When a contract is broken, money is the usual answer — but sometimes money simply won't do. Specific performance is the equitable remedy that compels a defaulting party to carry out their promise, most often in the sale of land where every plot is treated as unique. For a solicitor advising a buyer, seller, or commercial client, knowing whether this remedy is realistically available — and what could block it — shapes the advice you give and the strategy you take.
This lesson builds your understanding step by step:
- Nature of the Remedy and Inadequacy of Damages — what specific performance is, the four requirements a claimant must establish, and when damages are treated as inadequate.
- Suitability of the Contract — which contracts the court will not enforce, why personal service and supervision are problems, and the limited exceptions.
- Equitable Bars to Relief — the discretionary hurdles, from clean hands and laches to hardship and vitiating factors, that can defeat an otherwise good claim.
- Effect of the Contract: Equitable Interest — the interest a buyer gains on exchange, the seller's duties pending completion, and what happens on insolvency.
- Related Orders and Enforcement — abatement of price, damages alongside or instead of an order, and what follows if the order is ignored.