“The vendors only want to rescind the contract because the property’s value increased.” Which case won?
A dispute heard in NSW was between the buyer of a property and its vendors, who wanted to rescind the contract of sale after the sunset date had passed.
The parties entered into a conveyancing transaction for off-the-plan (unregistered) residential land in Picton, NSW.
The vendors were husband and wife. The wife signed the contract of sale on behalf of her husband. The purchaser signed the counterpart contract and the contracts were exchanged on 2 July 2015.
The contract contained several special conditions, one of which was that the plan of subdivision had to be registered within six months of the date of the contract (commonly referred to as a “sunset date”).
If the vendor did everything reasonably necessary to register the plan of subdivision but failed to do so within this time, it would enable either party to rescind – that is, terminate the contract.
