You act for the vendor of a travel agency business known as Golden Wings Travel. The name of the vendor is Beaumont Investments Pty Ltd,

Question

84 users unlocked this solution today!

You act for the vendor of a travel agency business known as "Golden Wings Travel". The name of the vendor is Beaumont Investments Pty Ltd, the trustee of the Beaumont Family Trust, and the company holds and operates the business in its capacity as trustee. Contracts were exchanged two weeks ago. The contract used is the standard Contract for the Sale of Business - 2015 Edition ['contract']. Assume that no amendments have been made to that contract and no special conditions have been added. Golden Wings Travel is located in a shopping arcade. A director of the trustee company, Arnold Beaumont, comes to see you today seeking your advice, as the purchaser, Amelia Kaminsky, has just told him that she has found out that another tenant in the same arcade is going to open a travel agency two shops away from the premises where Golden Wings Travel conducts its business. Amelia now claims that, a few days before exchange, the vendor company's other director, Belle Beaumont, had told her that the owner of the arcade (and landlord of Golden Wings Travel's premises) had "firmly promised" Belle that no other travel agency would be allowed to open in the arcade. The landlord today phoned Amelia and told her that no such promise was ever made by him to Belle Beaumont, the vendor company or any of its representatives. Advise Arnold as to what action Amelia could take against the vendor company concerning Belle's statement about the landlord's alleged "promise". Which of the following answers best describes the response you should provide? Select one answer only.

1. In the contract there is a disclaimer of liability for representations and the purchaser will have no action against the vendor for the representation.
2. Although in the contract there is a disclaimer of liability for representations not set out in the contract, the purchaser may resort to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Schedule 2, the Australian Consumer Law, for a remedy for misleading and deceptive conduct (vendor is a corporation) which law cannot be excluded by contract.
3. It's a verbal promise and therefore a non-contractual promise and not actionable.
4. There is a provision in the contract which will permit the purchaser to sue on the contract for its breach even though it is only verbal