FLK2 · Land Law

Proprietary estoppel & licences

SQE1 revision notes — the key rules, leading cases and common traps for this topic, in plain English and current to 2026.

LL.09 — Proprietary Estoppel & Licences

Proprietary estoppel: the three elements

A claim arises where (per Thorner v Major [2009] UKHL 18):

Assurance — a representation or promise (active or passive/acquiescence) by D that C has or will get a right in D's land. It need not be precise but must be "clear enough" in context.
Reliance — C relied on the assurance. Reliance is presumed once assurance + detriment are shown; the burden shifts to D to disprove it.
Detriment — substantial, need not be financial (e.g. unpaid work, foregone career, life choices). Judged at the moment D resiles from the assurance (Gillett v Holt [2001]).

Plus an overarching requirement that it would be unconscionable for D to go back on the assurance.

Satisfying the equity (remedy)

The court has wide discretion to do "the minimum equity to do justice." Remedies range from a fee simple/lease, to a charge, occupation right, or money. The aim is to satisfy the equity, not automatically deliver the promised expectation. Guest v Guest [2022] UKSC 27: start from the expectation, but the remedy must not be out of proportion to the detriment; D may be allowed to satisfy it by paying compensation (often with a discount for accelerated receipt).

Key contrast — estoppel vs common intention constructive trust

Estoppel = D's assurance + C's detrimental reliance; remedy is discretionary.
CICT (Stack v Dowden, Jones v Kernott) = shared common intention + detriment; gives a fixed proprietary share quantified on the whole course of dealing. Don't conflate the two.

Licences

A licence makes lawful what would otherwise be a trespass; it is personal, not proprietary.

Bare licence — gratuitous; revocable on reasonable notice.
Contractual licence — governed by contract terms; revocation in breach gives damages/injunction but does not bind third parties (Ashburn Anstalt v Arnold).
Licence coupled with an interest — attaches to a recognised property right (e.g. profit); irrevocable while the interest lasts.
Estoppel licence — can be enforced and the equity may bind a successor under LRA 2002 if protected.

Common traps

Estoppel is the classic exception to s.2 LP(MP)A 1989 — it can rescue a "deal" with no signed written contract (Cobbe v Yeoman's Row warns it won't normally cure a deliberately incomplete commercial deal).
A licence is never an interest in land — so a bare/contractual licence does not bind a buyer (no Boland/Sch 3 overriding interest from a licence alone).
Detriment is assessed when D resiles, not when the promise was made.
Remedy is discretionary and proportionate — don't assume C gets the whole promised property.

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Three friends — Anya, Ben and Carl — buy a house together as legal and equitable joint tenants. Relations between them sour. Anya writes a letter to Ben and Carl stating: 'I am hereby severing my joint tenancy in the house with immediate effect and I wish to hold my share separately from now on.' She signs and dates it and posts it by ordinary first-class post to the house, where all three live. The letter is delivered and Ben reads it. Carl, who is away, never sees it because Anya later retrieves the letter and destroys it before Carl returns. Which of the following best describes the effect of Anya's letter?

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