In the case of OF Beenleigh Pty Ltd v Khalaf Management Pty Ltd & Anor [2024] QSC 96, the plaintiff, OF Beenleigh Pty Ltd, sought legal remedies against the first defendant, Khalaf Management Pty Ltd, and the second defendant, Mohamed Aly Ismail Khalaf. The dispute arose from a contract for the sale of land, which included a clause allowing the plaintiff to terminate the contract if a proposal for transport infrastructure, unknown at the contract's signing, was later revealed. OF Beenleigh exercised this termination right after discovering such a proposal and sought the return of a $275,000 deposit.
The Court held that the plaintiff lawfully terminated the contract when the proposal for a road project was disclosed, as it had not been revealed at the contract date. The judgment declared that the plaintiff was entitled to a return of the deposit and interest pursuant to s 58 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld). Additionally, the Court recognised that the plaintiff held an equitable lien over the land for the amount of the deposit. However, the lien did not extend to costs and interest beyond what was expressly agreed upon in the contract. Consequently, the defendants were ordered to refund the deposit and pay the related interest.