Facts: Ms Kelly’s mother exercised her ‘right to buy’, purchasing her council home with a discount of £50,000.00 off the total price of £120,000.00. Ms Kelly, her daughter, was a joint purchaser and became solely responsible for paying the mortgage and other costs. There was no express declaration of trust. Ms Kelly applied for a judicial review of the decision to treat her mother as a beneficial owner of 5/12 of the home, for the purpose of assessing her liability to pay residential care charges.

Judgment: Wilson J held that the right to buy discount amounted to a contribution towards the purchase price and that, since Ms Kelly could not prove a mutual intention that her mother should not have an equitable interest, she held a proportionate share in the dwelling on trust for her mother. The local authority was entitled to take this share into account for the purpose of charging the mother and the local authority was entitled to enter a caution on the register.