THE recent Supreme Court decision in Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages [2014] UKSC 52; [2014] H.L.R. 48 considered whether a promise made by the buyer of a piece of land, before completion, could give rise to a proprietary estoppel claim. Obiter, the court also considered the width and applicability of the rule in Abbey National B.S. v Cann [1991] A.C. 56, which has traditionally been seen to provide that completion and the creation of a mortgage charge are to be considered as one transaction in cases of acquisition mortgages where the purchaser could not have purchased the property without the mortgage loan.