The Commercial Bar Association of Victoria Inc. A0120851O
In resolving the determination of a priority dispute between a beneficiary of a trust and an equitable mortgagee, the Court applied principles regarding “postponing” conduct to beneficiaries (and the rule in Shropshire’s case) and considered the relevance of surrounding commercial circumstances, including the failure to caveat.
The Court of Appeal has considered the scope of the COVID-19 protections introduced to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) – in particular, the interaction between the deeming provisions (by which certain breaches of leases were deemed not to be breaches during the period of COVID-19) and the regime by which VCAT could make a possession order in respect of residential property. The Court of Appeal found that landlords were not, if rental was not paid during the extended period of the COVID-19 protection legislation because of a “COVID-19 reason”, entitled to a possession order against a residential tenant.
In a recent examination of indefeasibility of title as it applies to persons with knowledge of existing equitable interests and volunteers, the Court of Appeal broadened the circumstances in which knowledge of a trust might affect one’s title and reversed the Victorian position regarding the “volunteer exception”.