DAMAGES FOR RESIDUAL DIMINUTION IN VALUE

In Strange v Westbury Homes (Holdings) Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 1247, [2010] All ER (D) 148 (Jan) the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had been entitled to rely upon lump sum quotations obtained by the claimants when seeking to assess the cost of carrying out repairs to property which had not been built in ‘a thorough and workmanlike manner.’ The Court of Appeal also held that the claimants were entitled to recover damages in respect of the residual diminution in value of their property following the successful completion of the remedial works because they had provided ‘cogent evidence’ of the existence of a loss of this kind.

The facts

The first defendant, a property developer, sold three properties to three sets of claimants. It was a term of each contract that the defendant had or would as soon as practicable complete the erection of the plot ‘in a thorough and workmanlike manner.’ It was common ground between the parties that the defendant had breached the terms of its contracts in that it had supplied brickwork which was chipped and damaged and the workmanship of the brickwork was poor. The claimants sought to recover damages for (i) the cost of remedial work necessary to remedy the defective brickwork, (ii) the residual diminution in the value of the properties following the proper completion of the remedial work and (iii) inconvenience and distress.