PROPRIETARY ESTOPPEL AND ABORTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Sutcliffe v Lloyd [2007] EWCA Civ 153; [2007] All ER (D) 364 (Feb)

In Sutcliffe v Lloyd [2007] EWCA Civ 153; [2007] All ER (D) 364 (Feb) the Court of Appeal held that the claimant builder was entitled to succeed in a proprietary estoppel claim against two defendants arising out of a development project which came to an end after planning permission had been obtained but before building work had begun. The court did not consider the form which that relief was to take (which was to be decided in subsequent proceedings) but it held that on the facts Judge Norris had been entitled to conclude that it would be unconscionable to allow the defendants to resile from the promises which they had made to the claimant in relation to the development in which they had all been involved.