INTERPRETATION AND RECTIFICATION

In Woodford Land Ltd v Persimmon Homes Ltd [2011] EWHC 984 (Ch), [2011] All ER (D) 205 (May) Mr Justice Henderson, having adopted a particular interpretation of the contract which was favourable to the claimants, held that the claimants were not entitled to the remedy of rectification.

The facts

The case concerned an option agreement for the sale of a development site in Doncaster. The claimants were the vendors and the defendants the purchasers. The claimants submitted that both parties entered into the agreement in the belief and with the common intention that the cost of providing affordable housing (as required by the grant of planning permission) would be the responsibility of the defendants. The claimants sought rectification of the agreement in order to give effect to this common intention. The defendants denied that there was any such common intention.