On 13 March 2025, the Land and Environment Court (Pritchard J) delivered judgment in Hanave Pty Ltd v Waverley Council [2025] NSWLEC 19, ruling that an affordable housing contribution condition imposed on a development consent for a proposed development in Bondi was invalid.

The Court accepted the Applicants’ submissions that when the development consent was granted, clause 15A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Savings, Transitional and Other Provisions) Regulation 2017 (NSW) was already “spent”. The upshot of this was that, after 1 March 2018, affordable housing contribution conditions could only be imposed where they are (among other things) authorised by a local environmental plan, in accordance with ss 4.17 and 7.32 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW). The affordable housing contribution condition was therefore invalid. However, the Court also accepted that, notwithstanding the invalidity of the condition, it was severable such that the consent still operated without it.

Yvonne Truong appeared for the Applicants, led by Jason Lazarus SC.

The full judgment can be found here.