Supreme Court to hear case next week on damages for unlawful eviction
The Supreme Court will next week hear a dispute between a council and a secure tenant over the damages payable after he was unlawfully evicted from his residential accommodation.
The Court of Appeal in London Borough of Lambeth v Loveridge [2013] EWCA Civ 494 ruled that the local authority should pay agreed common law damages of £16,400.
This was significantly lower than at first instance where the claimant was awarded statutory damages and special damages in the total sum of £99,500.
The background to the case was that Loveridge was a secure tenant of a one-bedroom flat on the ground floor at 19 Moresby Walk, London SW8, a property owned by Lambeth.
On 9 July 2009 he left the property for a lengthy visit to Ghana. The claimant continued to pay his rent by standing order, but a concern that he might have died in the property led the council to effect forcible entry in September 2009.
Lambeth cleared out his possessions, and found a replacement occupant.
When Loveridge returned from Ghana, his efforts to reinstate his tenancy of the property were unsuccessful. He then brought proceedings against the council for unlawful eviction.
The issues before the Supreme Court are:
- Was the Court of Appeal wrong to hold that any hypothetical step a landlord could take to affect a tenant's security of tenure, but which had not actually been taken, was relevant to determining the value of the landlord's interest in a building at the time immediately before an unlawful eviction for the purposes of assessing damages under s. 28 of the Housing Act 1988 ("the 1988 Act")?
- Was the Court of Appeal wrong to hold that a prospective change in an occupier's rights of occupation, following an actual sale, is relevant to a calculation of section 28(1)(a) damages?
The case will be heard on 21 October by a panel comprising Lord Neuberger, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath and Lord Toulson.