Loveridge v London Borough of Lambeth [2014] UKSC 65 (3 December 2014)

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[Crazy council]

Re: Loveridge v London Borough of Lambeth [2014] UKSC 65 (3 December 2014)

very interesting read that in relation to illegal evictions by landlords.

1. Section 28 of the Housing Act 1988 ("the 1988 Act") identifies a measure of damages payable by a landlord to a residential occupier of premises whom he has unlawfully evicted from them. Construction of the section is not straightforward. On 25 September 2012 His Honour Judge Blunsdon, sitting in the Lambeth County Court, determined a claim for damages brought by Mr Loveridge against the London Borough of Lambeth ("Lambeth"). Mr Loveridge had been a residential occupier of premises let to him by Lambeth. The judge found that it had unlawfully evicted him from them. By reference to the construction of it which he favoured, the judge awarded Mr Loveridge damages of £90,500 under section 28 as well as of £9,000 otherwise than under the section. Lambeth appealed to the Court of Appeal against the judge's award of damages under section 28. On 10 May 2013, by a judgment delivered by Briggs LJ with which Arden LJ and Sir Stanley Burnton agreed, [2013] EWCA Civ 494,[2013] 1 WLR 3390, the court favoured a different construction of the section, which led it to order that Lambeth's appeal be allowed, that the judge's award under section 28 be set aside in its entirety but that the award of damages otherwise than under the section be increased to £16,400. Against these orders Mr Loveridge now appeals.