In Leddington v Sandercock [2026] EWHC 938 (Ch), HHJ Keyser KC (sitting as a Judge of the High Court), under the heading 'Estoppel', said, at paragraph 56:
'Estoppel by representation is explained as follows in Chitty on Contracts (36th edition) at para 7-005 (citations omitted):
"There are three key requirements for estoppel by representation: (1) a clear representation of fact or (probably) law intended to induce the representee to adopt a particular course of conduct; (2) an act of the representee reasonably taken in reliance on the representation; and (3) the representee must be able to show that they will suffer detriment if the representor is not held to their representation. The burden lies on the representee to establish an estoppel by representation. This may be possible even in the face of an entire agreement clause. Estoppel by representation has been described as an 'an estoppel in the strict sense of the term' and is the basis of the majority of claims in estoppel. It has sometimes been described as a rule of evidence, but is best viewed as a substantive rule of law."
At paragraph 58(1), the Judge said:
'...estoppel by representation is not a cause of action; it operates defensively, to prevent a party denying the truth of something he or she has said. See, for example, Low v Bouverie [1891] 3 Ch 82, per Lindley LJ at 101 and per Bowen LJ at 105. It is quite true that this defensive effect can be used to enable a claimant to establish a cause of action that he or she would not otherwise be able to establish; an example is Silver v Ocean Steam Ship Co. [1930] 1 KB 416.'
On the facts, the claim based on estoppel by representation failed (paragraph 60)
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