How have courts interpreted the doctrine of laches in the context of a property purchase agreement?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Yan v Nadarajah, 2015 ONSC 7614 (CanLII):
In Bark-Fong v. Cooper, the court stated in par 14, The doctrine of laches, it has been frequently said, is not a technical doctrine, and in order to constitute a defence there must be such a change of position as would make it inequitable to require the defendant to carry out the contract, or the delay must be of such a character as to justify the inference that the plaintiffs intended to abandon their rights under the contract or otherwise to make it unjust to grant specific performance. It cannot be said that anything has occurred which makes it inequitable that the respondent should be called upon to perform his contract; the only change suggested is that the property has risen in value. I confess I do not see why that should be regarded as a ground for thinking it is unfair that the defendant should be held to his contract.
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