Hodgson v Marks [1971] EWCA Civ 8 is an English land law case concerning the right of a person with an equitable interest in a home to remain in actual occupation, even if a bank has a charge and is seeking repossession.
He registered himself, and sold it to Mr Marks, who gave a charge to Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society.
Mrs Hodgson, still living there, found out and claimed a declaration that Mr Marks should transfer his freehold to her, free from the building society charge.
If an attempted express trust fails, that seems to me just the occasion for implication of a resulting trust, whether the failure be due to uncertainty, or perpetuity, or lack of form… On the above footing it matters not whether Mr Marks was or was not debarred from relying upon section 53(1) by the principle that the section is not to be used as an instrument for fraud.
Mr Marks was in fact ignorant of the plaintiff’s interest and it is forcefully argued that there is nothing fraudulent in his taking advantage of the section.