Sunset clause ‘nightmare’ for woman who bought into Coomera complex

The perils of buying property off the plan became all too real for a group of would-be homeowners when a Gold Coast developer evoked a sunset clause.

An artist’s impression of Coomera Urbana Village. Picture: Supplied

The perils of buying property off the plan became all too real for a group of would-be homeowners when a Gold Coast developer evoked a sunset clause.

Nurse Masoumeh Mohseni told me she was devastated after a developer terminated her contracts four years after she bought an off-the-plan townhouse in Coomera’s Urbana complex.

The 42-year-old mother of three was 20 when she fled Iran hoping to build a new life in Australia. She studied hard to be a nurse and saved for a deposit.

“It was bliss when I arrived here,” she said.

Now her life is a “nightmare”. Her plight highlights Queensland’s weak laws around sunset clauses, said her solicitor Duke Myrteza from Australian Law Partners.

Mohseni said she and her husband paid a $58,000 deposit on the $580,000 four-bedroom townhouse. “The finish date kept getting delayed, but the sunset clause was for three and a half years, and we thought the developer would have ample time to complete the townhouse,” she said.

“Then we got a letter to say the contracts had been terminated.

“Our lives have been turned upside down.”

The sunset clause is a clause in the contract of sale that effectively puts a time limit on the completion of the development. If settlement has not taken place by the end date included in the clause, both parties are legally entitled to walk away from the contract.

Mohseni refused an offer to have her deposit refunded. She wants to settle the matter in court. Duke Myrteza said her contract was terminated “in circumstances where there has been a significant delay attributable to the developer’s own actions”.

“The developer is arguably taking advantage of these actions to avoid their contractual obligations to settle with buyers,” Myrteza said.

Originally published as Sunset clause ‘nightmare’ for woman who bought into Coomera complex