New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Off-the-plan apartment sale
  • 22 Nov 2023

    CIVIC LANE LTD v DIBBLE [2023] NZCA 582

    Citation
    [2023] NZCA 582
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    Clause 20 must be read as obliging the vendor to work with the purchaser to design an acceptable bespoke layout and to bear the costs of converting the two standard units into the single agreed apartment; the vendor could not unilaterally increase the purchase price to recover those conversion costs. Only changes that amount to departures from the outline specifications in schedule 3 could lead to a price adjustment, and then only with the purchaser's agreement; project management and contractor variation costs arising from the agreed bespoke layout are not payable by the purchaser.