The appellants had resisted giving a flat, claiming a promissory estoppel based on the respondents having more than once said that the appellants could live in the premises rent free for as long as they needed. The appellants said that some pounds 1339.90 had been spent relying upon that promise. The appellants produced a letter given to their solicitor to support the particulars. The writer said he had carried out the works. He no longer had details, but could confirm the details from his ledgers. The letter was found to be a complete fiction. He had done no work, had no ledgers and had not been paid. Both appellants knew that it was wholly false.
Held: If the falsity of the Robins’ letter had not been discovered it would have been relied upon throughout the proceedings. ‘I find it difficult to see how there could be any more serious conduct than that. When a party comes to the Court and seeks to obtain from it equitable relief, it is accepted, as I have said, that he must come with clean hands. I accept also, as was submitted on behalf of the appellants, that not every item of misconduct can possibly be sufficient to deprive a party who seeks equity from being granted the relief he seeks. Some misconduct may be trivial. But when a party acts as these parties have done – and Joanna Willis must be regarded as having been concerned in this, albeit indirectly, in as much as the document was put forward on behalf of both the appellants – it seems to be impossible for this Court to do other than to take the most serious view of it and to decline to grant equitable relief even if, to which I say nothing because it does not arise on the view I take of this case, they would otherwise have been so entitled.’ (Sir John Donaldson MR) ‘The conduct of the appellants which has been disclosed in this case was such that no Court could, in my judgment, possibly grant equitable relief.’ and ‘When a person seeks the aid of the Court to obtain the Court’s assistance, via the principles of equity, to override somebody’s strict legal rights, it is clearly a case for the application of the maxim, as indeed is accepted by the appellants, ‘that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’.’
Judges:
Parker LJ, Sir John Donaldson MR
Citations:
[1986] 1 EGLR 62
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Gillett v Holt and Another CA 23-Mar-2000
Repeated Assurances Created Equitable Estoppel
Repeated assurances, given over years, that the claimant would acquire an interest in property on the death of the person giving the re-assurance, and upon which the claimant relied to his detriment, could found a claim of equitable estoppel. The . .
Cited – Gonthier and Another v Orange Contract Scaffolding Ltd CA 25-Jun-2003
The question of a proprietary estoppel as between landlord and tenant arose. An agreement had been reached subject to contract for the grant of a lease, with an option to purchase. The tenant was allowed into possession before the documentation was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Estoppel, Trusts
Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.183377