About 20 buyers are preparing to take Queensland developer Cadmium Land to the Supreme Court after their contracts for townhouses at Urbana Residences in Coomera were terminated under sunset clauses, despite construction nearing completion.
The purchasers signed contracts in 2021 and were told the Gold Coast development would be ready within 12 months. Five years later, the homes are close to being finished, but the buyers say they have been left with refunds instead of the properties they agreed to purchase.
Samuel Amey signed for a three-bedroom townhouse priced at $649,000 in December 2021 and paid a deposit of about $58,000. He said the buyers had entered the agreements believing the developer would complete the project within the promised timeframe.
“We entered into the contract in good faith, thinking that the developer would complete the project on time,” Mr Amey told 7NEWS.
Cadmium Land terminated the contracts in 2025, citing the development’s sunset clause. Such provisions can allow either party to end an off-the-plan contract if a project has not reached completion by an agreed date.
The buyers allege the clause was used to cancel agreements for properties that had increased sharply in value during the lengthy construction period. Some homes bought for about $500,000 are now believed by the purchasers to be worth close to twice that amount.
Urbana Residences buyers seek Supreme Court action
Duke Myrtza, of Australian Law Partners, is representing the group. He alleges the developer has benefited from the rise in property prices after the contracts were terminated.
“The increase in value has been used by the developer for the developers own purposes,” Mr Myrtza said.
Some buyers only received their deposits back in recent weeks. Masoumeh Mohsen said she and her family had been forced to find another home after years of waiting.
“That’s why we went and just bought a four-bedroom house — to be giving our children a room each,” she said.
Cadmium Land has denied allegations that it deliberately delayed construction. Lawyers for the company told the ABC that the seller rejected claims of neglect, a failure to act diligently, contractual breaches and misleading or deceptive conduct.
The company did not respond to requests for comment from 7NEWS.
The dispute has also fed calls for changes to Queensland’s property laws. Samuel Amey lodged a parliamentary petition seeking tighter protections for off-the-plan buyers, which attracted more than 1,700 signatures.
The Queensland Government announced a review of sunset clause reforms in September 2025. Consultation closed on 10 October, with the review examining whether changes introduced in November 2023 were working effectively.
Those reforms require a buyer’s written consent or a Supreme Court order before a seller can use a sunset clause to terminate certain off-the-plan land contracts. However, the protections do not cover every type of off-the-plan property transaction, including some townhouse and community-title arrangements.
The Urbana buyers say their legal action will test whether the developer was entitled to rely on the sunset clauses after the prolonged delays and as the properties approached completion.
