Cases - Gosling v Anderson
Record details
- Name
- Gosling v Anderson
- Date
- [1972]
- Citation
- EGD 709
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Estate agency - Misrepresentation Act 1967
- Summary
-
The defendant was selling a flat to the plaintiff. The plaintiff required a garage as well. The defendant's estate agent wrote to the plaintiff stating that he had been informed by the defendant that planning consent for a garage had been granted. In his judgment, Lord Denning appears to have assumed, without examining the issue, that the agent had authority to make representations about the property, and said that, in order to recover damages for an innocent misrepresentation under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 it is sufficient that the agent made a statement which was in fact untrue, although he believed it to be true.
In his concurring judgment, Lord Justice Roskill states that the judge at first instance was wrong in stating that the agent had ostensible authority, as he had actual authority. Actual authority includes implied authority, and this, presumably, is what Lord Justice Roskill meant. If, on the other hand, he meant that an agent must have express authority to make representations, this is inconsistent with other judicial statements on this aspect of law.