Legal Comment by Mark Illidge

April 2010

An Amendment Bill (the Bill) was recently introduced into the Queensland Parliament, proposing amendments to the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act (PAMDA) and the Body Corporate and Community Management Act (BCCM). While the Bill has not been passed, it proposes a commencement date of 1 October 2010.
There have been a number of cases under the existing legislation, particularly with ‘off the plan’ contracts, where buyers have been able to terminate contracts by using technical and unmeritorious arguments which have been upheld by the courts.
The Bill intends to rebalance seller and buyer rights, without limiting the buyer’s ability to terminate for breaches of the legislation.
This rebalance is to be achieved by:
· A once only requirement to give a clear statement to the buyer directing the buyer to the warning statement and the proposed contract;
· The warning statement must be attached to the contract however there is no prescribed order of documents;
· The buyer may not terminate the contract if they signed a warning statement before they signed the contract;
· If the buyer did not sign the warning statement before the contract, they must now terminate on the earlier of the settlement date or 90 days from the contract date.
The Bill also deals with buyer’s rights under contracts that have not settled when the amendments take effect. Those buyers will only be able to terminate after commencement if there has been a failure to draw the buyer’s attention to the warning statement and contract documents, and this right exists up until settlement of the contract, capped at the 90 day limit.

To find out more about the authors you can read About Us

For more information or to make an appointment please Contact Us