‘How can you sleep at night?’: Couple spend thousands on their dream home – only to have it snatched from them due to ‘sunset clause’ loophole
- A couple’s dream home has been taken from them because of a legal loophole
- Kylie and Marcus put a deposit down on a Melbourne property three years ago
- But despite the $20,000 bond developers have pulled the plug on their contract
- They triggered the clause allowing projects which over-run to be terminated
A couple’s dream home has been snatched away from them because of a legal loophole allowing developers to take the property from them.
Kylie and Marcus put a deposit down for a property in Melbourne’s Morang prior to construction three years ago to leave to their teenage children.
In order to secure their three-bedroom house, which was due to be finished by the end of this year, they put down a $20,000 deposit, according to A Current Affair.
But their dream was in tatters after their developer’s lawyer contacted them to say they were implementing the ‘sunset clause’ – meaning the property was no longer theirs.
The clause is intended to protect developers or the purchaser from being tied to a development that runs over its completion date.
Kylie and Marcus put a deposit down for a property in Melbourne’s Morang prior to construction three years ago to leave to their teenage children.
Kylie said she thought the provision was wrong though – questioning how the developers can sleep at night thinking ‘I’m just going to keep it for myself’.
Buyers advocate Christopher Koren told A Current Affair he agreed and thought the law allowed consumers to be exploited.
‘It shouldn’t be just in the whim of the developer to say, ”well, if the market is going up I think I can make some more money out of this place by engaging the sunset clause, cooling off, then I’ll put another 10-15 per cent on the property”,’ he said.
To make matters worse for the couple, they cannot challenge the developer’s use of the law in court because of Victoria’s current regulations.
But that dream was in tatters after their developer’s lawyer contacted them to say they were implementing the ‘sunset clause’ – meaning the property was no longer theirs.
New South Wales and Queensland residents can challenge the sunset clauses but an amendment to legislation in Victoria allowing purchasers to do so was only tabled last month.
The couple are still fighting to overturn the developer’s decision.
Kylie said: ‘To me it doesn’t make any sense, you don’t go to an office and sign a contract one day and give them a deposit – and then three years down the track the developers just say ”we don’t want to sell it to you anymore”.’
A couple’s dream home has been snatched away from them because of a legal loophole allowing developers to take the property away from them
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