Grounds for cancellation? - purchased under incorrect information from listing agents

[charizard]

Hi all,

I've bought a brand new property last year October which haven't had it's ccc and title issued yet (from a subdivision) with settlement in early January under the assurances from the listing agent that it'll all be ready by the end of the year.

The listing agent have said prior to purchase that the property passed it's final inspection and all documents have been passed onto council so it just depends on how quickly council can process things.

Through some investigation, I've been able to find out that that wasn't the case and the vendors are still getting documents ready to submit to council and their lawyers have said that the settlement date hadn't been finalized yet.

I've purchased the property under the listing agents multiple assurances that the title and ccc issuance would be imminent and much prior to my settlement date but now settlement date has been missed and pushed back from early December, (their initial settlement date) early January (new settlement date), late January - early February to now mid March.

Unfortunately I dont have a sunset clause in the contract due to the above and feel like I'm being taken for a ride with uncertain end dates.

My current lawyer says contract wise because the title and CCC isn't released we can't do anything despite this whole purchase stemming from the listing agents assurances that it'll be ready before the end of 2018.

Has anyone had experience with these kind of issues? Any advice on what the best course of action is to take? Any lawyer recommendations that may be able to assist?


Thanks

[donna]

Hi Charizard,

Welcome to the forums. You mention 'current lawyer' so this isn't the lawyer you went to when you got the sale and purchase agreement?

cheers,

Donna

[charizard]

Thanks for the welcome for this humble newbie Donna,

I am talking about the same lawyer that I started off with from the beginning,

Surely there must be a lot of weight with what the agents have said verbally and with emails they sent prior to the purchase? That coupled with the early December original date sounds like it was deliberately made to hook people in?

[donna]

What was the advice of your lawyer at the time - before you signed? I am sure there's a process lawyers take for OTP properties where there's no title to check and no CCC, or up to date LIM etc. Maybe a clause - settlement to occur 'after' satisfactory title, CCC and LIM.

cheers,

Donna

[Rosco]

Hi Charizard,

In some ways, if it is a rental, does it matter?

Often a new rental like this would run at a cash loss, so the longer it takes to settle, the longer before you have to start topping up the mortgage.

Ross

[charizard]

So this property was developed on a newly subdivided land by a developer and both buildings had already been completed (hence why i attended the auction) with someone already living in the other property. Is that still considered off the plan? Does off the plan mean any houses without CCC and title issued yet?

Unfortunately no, there is no sunset clause put into this because the listing agents assured me that itll be ready to move in by January 2019.

It annoys me that the deposits already been released as well due to no clause stating deposit to be released after title and ccc issued.

How viable is it to argue with emails and verbal assurances from the listing agent saying the title and ccc is on the way as all documents have already been submitted to council?

Who in the right mind would purchase a property with no concrete settlement date? They show in their documents that settlements on very early December or when title and ccc issued but surely they can't just pick out a date that sounds nearby when they have no intention of hitting it? Just last week the vendors agent emailed saying settlement date has been pushed back again to mid March.

I realise this is going to be an uphill struggle but what kind of evidence would be sufficient to argue for misinformation from the listing agents?