QLD rights for a seller to break contract of sale

Hi all,

A hypothetical question.

Once a contact is signed and before or goes unconditional, can it be broken by the seller?

If so, under what circumstances and what can the buyer do as a remedy? Is there anything that can be put in the contract to make it harder?

 

I was under the impression that after its unconditional, if the seller tries to terminate then you would have the right to sue for "specific performance", which is basically a court directing to fulfil the terms of the contract (e.g. sell you the house).

Apart from that, if specific performance is not possible then you would have to quantify your losses and sue for liquidated damages. Quantified losses could be the difference in price between the property you were acquiring and a comparable property you ended up taking as an example.

Now I'm not a lawyer (though I do have an interest in legal matters) so I could be wrong.

 

If a seller signs a contract agreeing to a sale price (in WA anyway) and then meet all the conditions of the contract there is not a lot that a seller can do to rescind the contract. Im assuming same applies in QLD but would need to check with your Lawyer.

 

Once a seller signs in Qld there is usually nothing they can do to crash the contract (unless it contains special clauses).

Of course if they simply refuse to settle then the buyer would have to decide whether it was worth the time and costs to go through legal processes.
Marg

 

If it is defective it could possibly be unenforceable.

 

I don't think you know what liquidated damages are. They are not quantified after a breach, but rather written into the contract.

Liquidated damages are in the contract and may include something like "if you don't build the house by 1/10/2018 then you'll pay $1000 per day in damages until it's completion".