The Court of Appeal has today handed down its judgment in Dhillon v (1) Barclays Bank plc & (2) the Chief Land Registrar. As Coulson LJ noted in his judgment, this was “the first civil appeal to be conducted remotely as a result of the current health crisis.”
The underlying issue in the appeal was whether, for the purposes of paragraph 3(3) of Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002, there were exceptional circumstances which justified the Court not making an order rectifying the Register.
The Court of Appeal approved as the “best guide” to the test of exceptional circumstances the decision of Morgan J in Paton v Todd [2012] EWHC 1248 (Ch).
Applying this test to the facts of the case, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of HHJ Pelling Q.C. and concluded that there were such exceptional circumstances which justified the Court not rectifying the Register. The appeal was dismissed.
Mark Warwick Q.C. (leading Camilla Chorfi) appeared for the appellant, Mrs Dhillon. Nicholas Trompeter appeared for the second respondent, the Chief Land Registrar.