proprietary estoppel

Question 1

what are the ingredients of estoppel?

Answer 1

• assurance
• reliance
• detriment
• leads to a state of unsconscionability

Question 2

what amounts to an assurance?

Answer 2

• there must be a clear unequivocal representation
• the claimant must have been led to believe that they have/will have some right over property
• active encouragement
• passive encouragement

Question 3

what is active encouragement?

Answer 3

active encouragement to spend the money or written or oral assurance that the property is/will be theirs - easier to prove

Question 4

what is passive encouragement?

Answer 4

standing by and knowingly watching reliance - there are difficulties of proof with this

Question 5

what amounts to detriment?

Answer 5

the detriment needs to be something substantial
need not consist of the expenditure of money or other quantifiable detriment

Question 6

why enforce estoppel?

Answer 6

unconscionability - it has become unconscionable for the promisor to change their mind
unjust enrichment - if the promisor changes their mind they have become unjustly enriched

Question 7

what does proprietary estoppel dodge?

Answer 7

both consideration and formalities

Question 8

what is proptietary estoppel?

Answer 8

an informal means of acquiring estates in land

Question 9

what must the courts differentiate between in terms of detrimental reliance?

Answer 9

those acts the promisee would have done anyway from those they are induced to do by promise

Question 10

what are the limitations on estoppel-finding?

Answer 10

• the detriment must flow from reasonable reliance on the assurance - Powell v Benney
• detriment does not include work that would have been done regardless of the validity of interest - Taylors Fashions Ltd v Liverpool Victoria Trustees Co [1982]

Question 11

what are the remedies provided by proprietary estoppel?

Answer 11

• proprietary estoppel creates an equitable right in the property
• the court seeks a remedy sufficient to satisfy the equity
• the minimum equity in order to do justice to the claimant

Question 12

for most property transactions what is the process\?

Answer 12

• identify the kinds of property involved
• describe the precise transaction being done
• find and apply the correct rules for transaction of property

Question 13

what are the different kinds of property?

Answer 13

realty
personalty

Question 14

what is personalty divided into?

Answer 14

• choses in possession = physical property
• choses in action = abstract intangible stuff which can be represented by something physical e.g. cheques, shares, debts and interests under a trust

Question 15

what are the three basic transactions which you can do with property?

Answer 15

• create property
• transfer the property
• declare a trust of the property

Question 16

what are three key cases to do with proprietary estoppel

Answer 16

Yeoman’s Row v Cobbe [2008]
Thorner v Major [2009]
Guest v Guest [2022]

Question 17

what is crucial to the establishment of estoppel?

Answer 17

detrimental reliance