In Brief
A property dispute concerning a permanent injunction sought by the plaintiff (now respondent) based on an unregistered agreement to sell dated 23 March 1996. The defendant (now appellant) filed a counterclaim seeking possession, claiming the plaintiff had unauthorised possession. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's suit and allowed the counterclaim. The lower appellate court reversed this, granting the injunction, and the High Court upheld that decision. The Supreme Court, however, found that the plaintiff had cleverly sought only injunction relief instead of specific performance to avoid the legal bar on unregistered agreements. The Court held that a plaintiff cannot obtain injunction relief indirectly on the basis of an unregistered document when substantive relief would be barred. It allowed the appeal, restoring the trial court's judgment dismissing the suit and allowing the counterclaim for possession."
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