Barry v COSHOTT

Barry v Cosshott concerned a dispute between a vendor and a purchaser of a property. The purchaser, Barry, sought to terminate the contract of sale on the basis that the vendor, Cosshott, had failed to disclose certain encumbrances affecting the property. The matter came before Judge Street in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

The central legal issue was whether the vendor had breached their contractual obligations by failing to disclose the existence of a right of way and a drainage easement over the property. The purchaser argued that these undisclosed encumbrances rendered the title defective and entitled them to terminate the contract. The court was required to determine the nature of the vendor's disclosure obligations under the contract and whether the existence of the easements constituted a breach of those obligations.

Judge Street found that the contract of sale incorporated standard terms which required the vendor to provide a title free from encumbrances, unless otherwise disclosed. The court examined the terms of the contract and the nature of the easements, concluding that they were indeed encumbrances that had not been properly disclosed to the purchaser. Consequently, the vendor was found to be in breach of the contract. The court held that the purchaser was therefore entitled to terminate the contract and recover their deposit.