A second appeal as to whether the claimant had established that she had a 50% beneficial interest as an equitable co-owner in a house in Bolton. The first appeal had decided that she did not. She had lived there from 2000 to 2012 with the defendant, to whom the claimant's father had transferred the legal title for nil consideration in 2008. The couple had not been married. Henderson LJ considered that although the district judge had misdirected herself in relation to the requirement of detrimental reliance, it was sufficiently clear from her findings and the contemporary documents that the requirement was in fact satisfied. The appeal was therefore allowed on that basis. The claimant had agreed to the property being transferred into the defendant's sole name, when the previous intention had been for a transfer into joint names, and had given her consent due to the defendant's false representation that he would otherwise be unable to obtain a mortgage. David Richards and Nugee LJJ agreed.
Published: 07/12/2020
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