Yongwoo Park v Betaland Pty Ltd

In this case, the plaintiff, Yongwoo Park, brought an action against the defendant, Betaland Pty Ltd, in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant, a licensed building contractor, had entered into a contract to construct a residential building for the plaintiff. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant had performed unlicensed building work, thereby breaching the contract, and sought termination of the contract, as well as recovery of monies paid to the defendant.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the defendant's performance of unlicensed building work constituted a breach of contract, whether such breach entitled the plaintiff to terminate the contract, and if so, whether the plaintiff was entitled to recover the monies paid to the defendant pursuant to s 42 of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld).

The Tribunal found that there was an implied term in the contract that the defendant be licensed to perform the building work. The Tribunal found that this implied term was an essential term of the contract, and that the defendant's breach of this term entitled the plaintiff to terminate the contract. The Tribunal further found that the plaintiff was entitled to recover the monies paid to the defendant pursuant to s 42 of the Act. The Tribunal ordered that the defendant pay to the plaintiff the amount of $23,009.30, being the amount of monies paid to the defendant, as well as costs in the amount of $305.00.