David Garner

Hi,

I’m afraid your legal position is not strong.

It sounds like you have already taken the right first-step, which is to carefully consider what the contract says to determine what your legal rights and obligations are. Unfortunately, there is no legal requirement for a cooling-off period; and it is not uncommon for commercial contracts to have a clause stating that you are still liable for the full purchase price even if you change your mind later. There is also plenty of case law (i.e. judges’ decisions) confirming that, even if the Terms and Conditions are in very small print, they are still binding unless they are unlawful.

The law does provide ways that contracts can be terminated (cancelled) or rescinded (treated as if they were never entered into). It also provides ways that individual clauses can be written out of contracts if they are unlawful or unreasonable. However, the circumstances you describe do not lend themselves easily to any of these. The relevant legislation protecting you as a consumer is contained in the Australian Consumer Law (ACT) - which can be found at Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Have a look at Chapter 2 of the ACT and see if there is anything there relevant to your situation.

I can appreciate you are reluctant to pay for the training course if you will not gain the benefit of it. If you refuse to pay the money, the training provider may decide to write the cost off as a bad debt and you will have no further liability to them. However, it is more likely they will commence a Minor Case Claim against you in the Magistrates Court to recover the money. In the scenario you describe, they would likely win their case.

TheMagistrate Court decision against you would have an adverse effect on your credit rating. In the long run, this would likely be more detrimental to you than the $1,000+ debt.

Hi,

Your first step should be to check what your lease agreement says. It should detail very specific circumstances and processes for terminating the lease. As you suggest, cosmetic repairs to the outside of the building shouldn’t qualify as a termination event.

Then have a look at the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA). Section 60(a) specifies that the landlord cannot terminate the tenancy without first giving you an official notice of termination. Under s61 the termination notice has to specify on what grounds (if any) they wish to terminate the lease. Once that termination notice has expired, if you refuse to vacate the premises then the landlord would have to go to the Magistrates Court and apply for a court order to evict you. The circumstances you describe would not warrant such an order, and the application would fail.

Although you mention that the damage was caused by a third party, section 50 of the Act means that if the driver was on the premises with your permission you are vicariously liable for any breach of the lease committed by them (i.e. the law would treat it as if you caused the damage). If the damage is minor cosmetic damage this would still not allow the landlord to terminate the lease, but may mean that you have some responsibility for the cost of repairs.