The Supreme Court of Tasmania held that a vendor's unequivocal statement that a contract for sale of land 'will not be completed', made on a baseless ground (here, alleged incapacity), constituted repudiation by anticipatory breach which became actual breach when the completion date passed. A vendor's notice to complete was invalid where the vendor was itself in breach of the contract by failing to provide a Transferor (Vendor) Transaction Certificate within the contractually stipulated timeframe, and the subsequent notice of termination was therefore ineffective. On the construction of a special condition requiring the vendor to 'agree to the removal of covenants', the Court held this imposed only an obligation to formally agree in writing to removal when reasonably requested — not to actually procure removal — and that this was a condition subsequent capable of performance before or after completion, meaning the purchaser's prior erroneous insistence on actual removal did not ultimately preclude specific performance where the purchaser was otherwise ready, willing and able to complete.
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