Cohabitee’s rights (2)

Sharon James v Peter Anthony Thomas [2007] EWCA Civ 1212; [2007] All ER (D) 373 (Nov)

The defendant bought a property a number of years before he met the claimant. They formed a relationship and the claimant moved into the property where they had lived together as man and wife for about 15 years. During that time the claimant had helped the defendant with his agricultural building and drainage business and had then become a partner in it. Together they had carried out extensive works of renovation to the property. She did hard manual work – digging trenches, laying concrete, tarmac and gravel and driving a tipper truck for no remuneration. After the relationship ended the claimant sought a declaration that the defendant held the property on trust for the two of them in equal shares or in such shares as the court should determine. The judge held that there was insufficient evidence to support the claim of a constructive trust based on a common understanding or common intention that she should have a share in the property. He further held that she had not acquired an interest in the property by way of proprietary estoppel based on assurances made to her by the defendant. The claimant appealed arguing that the judge had failed to recognise and give effect to the propositions of law that: (1) the common intention necessary to found a constructive trust or proprietary estoppel might be formed at any time after the acquisition of the property; (2) such common intention might be inferred from evidence of the parties” conduct during the whole course of their dealings in relation to the property; (3) a proprietary estoppel or constructive trust could arise where the defendant had assured her, or led her to believe, that she would obtain a beneficial interest in the property without specifying the extent of that interest.