I’m Abbi Golightly, partner at OMB Solicitors and an accredited specialist in family law. Once you have separated, there is understandable reluctance in seeking legal advice.
However, obtaining legal advice early in your separation process will arm you with information that will assist you in getting clear strategies towards resolution, obtaining clear advice in relation to your rights and entitlements, and ultimately assisting you in bringing your matter to a conclusion sooner rather than later, with as little stress and inconvenience to you and your family.
Here at OMB Solicitors, we offer a free initial consultation designed to give you that preliminary information so that you can move towards resolution of your separation and family law dispute without further delay.
Contact us here at OMB Solicitors if you require any assistance in relation to your family law matters.
In this video, Samuel Layani, Solicitor at OMB Solicitors, talks about the process of planning an environmental court appeal.
