NWA Realty Pty Ltd v Christou [2019] NSWSC 1364

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: NWA Realty Pty Ltd v Christou [2019] NSWSC 1364 Hearing dates: 3 October 2019 Date of orders: 10 October 2019 Decision date: 10 October 2019 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Darke J Decision: Order made requiring the defendants to enter into a contract for the sale of land on certain terms. Catchwords: CONTRACTS – formation – where lessee is granted first right of refusal to purchase property under a lease of such property – where lessor makes offer to plaintiff to purchase property pursuant to first right of refusal – offer stated to be open for 14 day period – where during the period the lessee indicates that it "would offer" to purchase the property on different terms – where lessee subsequently attempted to accept lessors' offer – whether the lessee had made a counter-offer which operated as a rejection of the lessors' offer – held no counter-offer made – lessee entitled to order for specific performance Cases Cited: Ashington Piggeries Ltd v Christopher Hill Ltd [1972] AC 441 Australian Broadcasting Corporation v XIVth Commonwealth Games Ltd (1988) 18 NSWLR 540 Baker v Taylor (1906) 6 SR (NSW) 500 Bragg v Alam [1981] 1 NSWLR 668 Bragg v Alam (1982) NSW ConvR 55-082 Brambles Holdings Ltd v Bathurst City Council (2001) 53 NSWLR 153 Goldmaster Homes Pty Ltd v Johnson (2004) 12 BPR 23,167; [2004] NSWCA 144 Hyde v Wrench (1840) 3 Beav 334 Quadling v Robinson (1976) 137 CLR 192 Sahade v BP Australia Pty Ltd (2004) 12 BPR 22,149; [2004] NSWSC 512 Stevenson, Jaques, & Co v Mclean (1880) 5 QBD 346 Woodroffe v Box (1954) 92 CLR 245 Woolworths Ltd v About Life Pty Ltd (2017) 18 BPR 36,983; [2017] NSWSC 1117 Texts Cited: J D Heydon, Heydon on Contract (Lawbook Co., 2019) Category: Principal judgment Parties: NWA Realty Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) George Panayiotou Christou (First Defendant) Kerry Christou (Second Defendant) George Costi (Third Defendant) Antonia Costi (Fourth Defendant) Paul Andreas Pavlou (Fifth Defendant) Andry Pavlou (Sixth Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr M J Wells (Plaintiff) Mr S Jacobs (First and Second Defendant) Mr D D Knoll AM (Third, Fourth and Sixth Defendants)