Contracts for the sale of a house were about to be exchanged but office copy entries of the vendor’s title at the Land Registry had not yet been supplied. The solicitors agreed that contracts would be exchanged on the basis of a warranty that office copies, when available, would show that the vendor was the registered proprietor. Office copy entries were supplied before completion was due, and the vendor’s title was established. But, in answer to a summons for a summary order for specific performance, the purchaser argued that the contract did not satisfy the requirements of section 2 of the 1989 Act.
Held: The warranty was binding on the vendor even though not given in writing. It was collateral to the principle contract, and outside section 2. The warranty was intended to induce the purchaser to exchange contracts, but it was not itself a term of the sale, and the existence of the warranty did not lead to the conclusion that the requirements of section 2 of the 1989 Act were not satisfied in respect of the contract of sale.
Judges:
Baker QC HHJ
Citations:
Times 21-Dec-1991, [1991] 1 WLR 853
Statutes:
Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 2
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – De Lassalle v Guildford CA 1901
The court was asked whether a representation amounts to a warranty or not.
Held: AL Smith MR said: ‘In determining whether it was so intended, a decisive test is whether the vendor assumes to assert a fact of which the buyer is ignorant, or . .
Cited by:
Cited – Jones and Another v Forest Fencing Limited CA 21-Nov-2001
The sellers of and disputed an order as to whether electrical equipment at the site hd been included in the contract.
Held: ‘the answer to the question ‘what meaning should be given to the words used in the memorandum’ cannot, I think, be a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Land
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.219188