Phillip specialises in Owners Corporations law, adverse possession and compulsory acquisition. He understands the unique nature of strata living and disputes and provides clients with a practical approach which is results driven.

Phillip Leaman has been recognised on the Best Lawyers List for 4 year (2020 – 2023) in the category of Real Property Law.

Phillip has extensive expert knowledge and experience in:

Owners Corporations Law including acting in domestic building disputes for Owners Corporations

Phillip understands that most disputes involve lot owners who must live together after the dispute is over. Phillip provides practical and strategic advice to Owners Corporations in respect to all types of disputes concerning the Owners Corporations Act 2006, defect claims arising from original building works under the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 and disputes between lot owners, contractors and managers. He also assists Owners Corporations in governance and other property law advice required such as interpreting plans of subdivisions, leasing and licensing, adverse possession and dealing with managers and contractors. He acts for Owners Corporations in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.

 

Adverse possession and fence disputes

Phillip Leaman acted for the successful party in the leading adverse possession case in Victoria Abbatangelo v Whittlesea City Council (in seeking adverse possession) and the leading adverse possession case in Victoria Laming v Jennings (in defending a claim for adverse possession and lost modern grant easement) and has been involved in a substantial number of claims (acting on both sides of the fence) and claims at Land Use Victoria, Magistrates’ Court, County Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia.

 

Compulsory acquisition

Phillip Leaman has acted for a substantial amount of compulsory acquisition matters on projects such as North East Link, East West Link, Level Crossing Removal Project, Sky rail, Melbourne Metro Rail Project, Dandenong to Caulfield Voluntary Purchase Scheme, council acquisitions for public open space, easements and other projects.

 

Acting for property developers on:
Structuring advice;
Documenting shareholder, unitholder, joint venture and partnership relationships;
Option deeds;
Development agreements;
Project Management Agreements;
VCAT planning permit applications;
Title issues;
Plans of Subdivision issues;
Loan facilities, mortgages and security interests on the Personal Property Securities Act Register;
Restrictive covenant issues;
Easement issues;
Caveat issues;
Service provider agreements;

 

Advising real estate agents on Estate Agent Act compliance. See our full list of real estate agent services.

 

Phillip Leaman was an active member of Scouting for over 15 years as a leader. He is a Queens Scout and Baden Powell Awardee and was an Assistant Scout Leader of the 1st Hoppers Crossing Scout Troop and a member of the Victorian branch Air Activities Team. Phillip’s other interests include scuba diving, golf, flying light aircraft and he has obtained his private pilot’s licence.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing
- Walt Disney

Qualifications & Industry Memberships

  • Bachelor of Commerce- Major in Economic Commerce Management (Deakin)
  • Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (Deakin)
  • Member of Law Institute of Victoria
  • Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialisation Advisory Committee for Commercial Law Specialisation
  • Former chair and member of the Business Law and Corporate Law Committee of the Law Institute of Victoria
  • Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Commercial Law Specialist (since 2012)
  • Selected for Real Property Law, Best Lawyers List 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2021/2023

Articles by this author

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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Telecommunication Leases and Owners Corporations

Owners Corporations may lease or licence common property to lot owners (or other third parties) in accordance with...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Courtyards and car spaces – Do you have the legal right to use them?

Owners Corporations may lease or licence common property to lot owners (or other third parties) in accordance with...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Owners Corporations- Do you have adequate rules?

Section 138 of the Owners Corporations Act gives the power to the Owners Corporation to make rules by special...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Know your plan of subdivision- Owners corporations who owns what?

Boundaries can be median where half the structure is owned by the Owners Corporation or a private lot owner and the...
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Family Law / Family Law Advice

VCAT rules on landmark test case on ‘reasonable costs’ claimable by Owners Corporations

On 1 December 2021, the Owners Corporations and Other Acts Amendment Act 2021 (“Amending Act”) came into force The...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Brief summary of the new Owners Corporations ACT

Expert Owners Corporations lawyers, Tisher Liner FC Law, explained the changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 in a...
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Legislative Update – Cladding safety Victoria Act 2020 (VIC) – 2 Year Extension to cladding building action limitation period

But for the new law, any claim by an Owners Corporation against a builder or other party had to be made within 10 years...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Defective domestic building works but no written major domestic building contract – Do you still have an obligation to pay the builder?

To always ensure you have an enforceable major domestic building contract for domestic building works over the value of...
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Compulsory Acquisition

Compulsory Acquisitions- Case Law Update

This matter was appealed to court of appeal by authority The appeal allowed The compensation awarded to Hardware does...
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Compulsory Acquisition

Compulsory Acquisitions- Case Law Update

The Original Decision The Authority initially made an offer of $1615 million as compensation for the market value of...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Easements and Owners Corporations

Easements can be tricky for landowners let alone for Owners Corporations There are a number of easements that can...
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Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Adverse possession and Owners Corporations

Whilst lot owners are unable to make a claim for adverse possession in respect to common property claims can still be...
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