With the surprise of the covid property market boom in many areas around Queensland after the initial lockdown in 2020 came a new property market era that both agents and consumers have had to come to terms with. The increase in demand never before saw new opportunities for sellers who took advantage of buyers who were not ready to settle on the settlement date and saw some sellers terminating on unconditional contracts, taking buyers deposits and on selling the same properties for quite a significant sum more then originally sold to a pre covid buyer.
Sometimes a poor unsuspecting buyer was just unlucky, perhaps their bank was slow at processing the loan documents, maybe their bank was going to be ready one day later but until the prior standard form contracts there was absolutely no extensions available to the buyer leaving them wide open to terminations by Sellers who took avantage of the market.
In order to minimise the impact of terminations seen far and wide across the state that saw buyers being left dry from their deposits the REIQ introduced new contracts on the 20th January 2022 providing a buyer with an option to extend the settlement date by up to 5 business days under the standard terms.
Now the important part here is that you need to make sure that you are signing a contract which includes this clause! Sellers do not necessarily have to use this standard form contract and if you are buying off the plan you still will not have these same rights. This is why it is so important before signing any contract to have a Solicitor review a contract to ensure your rights are protected.
Real Conveyancing