Ligon Sixty-Three Pty Ltd v Ronson Investments Pty Ltd as trustee for the Ronson Superannuation Fund

Ligon Sixty-Three Pty Ltd, a property developer, sued Ronson Investments Pty Ltd, the purchaser of a proposed unit, over the purchaser's termination of their contract. The court was asked to determine whether the purchaser was entitled to terminate the contract due to the developer's failure to obtain certain approvals from the Housing Industry Employers (HIE) and the relevant minister.

The central legal issues were whether the purchaser could terminate the contract for the developer's failure to obtain HIE's and the minister's approvals on the settlement date. The court examined the terms of the contract, which required the developer to obtain all necessary approvals and for both parties to sign all documents and do all things necessary to give full effect to the contract. The developer argued that the purchaser was not entitled to terminate the contract because the purchaser had refused to sign the documents required to obtain the approvals, while the purchaser argued that the developer's failure to obtain the approvals entitled them to terminate the contract.

The court held that the purchaser was entitled to terminate the contract due to the developer's failure to obtain HIE's approval. The court found that the developer had an absolute obligation to obtain the HIE's approval and that the purchaser was not required to sign the documents to obtain the approval. Therefore, the developer's failure to obtain the HIE's approval entitled the purchaser to terminate the contract. However, the court found that the developer was not required to obtain the minister's approval because the minister had already approved the assignment of the sublease. As such, the developer's failure to obtain the minister's approval did not entitle the purchaser to terminate the contract.

The court found in favour of the purchaser and held that the purchaser was entitled to terminate the contract due to the developer's failure to obtain HIE's approval. The court also held that the purchaser was not entitled to terminate the contract due to the developer's failure to obtain the minister's approval. The court ordered that the purchaser was entitled to terminate the contract and that the developer was liable for the purchaser's costs of the proceeding.