The county court judge had allowed damages to the claimant, who owned a property which suffered from persistent water penetration, general damages for breach of the 1972 Act, the sum of andpound;1,500 a year for the four years during which the problems lasted, making a total of andpound;6,000 in all. The judge made it clear that this was an award of general damages for loss of use and enjoyment.
Held: The contractor’s appeal failed. Swinton Thomas LJ held that such damages were recoverable for breach of Section 1. The loss of use claims had been properly pleaded and: ‘The Judge allowed a figure of andpound;1,500 per year for four years making a total of andpound;6,000. In my view that item of damages is clearly allowable under the provisions of the Defective Premises Act, and I do not myself think that it has been shown that his assessment, either in terms of the annual value or the period of time, was excessive.’
Judges:
Swinton Thomas LJ
Citations:
[1996] EWCA Civ 885, (1996) 30 HLR 785, [1996] EG 187, [1997] PNLR 189
Links:
Statutes:
Defective Premises Act 1972 81
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Bella Casa Ltd v Vinestone Ltd and others TCC 9-Dec-2005
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Damages
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.140752
