QUESTION 1
Watkin v. Black (High Court of New Zealand).
Mrs Watkin purchased a home unit from Mr Black. Shortly after Mrs Watkin took possession of the unit, problems became evident with water coming into one of the rooms, described as a sun room or store room. The room in question had initially been constructed (before the unit had been purchased by Mr Black) as a store room. Mr Black had personally carried out the work of extending the room substantially and converting it into a sunroom. No building permit was applied for, or granted, in respect of this work.
The parties agreed that it was an implied term of the agreement for sale and purchase that the defendant would pass good title to the land on settlement. The local municipal council issued Mrs Watkin with a notice requiring that the extension be demolished and replaced to make it comply with the by-laws.
When Mrs Watkin took the matter to court, Henry J found that the extension had, in fact, been constructed without a building permit, did not comply with the municipal by-laws, had been constructed contrary to good building practice in several respects and was not in a fit and habitable condition.
Counsel for the plaintiff relied in particular on two Australian cases in which it had been held that the susceptibility of a building to a local authority requisition constituted a defect in title.
In his judgment Henry J said
“The objection to title does not relate to any requirement of the Land Transfer Act 1952 and, accordingly, the common law rule is to be applied. That rule puts a vendor under a duty to make good title to the estate or property he has contracted to sell.
The contract here embraced land and buildings. Counsel argued that good title to the building was not given because portion of it had been erected without a permit and did not comply with the relevant by-laws. I find as a fact that such was the position, and I am satisfied on the evidence that council can require demolition of the addition in question. Here is a latent defect in title in respect of a part of the subject matter of the contract.
A similar conclusion was reached by Connor J. in Vukelic v Sadil (1976) 13 ACTR 3 and by Powell J in Maxwell v Pinheiro (1979) 46 LGRA. 310. I do not consider that there was merely a defect in quality, as is usually the position in respect of a town planning restriction (Dell v. Beasley (1959) NZLR 89) or a building line restriction as in Harris v. Weaver (1980) NZLR 437, where the ownership of the land could be vested in the purchaser although its use was restricted.
These are to be compared with Moss v PTA Company Ltd (1982) NZLR 264, where a frontage set-back requirement was held to be a defect in title because the vendor was obliged to dedicate a strip of land in question. The susceptibility of part of the building to a demolition order was not something known to the plaintiff nor was there anything that required her to make enquiry of the local authority and ascertain the existence of the defect. There has therefore, in my view, been a breach of the implied term that good title would pass on settlement.”
His honour further held that the defendant was liable to the plaintiff in negligence. He said:
“It was accepted by Counsel for the defendant that it is now established law that an owner/builder has a duty of care to a subsequent purchase. I have found that there was a breach of duty, in that the addition to the sunroom, to the conversion of the old store room into a sunroom, was carried out negligently in the respects already detailed....This cause of action is not one based on a contract of sale, but on a breach of the duty of care imposed by the common law on a builder in favour of a subsequent owner. The plaintiff is therefore entitled to the relief under this head of claim.”
The damages awarded to the plaintiff included the cost of demolition and reconstruction of the sunroom and general damages for inconvenience.
Read the
Related Documents: Introduction to Commercial Law Essay
Introduction Since the early 1990s, Australian judicial system has experienced a great flux revolving around the notion of good faith in the performance the enforcement of contracts. The leading case Renard Construction (ME) Pty Ltd v Minister for Public Works (Renard) along with Preistly JA’s judgment commenced the controversial introduction of universal obligation of good faith in all contracts. Such introduction was also confronted by the opposing force of the more conservative judgments,…
The research of East Asian commercial trade transition in recent 30 years Based on china Korea and Japan Stephanie Hu Contents Abstract 1. Introduction 2. China’s commercial trade transition 3. Comparison of Japan and Korea 4. The causes of transition in commercial trade 5. The result of commercial trade transition 6. Conclusion and evaluation Bibliography 1. Introduction 1.1 General statement of the topic Nearly thirty years, great changes…
Business Law Midsem Revision Chapters 1-10 Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Australian Legal System Common Law - When an issue goes to court and there is no statute that covers it, a judge will hear the case and issue a verdict. The record of this verdict becomes a precedent so that when similar cases arise, other judges may take into account the penalty previously issued. Previous judgements therefore form the basis for common law. Law is the body of principles or rules made by parliaments and the…
Introduction Surrogacy laws in Australia are a matter for each state. The Federal Government has no constitutional authority to legislate in regards to reproductive technologies. Although control over medical benefits, including Medicare has given the Commonwealth somewhat of a power in this area. Each state has considered and adopted a different legal stance in regards to surrogacy. New South Wales has for many years outlawed commercial surrogacy and has applied limited regulation to altruistic…
ACCT 252 S2 College of Business and Law COURSE OUTLINE Law of Business Contracts Semester 2 Department of Accounting & Information Systems Course Supervisor: Associate Professor Maree Chetwin Email: maree.chetwin@canterbury.ac.nz 14 ACCT252-14 S2 Course Outline PLEASE NOTE It is the student’s responsibility to retain all course outlines for any future assessment by professional bodies or other institutions 2 ACCT252-14 S2 1. Course Outline 3 COURSE OBJECTIVES If a person has agreed…
Yujing Zhou(Sophie) MGMT565 Royal Roads University Contents 1 Introduction 2 Problem Definition 3 Challenges 4 Alternatives 5 Analysis and Evidence 6 Counter Argument & Rebuttal 7 Recommendation 8 Conclusion Introduction What they do? • Incorporated in 1916 at Washington US • Engaged in Design, development, manufacture and sales of air planes in – Commercial Sector – Defense – Space & Security Turn-over • Total revenue…
LAW1101 INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND LAW5201 COMMERCIAL LAW S2, 2013 ASSIGNMENT 1 YOU MUST COMPLETE THE DETAILS BELOW Name: Henry Byrnes Student number: 0061062852 Word count (without footnotes) (maximum allowed 2 x 400 = 800): 822 including in text referencing. State any approved extension date (and attach the course leader’s approval): None MARKING CRITERIA FOR LAW1101/5201 ASSIGNMENT 1 Criteria F 0-9 C 10-12 B 13-15 A 16-17 HD 18-20 Quality of thinking skills: Identification and articulation…
Ethical ReflEction Report Ethics of Perceptual Proximity Table of Contents Introduction 2 Dilemma 2 Perceptual Proximity 2 Marketing Theory 3 Ethics Theory 5 Recommendations 6 References 7 1. Introduction: Marketing Manager of a company came up with a new television commercial for newly developed soy-based baby formula. Basically the commercial takes place in a hospital with a female pediatrician promoting that cow’s milk is not suitable for babies under six months old. Once female doctors leave…
trying to reinforce the contract (Beatty, Samuelson, Bredeson, 2013, p. 164). To try to figure out who was right in this situation, I want to identify a law that should be used to support the argument: Common Law or UCC. To be able to make a choice, let’s give the laws definitions; and look at the differences between them. Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) finds application in deeds associated with commerce, and deals with transactions of personal property. It is used in sales and leases, bunking and…
Compulsory Assignment Coversheet SUBJECT CODE ASSIGNMENT NUMBER SUBJECT NAME 08 8.1 Commercial Transactions NAME & ADDRESS FOR RETURN OF ASSIGNMENT Full Name: Gregory Ward Address 1: PO Box 460 Address 2: Suburb State Postcode: Richmond, VIC, 3121 * PLEASE DO NOT USE YOUR STUDENT NUMBER TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT. YOUR NUMBER SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED ON THE COVERSHEET, IN A HEADER OR FOOTER, OR IN THE BODY OF THE ASSIGNMENT. Student declaration (must be signed by all…