A local council does not owe a duty of care for negligent misstatement in a planning certificate to a subsequent purchaser of land who was not the recipient of the certificate, unless the council knew or ought to have known that the purchaser (or an identified class including the purchaser) would rely on the certificate. The class of 'potential purchasers' is too broadly defined to satisfy this requirement. Vulnerability is not established merely because the council is the only source of the certificate information, where the plaintiff could have made inquiries of the vendor or obtained warranties. The statutory compensation provisions under the Integrated Planning Act 1997 (Qld) may provide an alternative remedy not subject to these common law limitations. Where a party admits on the pleadings that a third party's negligence independently caused the loss, the court must apportion liability and cannot decline to do so on the basis that the causal potency of the admitted breach was not separately proved.
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