Cases - Armstrong v Strain

Record details

Name

Armstrong v Strain

Date

[1952]

Citation

1 KB 232

Keywords

Estate agency

Summary

The defendant owned a bungalow in Southend that had been underpinned 5 times because of shrinkage of the clay soil on which it stood. On the last occasion, the property was also substantially redecorated and then put up for sale. The defendant engaged a firm of estate agents, but did not inform them of the underpinning. One of the partners of the firm told the plaintiff that he had seen the bungalow and that any building society would lend £1,200 on it. Another agent told him that it was a very nice house. Both these statements were found to have been honestly made. The evidence did not show that the defendant had any knowledge of what the agents said. Neither had he given the agent any authority to make such statements.

Soon after the plaintiffs moved in, cracks appeared because the bungalow was settling further. The court heard evidence to the effect that a reputable estate agent, knowing the history of the building, would have advised a building society to have nothing to do with it and sent no applicant to see it.

The plaintiffs alleged that, as the principal knew the truth and there was no division between principal and agent, there was a fraudulent misrepresentation. The Court of Appeal held that there was no fraud as neither principal or agent had acted dishonestly.