NSW Dispute over owner disclosure

Husband and wife jointly own investment property.

Wife uses property to run holiday letting business as a sole trader.

Husband has no association with the business the wife runs on the property.

Business has informal ‘lease’ on the property which husband had agreed to prior to separation and is valid until March 2020.

Parties seperate.

Wife obtains exclusive occupancy of investment property until settlement.

Wife refuses to give full and frank disclosure of financials of business to the husband.

Husband requires past and present booking statements from the properties booking agent company to establish value of property to then apply for finance to buy the wife out. The wife is refusing to provide this.

The booking agent company states that to provide this information is a breach of their heads of agreement.

Where does the husband stand from a legal standpoint to access these statements?

As an owner of the property does the husband have any legal right to access these statements other than having the court issue a subpoena?

Is there a legal clause or something someone could provide me with he could possibly show the booking agent to persuade them to provide him this information?

Thank you.

Alert said:

He does have legal right to obtain the information.
I’m reading your post as an investment property which the couple lease to someone else, who run a business on the property, is this correct?

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The couple own the property together but the wife has a business which is technically leasing the property.

She is required to give full disclosure however she refuses to.

The husband wants to access this information without her as the ‘business owner’ permission.

Alert said:

Do you know if the business is registered?
I can’t think of any reason why she would not provide the information.
Does the lady have a seperate account for the business only, or is her name and not the business name on the account?

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The business name was registered and she was trading under that name, however she has not paid the business registration fees for sometime and ASIC have cancelled the business name. I believe she can continue to trade as a sole trader but I am not aware of any ramifications from continuing to trade under a business name that is cancelled?

The main issue is the husband wants to know the details of all previous bookings and all future bookings so he can present to a mortgage broker the fact the property is run as a successful holiday business and therefore worth more money to increase his borrowing capacity.

The wife does have septette accounts as a sole trader for the business and she is refusing the provide them to solicitors as a part of disclosure. We believe she is taking a large amount of money from this business and not disclosing it.