Nunn v Hippi

In *Nunn and Anor v Hippi*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a dispute between the appellants, Mr and Mrs Nunn, and the respondent, Mr Hippi, concerning the ownership of a parcel of land. The core of the disagreement revolved around whether a contract for the sale of this land had been validly terminated by the vendor, Mr Hippi, due to the purchasers' alleged failure to comply with a condition precedent.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the purchasers, the Nunns, had satisfied a condition precedent to the contract, specifically the obtaining of finance on terms satisfactory to them. The Court was required to determine if the purchasers had acted reasonably and in good faith in their efforts to secure finance and, if not, whether the vendor was entitled to terminate the contract on the basis that the condition had not been fulfilled.

The Court of Appeal found that the purchasers had not acted reasonably or in good faith in their attempts to obtain finance. Their conduct demonstrated a lack of genuine effort to secure the necessary funds, and they had not provided the vendor with sufficient information to assess whether the finance they had sought was satisfactory. Consequently, the Court held that the condition precedent had not been fulfilled, and the vendor was therefore entitled to terminate the contract. The appeal was dismissed.