Ellen is a graduate of The College
of Alternative Medicine and is looking to start her own business. She decides
to open a meditation studio and looks around the inner city suburb of
Paddington for suitable premises. She eventually finds a perfect terrace house
near to Oxford St. (the main street). The owner of the premises is willing to
enter a 12 month lease however Ellen asks him to wait for a week so that she
can check with the local council as to the suitability of her business.Ellen attends the council offices and
goes to the counter marked “Business Inquiries”. She asks several questions of
the council employee including a question about building work in the area. She
says “my meditation studio requires a calm environment is there anything that
could cause noise nearby?” The council officer is called away before being able
to answer. When he returns he has a very quick look at the computer and says to
Ellen “relax everything will be fine”.Ellen
signs the lease the next day however within 2 weeks of opening the meditation
studio she sees builders arrive next door. She asks one of them how long they
will be working next door. The builder replies “It’s a big job, a total
renovation. It should take at least 6 months”.Ellen tries to run her meditation studio but the noise from the
building is too stressful on Ellen and her clients. In fact a month into the
building Ellen is so stressed that she develops a nervous disorder that
threatens her career in alternative medicine.

Discuss whether Ellen has a claim against the council in
relation to the advice she received.

The use of Australian
commercial law is to be made when answering the questions.

Attachments:

CLW1000-Assig….doc