Toni Collette's Paddington terrace property dispute court proceedings kick off Monday in Sydney

Lights, camera, action! Well, perhaps not within the NSW Supreme Court room.

A three-day Sydney court hearing has been scheduled starting Monday with the actor Toni Collette and her musician husband, David Galafassi, being sued over their failure to settle on an alleged $6.35 million Paddington terrace purchase.

Collette, who was snapped only recently by the paparazzi in Sydney in News Ltd papers, is reportedly, according to Fairfax Media, going to be absent from the courtroom corridors.

She is currently filming a movie about the search for happiness. With filming scheduled in Canada and London, a first production still for “Hector and the Search for Happiness”, featuring Simon Pegg and Toni Collette, has been recently posted on a Toni Collette fan website.

The May 13 to May 15 court hearing dates back to October 2011 when 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 up – quite early in its marketing campaign through low-key McGrath agent Ben Collier.

However the Paddington terrace has since been been resold for $5.5 million, so the entertainment industry couple face an $850,000-plus claim against them for the difference.

Designed by architect Anthony Gill and completed in 2009, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom house sits on a 360-square-metre block.

The entertainment industry couple made their alleged decision not to proceed with the Paddington purchase after they struggled to find a buyer of theirBronte house.

Their 1885 Bronte weatherboard cottage that cost $4.4 million in mid-2009 struggled to find a buyer despite being tipped to sell for around $900,000 less than their purchase price.

Collette and Galafassi instead bought back at Bronte, swapping homes with the buyer of their own $3.5 million house.

The Kellys bought on Kutti Beach at Vaucluse  in March last year for $15.5 million, so incurred a land tax charge on the redundant Paddington property.

So their damages claim against the entertianment industry couple also includes a claim for $43,516 in state land tax and interest for four months.

The $6.35 million sale of the five-bedroom home was allegedly due to be settled by late December 2011, but Collette's lawyer, David Carr, told the Kellys' lawyer in an email on New Year's Eve last year his clients intended "not to proceed" with the purchase.

Collette and Galafassi are also arguing the vendors resold the property under value.

They claim the price ought to have been $6.25 million, according to documents filed in the Supreme Court.