Facts
- The owner and lessor of a block of flats agreed to reduce rental fees by half to the lessee, who in turn rented individual flats out, as the war had caused low occupation rates
- After the war, the lessee had attained full occupation rates, however remained paying the half fees to the owner
- The owner sought to recover the full fees for the war period; no consideration had been provided for such a promise
Issue
- Could recovery be allowed
Decision
- Partial recovery only, for once occupation levels had increased after the war
Reasoning
- The owner was estopped from recovering the lower fees throughout the low occupation period as the lessee had relied upon the lower fees for his business to stay afloat. Such reliance had not occurred once occupancy rates had returned to full shortly after the end of the war
