Property Rights-Land Law-England and Wales
SUMMARY OF ADVICE
Lydia can probably claim a beneficial interest under proprietary estoppel where she can claim for damages from Cynthia. Lydia may also have a contractual licence with Cynthia which Cynthia cannot revoke at will.
Lydia Barnet’s (Client) Objectives
Lydia does not want to vacate the cottage which she has lived in and maintained for ten years. Lydia is looking for a solution which will enable her to make this possible. She knows there has not been a formal agreement between herself and Cynthia that will enable her to live in the cottage however long she chooses. Before Lydia moved into the cottage, Lydia told her she could live there for as long as she wanted. All she had to do was keep up with the maintenance. Cynthia sold the cottage to Digby and he was aware of the arrangement made between Cynthia and Lydia as per the email correspondence between Cynthia and Lydia. Digby paid much less for the cottage because of this arrangement.
Approaches
There are four possible areas of law which I will be looking at to come up with the best possible solution for Lydia. I will be looking at contract to determine if there was breach by Cynthia? Does Lydia have a beneficial interest? If Lydia does have a beneficial interest, what kind of interest is it, an interest under constructive trust and/ or proprietary estoppel? Was there are contractual licence between Cynthia and Lydia?
1. Breach of contract if there in one?
Is there a contract between Lydia and Cynthia?
A contract can be defined as a legally enforceable agreement1. There are three essential elements of a contract; these are agreement (offer and acceptance), consideration and intention to create legal relations.
An offer can be defined as an “expression of willingness to contract on the specified terms without further negotiation and must be distinguished from an invitation to treat2
In this case, it looks like an offer was made by Cynthia to
Lydia can probably claim a beneficial interest under proprietary estoppel where she can claim for damages from Cynthia. Lydia may also have a contractual licence with Cynthia which Cynthia cannot revoke at will.
Lydia Barnet’s (Client) Objectives
Lydia does not want to vacate the cottage which she has lived in and maintained for ten years. Lydia is looking for a solution which will enable her to make this possible. She knows there has not been a formal agreement between herself and Cynthia that will enable her to live in the cottage however long she chooses. Before Lydia moved into the cottage, Lydia told her she could live there for as long as she wanted. All she had to do was keep up with the maintenance. Cynthia sold the cottage to Digby and he was aware of the arrangement made between Cynthia and Lydia as per the email correspondence between Cynthia and Lydia. Digby paid much less for the cottage because of this arrangement.
Approaches
There are four possible areas of law which I will be looking at to come up with the best possible solution for Lydia. I will be looking at contract to determine if there was breach by Cynthia? Does Lydia have a beneficial interest? If Lydia does have a beneficial interest, what kind of interest is it, an interest under constructive trust and/ or proprietary estoppel? Was there are contractual licence between Cynthia and Lydia?
1. Breach of contract if there in one?
Is there a contract between Lydia and Cynthia?
A contract can be defined as a legally enforceable agreement1. There are three essential elements of a contract; these are agreement (offer and acceptance), consideration and intention to create legal relations.
An offer can be defined as an “expression of willingness to contract on the specified terms without further negotiation and must be distinguished from an invitation to treat2
In this case, it looks like an offer was made by Cynthia to