Sunshine Coast property: First homebuyer takes developer to court over contract termination

Buyers at a Sunshine Coast subdivision have taken a developer to court arguing against the termination of their contracts.

Sunshine Coast buyers are going to desperate lengths to keep contracts for land at a Eumundi estate in an ongoing court dispute.

Aspiring first homebuyer Ellyn Alexandra Evans is among four buyers involved in separate court proceedings against Burrell Ave Developments Pty Ltd.

Ms Evans wants the developer’s termination of her contract under the sunset clause for a block of land at the Eumundi subdivision deemed invalid.

She is claiming damages worth $265,000, which includes increases to the land’s value since 2017 and the $15,000 she has spent on rent since then.

Burrell Ave Developments is defending the claims in court and has denied the allegations.

Elle Evans pictured with partner Jackson Mason has taken Burrell Developments after the company invoked the sunset clause to terminate her Eumundi land contract.

It argues the termination of Ms Evans’ contract was valid and effective.

The use of sunset clauses to terminate contracts is not prohibited under Queensland law.

It allows buyers and sellers to terminate a contract if land has not been registered by a certain date.

Burrell Ave Developments says the termination of Ms Evans’ contract on July 16, 2021, was valid.

The company denies Ms Evans claims it engaged in “misleading and deceptive” conduct after the 18-month sunset clause date, December 2018, expired.

The Supreme Court of Queensland documents obtained by the Daily noted emails from companies involved in the development between December 2018 and early July 2021 on progress updates.

Ms Evans said the property was registered on July 21, 2021, five days after the July 16 termination.

Ms Evans claims she has lost her position in the market after she signed the contract to buy the land in 2017 for $255,000.

The would-be homebuyer claims the block would now be worth $500,000.

Ms Evans said in a statement to the Daily that she hoped to make people aware of how these clauses were being used in Queensland.

Similar clauses have been used to terminate contracts at unrelated developments on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and other parts of the Sunshine Coast, including at Nambour.

Klein Legal director Madeline Klein is representing Ms Evans and the three other buyers in what she said were very similar circumstances.

“I‘m representing multiple buyers in the same development against a developer who has purported to terminate the contracts based on the same clause,” she said in a statement.

“We are seeking relief from the Court with the objective of obtaining the land for the buyers in accordance with those contracts.”

Attempts were made to contact the developer however they could not be reached.