Sunset clauses and off-the-plan traps

The clauses that let a developer rescind your contract and resell at a higher price. State law varies; the contract you sign matters more.

10 min readBy Sarah ChenStage 4 of 6

A sunset clause says: if construction isn’t complete by date X, either party may rescind. Developers used to abuse this; recent state laws have changed the rules.

NSW, VIC and QLD reforms

NSW (Conveyancing Act 2015 amendments) requires developer applications to the Supreme Court to rescind. VIC (Sale of Land Act amendments 2019) tightened similar developer-side rescission. QLD has comparable but more permissive rules.

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