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LANDLORD AND TENANT PROPRIETARY ESTOPPEL
Chancery Division
30 November 2021
Judge Jarman QC (sitting as a High Court judge)
[2021]EWHC3180(Ch)
[2021 ]PLSCS 204
Landlord and tenant - Possession
- Proprietary estoppel - Identified property - Claimant landlords issuing claim for possession of farm for permitted development - Defendant tenants defending claim pursuant to doctrine of proprietary estoppel in reliance on promises made by claimants
- Whether promises proprietary in character as relating to identified property - Whether acts of detriment relied on sufficient to establish proprietary estoppel - Claim allowed The claimants were the landlords of Maesllech Farm (the farm) Radyr, Cardiff. The first defendant held tenancies of the farm dated 1965 and 1968 which were protected under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. The second defendant (his son) worked on the farm. When the first defendant died in September 2021, the second defendant was substituted as a defendant, as his father's personal representative, as well as in his own right.
The claimants obtained planning permission for a housing development on the farm to be carried out in phases over 20 years. In January 2018, they served notices to quit under case B of schedule 3 in Parti of the 1986 Act on the basis that the land was required for development.
The notices were challenged by the defendants. An arbitrator appointed under the 1986 Act upheld the validity of the notices, accepting the evidence that all the land was required at the date of the expiry of the notices or shortly thereafter. An appeal was dismissed.
Thereafter, the claimants issued a claim for possession of the farm. A defence and Part 20 claim were served, alleging...