In Abdul Rahim bin Syed Mohd v Ramakrishnan Kandasamy, the court had laid down 4 most important and general elements to invoke specific performance. Firstly,  it must be a valid and enforceable contract; second, the contract must be formed between competent parties; third, the contract should be unobjectionable; and fourth, the terms in the contract must be very precise and certain so that the court is able to make an order to the defendant to perform such contract.

            Under S 11 of the Specific Relief Act 1950 (SRA), there are 4 situations where the contract can be fully enforced. In S 11(1)(a) of SRA, it is a situation of trust where the act and performance must be done wholly or partially. To illustrate, when A had trust in B to hold 50% of the shares of company, but B accidentally dispose to other person, A can enforce specific performance towards B to get all the shares back.

S 11(1)(b) of SRA provides that when no standard as to ascertain the actual damage and there is a breach of contract, this contract can be specifically enforced. In the case of Gan Realty Sdn Bhd. & Ors v Nicholas & Ors, the court had granted the plaintiff specific performance for the sale and purchase contract of share that was still not in the open share market. Therefore, the court could not determine the damage and the court had to grant specific performance to order the defendant to perform as according to the contract.

Next, S 11(1)(c) of SRA states that specific performance is to be granted when the monetary compensation is not sufficient to compensate when the contract is breached. In the case of Seet Soh Ngoh v Venkateswara Sdn Bhd, the housing developer had breached the terms of the contract to the purchaser. However, damages awarded for the plaintiff is insufficient because it does not fully cover the cost of buying the land and building of house. Hence, the court must grant the specific performance.

In S 11(1)(d) of SRA, it states that when there is a possibility that monetary compensation cannot be received after caused by the non-performance of the contract, the court may grant specific performance.

There is one specific provision which one shall take note—S 11(2) of SRA. This section is a presumption that for all immovable property, monetary compensation is not enough due to the fact that land always have unique value. However, this presumption can be rebutted when the contract contains an express term that specific performance is unavailable in the event of breach of contract.

Read also: ” Can I apply for specific performance if the vendor breach his contract to sell the land to me? “