Sam Hopper Barrister

The High Court yesterday granted special leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in Willmott Forests Ltd (Receivers and Managers appointed)(in liquidation) v Willmott Growers Group Inc and Willmott Action Group Inc [2012] VSCA 202. In a decision that has prompted a flurry of online discussions, the Court of Appeal held that a liquidator appointed […]

The Victorian Supreme Court has recently confirmed that landlords cannot be restrained from calling on a tenant’s bank guarantee unless the tenant can show an arguable case that the landlord is acting: fraudulently; unconscionably in breach of consumer protection statutes;  or in breach of a contractual promise not to call on the security. In a […]

In an interesting recent decision, Garde J in the Victorian Supreme Court: confirmed that distress for rent remains abolished in Victoria, despite the repeal of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1958 (Vic); and found that a lien in a lease over goods left behind by a tenant is effective, provided that it crystallised after re-entry and […]

For those interested in the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in the Willmott case, the decision was referred to recently by Beach J in the Victorian Supreme Court decision of Grant v Harlgate Pty Ltd & Anor [2012] VSC 464 (9 October 2012). The decision is also relevant to conveyancing lawyers faced with an insolvent […]

The Australian Financial Review today published an article reporting that an application for special leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in the Willmott case was filed last week. The Court of Appeal held that a liquidator of a land owning company can use the disclaimer power in the Corporations Act to disclaim […]

  For those following the debate about the Court of Appeal’s decision about the disclaimer of leases in the Willmott decision, here is another summary and comment on the decision by King & Wood Mallesons.

The third edition of Mortgagee’s Power of Sale will be released soon, written by Clyde Croft J and Robert Hay. Earlier editions of the book have been an invaluable resource for mortgage practitioners, and I am sure that the new edition will only enhance the title’s reputation. For more details, see Robert’s post here.

For those who are interested in the debate following my previous post on the Willmott decision, my friend and colleague Carrie Rome-Sievers has put an excellent summary of the case on her blog here.

  The Court of Appeal last week ruled that a liquidator appointed to a land owning company could use the disclaimer power in s 568 of the Corporations Act to extinguish leases granted by that company. This decision may have significant consequences for tenants and their financiers if their landlords are placed into liquidation. The […]

An earlier post on this blog noted a decision from the Supreme Court of Victoria finding that the liquidator of a landlord company could not use the disclaimer power in the Corporations Act to extinguish leases granted by the landlord company. The decision has been appealed.  The Victorian Court of Appeal heard arguments on the […]