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Wendy Carrafa has been left with a bad taste in her mouth after her purchase of a Gold Coast apartment owned by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and her son Adam resulted in her having to take legal action in order to finalise the deal.
Carrafa exchanged contracts to buy the two-bedder apartment last November for $265,000 and had expected to take possession of it over the Christmas break, but was prevented from doing so after a caveat lodged on title held up the deal.
Carrafa was told by her own lawyer that the caveat was on behalf of another law firm seeking payment for outstanding legal debts owed by Adam Hanson, and that the purchase could not be finalised until it was paid and the caveat removed.
A spokesperson for One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said it was a matter for the lawyers. Photo: Andrew Meares
The stymied sale left Carrafa with her name on the building’s body corporate, but not on title.
The legal tussle that followed has finally seen the caveat removed and Carrafa has secured her ownership of the Biggera Waters apartment, but she is now laden with an outstanding $550 legal bill of her own that she says should be paid by the Hansons.
“At the end of it all I’m the one who has been left with the legal bill,” she said.
Wendy Carrafa had to take legal action in order to finalise a real estate deal. Photo: Bradley Kanaris
“My $550 fee in legal fees will only go up while I fight it,” Carrafa said. “As I told my solicitor, ‘I’m sorry I don’t think I should have to pay it’.”
Carrafa’s lawyer Stephen Jensen, from Monkey Conveyancing, said he has sought those costs from the Hansons’ lawyer, but to no avail.
“It shows a lack of respect for one’s own actions,” said Jensen. “Regardless of the law, the moral view is this is your mess, you should clean it up.”
Adam Hanson declined to comment for this story and a spokesman for Senator Hanson said it was a matter for the lawyers.
Senator Hanson updated the pecuniary interest register on December 19 to note the apartment had been sold.
The Hansons purchased the ground-floor apartment in 2007 for $220,000.
It was listed last October with a $295,000 asking price through LJ Hooker Broadwater with marketing that said: “My instructions are clear, this property must be SOLD!”
Carrafa said Hansons’ lawyers had also initially tried to make her pay the $175 administrative fee to have the caveat lifted, but she had refused.
“That’s not our responsibility,” she said.
“I’m a widow and was buying this apartment in good faith for my disabled sister to live in. It’s not fair that they’ve lumped me with this extra bill.”
Carrafa told Domain last week she had previously been a bit of a fan of Senator Hanson, but not anymore. “This has left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m really quite disappointed and disheartened in Pauline Hanson.”