Springette v Defoe [1992] 2 FLR 388. Court of Appeal

Cohabitees  bought in their joint names a council house of which one them had been the sitting tenant. After crediting the former tenant with the discount in the purchase price attributable to her rights as a sitting tenant and taking account of the contributions to that price which each partner had made in cash, the proportions of their initial contributions stood at 75% - 25%. Part of the purchase price was provided by a mortgage, and by express agreement the parties contributed to the mortgage instalments equally. The trial judge held that the beneficial interests were equal. 

Court of Appeal held:

The parties were beneficially entitled in the proportions of 75% to 25%.

Dillon LJ in regard to the common intention to be imputed to the parties, in the absence of express agreement, as to what their precise shares should be:

"The common intention must be founded on evidence such as would support a finding that there is an implied or constructive trust for the parties in proportions to the purchase price. The court does not as yet sit, as under a palm tree, to exercise a general discretion to do what the man in the street, on a general overview of the case, might regard as fair.....Since, therefore, it is clear in the present case that there never was any discussion between the parties about what their respective beneficial interests were to be, they cannot, in my judgment, have had in any relevant sense any common intention as to the beneficial ownership of the property......The presumption of resulting trust is not displaced."

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