Toni Collette and David Galafassi back in court over failure to settle on $6 million Paddington terrace purchase

Lawyers for Academy Award-nominated actor Toni Collette and her musician husband, David Galafassi, are due in court today given the couple are being sued over their failure to settle on an alleged $6.35 million Paddington terrace purchase.

The further directions hearing into the matter has been scheduled in the NSW Supreme Court equity division.

Last October the couple reputedly signed a contract to buy a double-fronted Paddington terrace from Susie Kelly, the co-founder and owner of Industrie clothing with her husband, Nick.

The Stewart Street house was snapped at an undisclosed price – but understood to be slightly more than $6 million quite early in its October marketing campaign by McGrath agent Ben Collier.

The Paddington terrace over has since been been resold for $5.5 million, so the entertainment industry couple now know the $850,000 quantum of the claim against them, having been sued over their alleged failure to settle on their once intended $6.35 million purchase.

Designed by architect Anthony Gill and completed in 2009, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom house on a 360-square-metre block sold to the couple for a record for the southern side of Oxford Street, Paddington.

Consisting of two classic Victorian terraces combined into a palatial single residence, the contemporary tri-level family retreat had been reinvented after the merger of two terraces costing $2.15 million in 2003 and $1.865 million in 2005.

The entertainment industry couple's plans went awry after they struggled to find a buyer of their Bronte house.

Their 1885 Bronte weatherboard cottage that cost $4.4 million in mid-2009 had been tipped to sell for around $3.5 million through its McGrath Estate Agents listing agent Bethwyn Richards, but struggled to find a buyer.

Collette and Galafassi changed their minds on the Paddington purchase when they instead bought back at Bronte reputedly from the buyer of their own house.

The Kellys bought on Kutti Beach at Vaucluse last March for $15.5 million.