Where a purchaser clearly intimates before the settlement date that she will not settle, the vendor is dispensed from the obligation to give vacant possession on that date, even if the vendor has affirmed the contract after the purchaser's anticipatory breach. The vendor's readiness and willingness is assessed in light of the dispensation. Bridging finance costs and costs of extending a replacement property contract are within the reasonable contemplation of parties to a residential property sale contract as probable consequences of a purchaser's failure to settle. A contractual entitlement to costs on a 'solicitor and own client basis' is equivalent to indemnity costs.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 2 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.