ABSTRACT
For example, in English v Dedham Vale Properties103 an elderly couple agreed to sell their bungalow and four acres to a property company. Between the signing of the contract and the conveyance of the property, the property company, without informing the couple but using their name, applied for planning permission in respect of the four acres and when this was granted the value of the land increased substantially. After the conveyance the couple discovered what had happened and brought an action for damages based on misrepresentation (cf Chapter 9 § 7; Chapter 12 § 7) and an action for an account of profits in equity. Slade J held that the damages claim had to fail because the property company’s behaviour did not actually amount to a misrepresentation; however, the claim for an account of the profit succeeded on the basis that there was a fiduciary relationship between the plaintiffs and defendants. The fiduciary relationship meant that the profit obtained by the property company could not in all conscience be retained and account was the remedy through which the equitable obligation was given expression.
