Australia: Probuild v NSWNetball [2015] NSWSC 1339 (11 September 2015) followed on from the previous April decision reported above. After Ball J refused to intervene with the timing of the adjudication process, the matter proceeded to adjudication in which Probuild was awarded just USD 125,000 of the approximately USD 10 million claimed. Although Netball NSW had sought the injunction in April on the basis that the payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) was invalid, on the basis of its relatively positive result it now sought to argue that the payment claimwas valid. Stevenson J found that the payment claim was not valid. Netball NSW sought to argue that Probuild had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in representing that the payment claim was valid by the conduct of submitting it. This was also rejected, his Honour declaring that a statement in a payment claim is not a representation of the truth of the matters in it, and that Probuild’s conduct was simply to claim an amount due, and not to mislead. in the capacity of landlord – charges a premium for lease modification and land development, which reflects the enhanced value. However, high premiums have proved a disincentive to developers , and the failure of parties to negotiate has seen land left idle. Last October a Pilot Scheme for Arbitration on Land Premium (the Scheme) was launched for a provisional two year period, with the aim of settling premium disputes. In a process where the arbitrator’s determination would be limited to the land premium payable, decisions should be made within ten weeks, accelerating the delivery of development projects. However, one year on, only one such arbitration has occurred, that of Henderson Land, a small-scale dispute on the premium payable to change agricultural land to residential. This means that many of the important questions are yet to be answered, and developers remain to be convinced that arbitration represents a viable solution to premium disputes. Hopefully the Henderson arbitration might trigger more applications, but with only one year left of the pilot, the clock is ticking. UK: In Lloyds Bank plc vMcBains Cooper Consulting Ltd [2015] EWHC 2372 (TCC) , Lloyds sued its project monitor (McBains) for breach of its retainer in relation to a redevelopment. Part of the propertywas run by a trust, which borrowed GBP 2.625million fromLloyds to fund the development. Unfortunately this sumdid not include any allowance for contingencies, and understated the October Hong Kong: Under Hong Kong’s traditional land premium assessment and negotiation system, the Government – acting through the Lands Department
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