› Sub-sale provisions — transfers involving land development
Revenue law
› Duties
› Transfer right — meaning of — nominee under standard nomination clause
Contract law
› Sale of land
› Nominee clauses — rights of nominee against vendor and purchaser
Revenue law
› Duties
› Section 32I Duties Act 2000 — application to standard GC18 nomination
Quick Take
1A nominee under a standard GC18 nomination clause in a land sale contract obtains a 'transfer right' within the meaning of s 32I(1)(b) of the Duties Act 2000, notwithstanding that the nominee acquires no enforceable rights against the vendor; it is sufficient that the nominee acquires rights against the purchaser, including the ability to enforce the contract by suing jointly with or in the name of the purchaser, analogous to the position of an equitable assignee of a chose in action.
2Subsections 32I(2) and (3), which expressly contemplate nomination as a means by which a subsequent purchaser obtains a transfer right, provide contextual support for construing s 32I(1)(b) as encompassing standard nomination arrangements, and an interpretation rendering those subsections ineffective would be contrary to s 35 of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984.
3The dictum of Nettle J in Commissioner of State Revenue v Politis [2004] VSC 126 at [15]–[17] — that a nominee may enforce the contract by joining the purchaser as co-plaintiff or co-defendant — is a considered statement of a Supreme Court judge binding on VCAT, and supports the conclusion that a nominee acquires equivalent rights sufficient to constitute a transfer right.
