Question
Sally Salt is presently the owner of Golden Beach caravan park, a venue on the Queensland coast that local families flock to on their holidays.
Sally Salt is presently the owner of Golden Beach caravan park, a venue on the Queensland coast that local families flock to on their holidays. It is a point of pride with Sally that no other caravan park has the same name. She has owned it for many years and has only had to make a few improvements over the years. Frank had been bringing his family to the Golden Beach caravan park for years and always had a fond spot for Golden Beach caravan park. Frank was looking for a sea change so approached Sally about buying the Golden Beach caravan park. Sally had grown tired of working so hard so when Frank mentioned he was interested in buying the caravan park, she was secretly very pleased. After meeting and talking at some length with Frank, Sally orally agreed to terms for the sale of the caravan park to Frank. Although they acknowledged that there was nothing left to negotiate and they were happy to go right ahead immediately, they both felt that it would be better to have their agreement "drawn up" by Sally's solicitor in a formal contract. Frank was so excited at the prospect of owning the caravan park he engaged a media company to develop an advertising campaign to advertise Golden Beach caravan park as more of a health retreat. He also contracted with builders to build a number of cabins on the site at a cost of $55,000 and paid them a 10% deposit. Frank had described his building plans to Sally, and she had agreed for the builders to go to the caravan park to inspect the site for the proposed cabins. Frank also engaged a number of massage therapists who he envisaged would offer massages to the caravan park guests. Sally wrote to her bank to advise them of the fact that she had sold the caravan park and thus would be hoping to pay out her mortgage with the bank. The letter that she sent to the Bank manager stated: "I'm pleased to inform you that I have sold my caravan park, 'Golden Beach caravan park' for $450,000 to Frank and I hope to clear my mortgage with you.... I was very surprised to get such a good price given that the place was a little run down and it has been losing money for the past few years; however I am very pleased I will now be in a good financial position for my upcoming retirement. Yours sincerely, Sally Salt" The Bank manager was actually a close friend of Frank and he was very concerned at the thought of Frank taking on a bad investment. He showed Frank the letter, and Frank then phoned Sally and said: "I hear that you are glad to be rid of your caravan park since you thought it was such a bad investment. I thought that you might like to know that the caravan park you are selling me has just been chosen as a choice destination for the Healthy Humans 2022 annual workshop and retreat and I will be making a fortune from all of the bookings that will be associated with this retreat." Sally is now regretting her decision to sell the caravan park to Frank and is now refusing to sell the caravan park as she claims there is no enforceable contract of sale. Can Frank enforce the agreement for the sale of the Golden Beach Caravan Park?
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