Spectrum Homes' claim for $148,509.27 was dismissed and the Tribunal ordered it to pay Mr Yu $17,110.90 representing the return of his deposit, with costs reserved. The Tribunal held that the warning on the first page of the contract schedule failed to comply with s 14(6) of Schedule 1B to the QBCC Act because, while it identified clauses allowing changes to the contract price, it did not contain a brief explanation of the effect of those provisions. Clause 16 (delay damages) was held to create a debt due and payable rather than authorising a change to the contract price, meaning the $25,000 variation lacked contractual foundation and constituted repudiatory conduct by the builder. The builder's insistence on proceeding only with the invalid price increase incorporated entitled the owner to terminate at common law, and the deposit was recoverable on the basis of total failure of consideration following Foran v Wight and CCP Australian Airships.
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