Case No. UKUT-251-(LC)-UTLC-Case-Number:-LC-2022-218

1.This is Mr Aslam’s appeal from a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (“the FTT”), which found that on 14 September 2018 he entered into a contract to sell his property, 189 Walton Road, Woking, to the respondent Mr Rehman.2.The proceedings in the FTT arose from Mr Aslam’s application to HM Land Registry to cancel the unilateral notice entered by Mr Rehman on the register of title to the property to protect the contract. Mr Rehman objected and so the matter was referred to the FTT pursuant to section 73 of the Land Registration Act 2002. Before the FTT it was for Mr Rehman to prove the existence of the contract, and so he was the applicant and Mr Aslam was the respondent – which is why, for the avoidance of confusion, I am going to refer to the parties by name. Mr Rehman succeeded; the FTT found that contracts were exchanged on 14 September 2018, that the agreement was not a sham, and that Mr Aslam did not sign the contract as a result of misrepresentation or undue influence. 3.Mr Aslam has permission to appeal on one issue, namely that the FTT made an error of law in finding that contracts were exchanged on 14 September 2018 on the basis that the facts found by the FTT could not as a matter of law justify that conclusion.4.Mr Aslam was represented in the appeal by Mr David Gilchrist, and Mr Rehman by Mr Andrew Butler KC, and I am grateful to them both.5.I begin by setting out the facts found by the FTT.