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REAL PROPERTY | OPTION AGREEMENT
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
16 December 2020
Macurand Asplin LJJ and Marcus Smith J
[2020] EWCA Civ 1704
[2020] PLSCS 228
Real property - Option agreement -Planning permission - Appellant giving notice to trigger option to purchase farm on basis that planning permission obtained as required by option agreement - High Court determiningthat permission for new roof was not planning permission within option agreement - Appellant appealing - Whether planning permission meaning permission to develop whole, or substantially whole, of property - Appeal dismissed By an agreement dated 9 November 2002, the appellant had an option to acquire Bethwines Farm, a 117-acre farm in Fishbourne, near Chichester, West Sussex. The farm comprised open fields and farm buildings. Under the option, which was due to expire on 31 December 2020, the appellant was entitled to acquire the farm at a 30% discount to its open-market value.
The option was triggered by the obtaining of a "planning permission" which was defined in clause 1.9 of the option agreement as "a planning permission granted by the local planning authority permitting any development of the property"
In 2016, the appellant obtained planning permission to erect a new pitched roof on one of the existing farm buildings. The appellant had no intention of implementing the permission and it expired. However, in 2018 it gave notice to trigger the option on the basis that it had obtained a planning permission.
The High Court decided that, on a proper interpretation of the words "any development of the property" in the definition in clause 1.9, a "planning permission" meant a planning permission for development of the whole, or substantially...