The vendor was accused of failing to prevent a trespasser removing soil from land between exchange and completion.
Where a vendor under a contract for sale of land keeps possession until completion and payment of the purchase-money, he is in the position of a trustee for the purchaser, and bound as such to take reasonable care to preserve the property.
While a vendor so remained in possession, a trespasser without his authority or knowledge removed large quantities of surface soil from the property. A conveyance of the land was subsequently executed, and completion took place,
neither party being then aware of the removal of soil:-
Held: That, notwithstanding the conveyance, the purchaser could maintain an action against the vendor for a breach of trust in taking no care to prevent such removal of the soil.
Lord Coleridge CJ said: ‘in the case of a contract for the sale and purchase of land, although the legal property does not pass until the execution of the conveyance, during the interval prior to completion the vendor in possession is a trustee for the purchaser, and as such has duties to perform towards him, not exactly the same as in the case of other trustees, but certain duties, one of which is to use reasonable care to preserve the property in a reasonable state of preservation, and, so far as may be, as it was when the contract was made.’
Judges:
Lord Coleridge CJ
Citations:
[1891] 2 QB 456, [1891] UKLawRpKQB 133
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Englewood Properties Limited v Patel and Another ChD 16-Feb-2005
The claimant was a property developer, which sought to sell a row of shops at auction. One lot was a Woolworths store, where the company owned both freehold and leasehold interests, with Woolworths occupying an underlease, which the claimant had . .
Cited – Michaels v Harley House (Marylebone) Limited CA 6-Nov-1998
Appeal from dismissal of claim for relief from forfeiture . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Equity
Updated: 26 November 2022; Ref: scu.223739