Despite numerous complaints and a law change to protect buyers almost a year ago, Canberra investors are still being issued rescission notices on their off-the-plan property purchase contracts.
Among them is Elley Clayton, who purchased an off-the-plan apartment from 3 Property Group's Allegro apartment complex, before receiving a rescission notice last month.
"Up until now, we've been really excited … construction started a little bit later than we were anticipating," Ms Clayton said.
"The day that we actually received the rescission notice, we took our four-month-old baby to take photos out the front. We thought it would be nice to watch him grow as the development grows behind us."
3 Property Group cited an inability to obtain financing and challenges with development application approvals as their reasons for the rescission.
She said the ordeal has left her family feeling "stressed" and "heartbroken".
"It feels quite cruel that we have been told that … for numerous reasons that our portion of Allegro will not be going ahead, to still drive past and see multiple people on site."
"It's been heartbreaking, especially the fact that we're a young family.
"We entered into the contract before a lot of the market growth that has occurred recently had happened so we're in a situation and position now where we can't afford to get back into what we had at Allegro."
Ms Clayton said her family was pursuing legal action.
"At this point, we haven't agreed [to the rescission notice]," she said.
"We're willing to take all appropriate actions to defend ourselves."
It is not the first time a buyer has rasied concerns upon receiving a rescission notice.
Calls for a change to the legislation that governs property sales were made over a year ago after dozens of complaints from people who purchased off-the-plan properties from developer 3 Property Group.
Under previous laws, the developer was able to rescind contracts, citing "sunset clauses" which allowed either the seller or the buyer to exit the deal before settlement.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury changed the law so that a buyer would have to be given 28 days' notice in writing of a developer's intention to rescind a sale, which the buyer must then consent to.
The legislation also demanded that in cases where there was no agreement, the ACT Supreme Court would have to decide whether the rescission of the deal was fair and equitable, and the developer seeking the rescission would be responsible for legal costs.
But despite these changes, buyers are still reporting receiving the notices, crushing their home ownership dreams.
Updates from developers sometimes 'smoke and mirrors'
Adero Law principal lawyer Rory Markham said he had heard of at least 15 people who had been affected by rescissions since the law changed last November.
"You can think that something's going to be delivered, you can be told 'building's underway' and then all of a sudden, a letter from your conveyancing lawyers saying it's all smoke and mirrors," Mr Markham said.
He said he believed property developers were still willing to rescind contracts as they did not think people were aware of the protections in place.
"Ultimately, there's a real power imbalance between developers and unit owners," he said.
"The idea is that a unit owner won't go to court to enforce their rights. Laws are only useful if people are informed of their rights."
And he added that he would encourage all investors who found themselves in the same scenario as Ms Clayton to use the laws available to them.
"We are basically encouraging people to come forward and basically say to the developer, 'we have heard this excuse three times now — we are going to take you to court and we are going to have to put you to test on evidence that you are not able to develop this property'," he said.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said he did not know before today that this was still happening, but encouraged purchasers to learn their rights.
"I would say to anybody who's received a letter from the developer, talk to your lawyer. Because you have a lot more rights than you did this time last year," Mr Rattenbury said.
"I'm not sure yet that the property developers are exploiting a loophole … The government will now get in contact with the people who have received these letters and we'll follow these letters to see how they play out."
He also encouraged buyers to do some research prior to purchasing a property.
"There is a handful of companies who appear to be exploiting consumers in a way that many people deem unfair," he said.
"We can't legislate against people doing awful things.
"What we are trying to do is make sure that when somebody does something that seems unfair or unreasonable, that there is legal recourse for the buyers in these circumstances," he said.
3 Property Group did not reply to questions from the ABC.
