Sablebrook P/L v Credit Union Australia Ltd

[2008] QSC 242

Supreme Court of Queensland

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Mortgages
2. › Remedies of the mortgagee
3. › Sale under power
4. › Mode of exercise of power
5. › Price
6. › Statutory duty to take reasonable care to ensure sale at market value
7. › Whether failure to advertise, engage local agents, or obtain current valuation constituted breach
8. › Property Law Act 1974 (Qld), s 85
1. Real Property
2. › Valuation of land
3. › Methods of valuation
4. › Comparable sales
5. › Rise and fall of market
6. › Use of sales evidence before and after date of valuation
7. › Appropriate discount for threat of litigation and encumbrances

Quick Take

A mortgagee exercising a power of sale under s 85(1) of the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) must either take the property to the market or sell by private treaty at a price no lower than market value as determined by a current valuation. Reliance on a valuation obtained months earlier, without inquiry into market movements and without advertising or engaging local agents, will breach the statutory duty where the mortgagee has no particular knowledge of the local market. The threat of litigation affecting the property does not justify failing to market it; rather, it makes marketing more important to increase the pool of prospective purchasers.