Unfair Contracts and the new Consumer Law - How it can affect your property

 The 'Unfair Contracts Legislation' commenced on 1 July 2010. The legislation will apply to contracts entered into before 1 July 2010:

(a) if those contracts are renewed on or from 1 July 2010; and

(b) if those contracts are varied, to the varied part of the contract.

 The law is contained in Schedule 2 of the Trade Practices Amendments (Australian Consumer Law) Act (No. 2) 2010 in Part 2-3 – Unfair contract terms. This part is made up of sections 23-28. (ACL) This paper considers the effect of the unfair contract provisions of the ACL on property transactions. The location of provisions such as the former s52 of the Trade Practices Act in the ACL has also changed.

I attach a comparative table of the location of the sections from the Trade Practices Act in the ACL. This paper will not address the comparative table. There is a guide called the 'Unfair Contract Terms Guide' which is available on the website: www.consumerlaw.gov.au This website has a number of helpful guides in relation to different aspects of the legislation. In this paper I have referred to this guide as the 'Guide'.

Presented by:
Catherine Hallgath Partner, Swaab Attorneys on Wednesday 8 June 2011.

Catherine Hallgath is a law Society Accredited Specialist in Property Law. She has acted for a range of leading Australian and Asian property owners and has extensive experience in acquisition, development and disposal of major property assets, especially commercial office blocks, retail shopping centres and industrial parks. Catherine has acted for landlords throughout Australia in relation to ownership and management of property assets and for tenants in Australia, New Zealand and Asia, negotiating and advising on commercial and retail leases and the provision of GST and stamp duty advice. Catherine is a dedicated property lawyer who believes in providing accurate, concise and commercial advice.

Catherine is a member of the Property Law Advisory Committee to the Law Society Accredited Specialist Programme; an examiner of candidates for accreditation as property law specialists for the Law Society of NSW; a member of the Low Energy High Rise Project operated by The Warren Centre; a lecturer in property law for several legal service education providers; and Lexology/ACLA Author of the Year – Real Estate.

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