What is the test for a fraudulent misrepresentation claim?

As affirmed in Van Beek v. Dodd, 2010 BCSC 1639 at para. 42, to succeed in a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation, the plaintiffs must establish that: a) the defendant made a representation of fact to the plaintiff(s); b) the representation was false in fact; c) the defendant knew that the representation was false when it was made, or made the false representation recklessly, not knowing if it was true or false; d) the defendant intended for the plaintiffs to act on the representation; and e) the plaintiffs were induced to enter into the contract in reliance upon the false representation and thereby suffered a detriment.

In Hanslo v. Barry, 2011 BCSC 1624 at para. 72, a case involving a real estate transaction, our court observed that “[t]he classic and most obvious form of fraud is where the vendor positively misstates to the purchaser facts, which he knows to be false, for the purpose of deceiving the purchaser.”