I have to say it sounds like a smart and sneaky investor ploy to push some out so that they can move in and reap the benefits… before too long prices go up again and people realise that it was wrong. I for one hope this stagnates prices for the next 3-6months as I am on the verge of buying another property and would hate to see prices jump just before I buy!! :p

Anything that hold prices back for the short term will only cause a mini boom/sudden spike in prices once a correction catches up in time anyway,..

At the end of the day unless you are trying to make a quick buck, what you can afford to pay and finance today should be what you are looking at and not if price "might" got up or down, in the long term they will always go up regardless of short term rises and falls. If you can afford it today, you can still afford to hold it tomorrow, even when it goes down in value, however if it spikes in value permanently can you still afford it? If you will be driven out of the market due to price increases, and they never come back down wouldn't you be kicking yourself for not getting in sooner? However if you get in now and your property price drops by 5-10% for a couple of years, even in 10-20 years I can all but guarantee it will be worth substantially more than what you paid for it (unless the end of the world was upon us).

Don't listen to the doom and gloom, they probably don't want you to buy so they can get in on the good deals that you would of otherwise got before them.

Unfortunately I doubt you will be able to blame your solicitor, for one he may be crap but I doubt has broken any law or duty to you which would open him to being sued. Secondly solicitors don't like to sue each other very often (unless they are the one suing not on behalf of a client) as they like to protect their own, it keeps themselves safe for when they stuff up one day and need the "boys club" protection. Also it is not his fault you buyer has shot off on a holiday.

Your options would be to resell to someone else (and risk losing your new property) or continue with the sale if you have a date when this guy gets back. Unfortunately if you didn't make a definitive date that settlement must occur by then you can't really do much, as the buyer can sit there and wait for you to pull out.

You won't like this last part, but legally YOU are to blame as you chose the solicitor and you agreed to the contract end date. Hopefully this guy gets back from his holiday soon and does the right thing, in future make sure the contract has a date to finalise by as he would then pay substantial interest for every day he is late. (my in-laws recently sold their place with a fudged date, due to the buys needing to sell other property first, however the date was still 30-90 days, so the buyers had to finalise by the 90 day mark)

Personally I find people like your solicitor hate to be bugged, so ring him daily – 2 or 3 times a day, to bug him about what is going on, if you are constantly on him, he will chase it up to get you off his back, this is your money and your property we are talking about, and he is working for you. Make sure he gets a date for when your buyer will get home.

GL with it and hope it works out for you.

Id say with the current "housing crisis" that Australia is experiencing you have bucklies of stopping the development, and the legal costs to try would be enormous.

I'd suggest petitioning your strata or local council, and suggest they put a give way or stop sign in near your driveway, so that the new residents have to give way to you. If this doesn't eliminate the blind spot then mirrors put in place to be able to see traffic may also help. You may find some or all of this (including traffic management on the private property, common driveway) is strata's responsibility.

At the end of the day the only way to get something done is to make a fuss about it until they decide that a solution to your problem is easier than dealing with constant complaints. The more residents – from both apartment blocks, that complain, the more likely something will get done.

The only situation I can think of that would fall into this category of a "short notice situation" without knowing it was going to happen (as most people can usually see what is going on up ahead or can just refuse it) is someone in the military. If you friend is in the ADF and has had a short notice deployment or posting and has been required to move because of "service reasons" there are new provisions that came out this financial year (09-10) which make them exempt from having to live in it for 6 months.

here is information on the NSW  Government rules:

http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/benefits/first_home/

not sure where the ruling for the federal government is but it is out there somewhere. (We all know how tight the NSW Government are, and they wouldn't pass this ruling unless the Federal Gvoernment already had :p )

If your friend is not in this category, (knowing that they have 12 months in which to occupy the property for a period of 6 continuous months or more) then unless he/she plans to move back into it within 12 months of purchasing the property, your friend should consider declaring that they have moved out and consider repaying the grant. If they got stamp duty exemption they may wish to remember that they will have to pay this back too (I know mine in Sydney last year was just over 15k for a property just over 400k).

Its their choice if they want run the gauntlet, so if they are not in the ADF or cannot move back into it in the near future (within 12 months of settlement). Then they are not eligible and I don't recall seeing any other provisions for it.