FACTS: In September 1939, the plaintiffs leased a block of flats to the defendants, who planned to lease out the individual flats. When the Second World War broke out, the defendants had difficulty in leasing all of the flats and so, in 1940, the landlord agreed to accept just half of the ground rent stipulated in the lease. This arrangement continued until 1945, by which time all the flats were fully let and the plaintiffs sought to return to the terms of the original agreement. The plaintiffs brought an action against the defendants claiming the full original rent both for the future and the last two quarters of 1945. HELD: Mr Justice Denning held that the action should succeed. The parties intended the reduction of the rent to be a temporary measure while the flats could not be fully let. The flats were fully let early in 1945 and therefore Denning J held that the plaintiffs should be able to recover the full rent from the last two quarters of 1945 onwards. Mr Justice Denning expressed the view, obiter, that the plaintiffs would not have been able to recover the rent for the period between 1940 and 1945 even though there was no consideration for the promise to accept reduced rent. The reason for this was that he thought that there was a general equitable principle whereby:
A promise intended to be binding, intended to be acted on and in fact acted on, is binding so far as its terms properly apply.