A vendor claiming damages for a purchaser's breach of a contract for sale of land must adduce evidence sufficient to establish that the claimed losses were caused by the breach rather than by the vendor's own commercial decisions. Where the vendor seeks to recover ongoing holding costs (including interest) for a period extending years after the breach, the vendor must demonstrate diligent efforts to resell the property and adduce evidence of the property's value at the date of breach. Failure to adduce valuation evidence is fatal where the vendor claims only revenue losses, as the court cannot exclude the possibility that the property increased in value sufficiently to offset those losses. A vendor's misrepresentations inducing the contract remain a material factor justifying return of the deposit under s 55(2A) of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), notwithstanding that the purchaser was the defaulting party.
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