Flanders Pty Ltd is a building company specialising in the construction of sporting stadia and other facilities.

Flanders Pty Ltd is a building company specialising in the construction of sporting stadia and other

facilities. The company is lookin

g for a large portion of parklands to develop new playing ovals,

training pitches and grandstands to promote various sports at grassroots level. The Flanders team

responsible for purchasing a suitable piece of land finds an area of parklands in Adelaide's

inner

east, owned by Adelaide City Council. The team meets with the Council's sales representative,

who indicates that the land would be perfect for Flanders' purposes. The Flanders team stresses

that the land must meet its strict specifications and be abl

e to cope with frequent use (sports will

be played there almost daily). They ask about irrigation, type of grass and similar issues, and the

Council representative provides accurate responses.

The Flanders team does not, however, ask about the soil condi

tions as the grass looks very lush

and the areas they walked on when inspecting the land appeared firm enough. The Council

representative does not mention that several large sections in the central areas the land are quite

marshy and may not be appropriate

to play sport on, and are certainly too unstable to build upon.

The Flanders team commits to buying the land but are infuriated when their contracted engineer

informs them that the proposed grandstands cannot be built on the land and that the training

pit

ches will have to be rezoned to 'fit' into the firmer grassed areas.

Does Flanders Pty Ltd have any recourse against Adelaide City Council under s 18 of the

Australian

Consumer

Law

?