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ARTICLE · 02 NOVEMBER 2015

Off-the-plan apartment sale contracts - should government regulate a developer's right to terminate?

Colin Biggers & Paisley
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Buyers want only purchasers to be allowed to terminate an off-the-plan contract if completion of a building is delayed.

AustraliaReal Estate and Construction
Mark Morgan
Mark Morgan

In brief - Buyers aggrieved after purchase contracts terminated under sunset date right

The current calls from apartment buyers for legislation to be introduced allowing only purchasers to terminate an off-the-plan contract if completion of a building is delayed are symptomatic of an overheated property market.

Court upholds developer's right to terminate off-the-plan sale contracts

In Wang v Kaymet Corporation Pty Ltd [2015] NSWSC 1459, the court upheld the developer's right to terminate 34 off-the-plan sale contracts on the basis that the vendor had failed to deliver a registered strata building to the purchasers by a "sunset date" as defined in the contract.

The first sale contract was entered into in November 2009. The last contract to be terminated was rescinded in April 2014.

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