Dreamvar (UK) Limited v Mishcon de Reya and Mary Monson
Solicitors Limited, and P & P Property Limited v Owen
White & Catlin LLP
The judgment still transfers the risk of property fraud onto
solicitors, but it shifts the position as to which solicitors
should bear the losses where a fraudster impersonates the owner of
a property in a sale. Solicitors representing imposter vendors can
now face exposure to the losses of innocent purchasers on the basis
of breach of trust, breach of undertaking and, potentially, for
breach of warranty of authority.
Solicitors representing innocent purchasers in an imposter sale
scenario will still face a breach of trust finding, but should be
able to obtain a contribution (potentially amounting to a full
indemnity) from the solicitors acting for the imposter vendor,
given that those solicitors are best placed to identify the
fraud. On the basis of the judgment, they will not be
relieved of this breach of trust.
