Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward appeared for the successful respondent, a company in the Barratt Redrow group, in Wilson & Anor v HB (SWA) Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 1360 in the Court of Appeal, which concerned the damages available under the Defective Premises Act 1972, and the principles relevant to Schedules of Loss.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appellants’ challenge to the strike-out of various heads of loss advanced by leaseholders in a high-rise residential development in Cardiff. The appellants had sought damages under the Defective Premises Act 1972 and in contract for alleged fire-safety and other defects, including historic diminution in value, investment and reinvestment loss, rental loss, secured borrowing loss and tax/IHT consequences.
The TCC judge had concluded that those heads were either unpleaded, speculative or too remote. Coulson LJ, giving the lead judgment in the Court of Appeal, endorsed the judge’s robust approach to case management, and outlined the difficulties that would be faced by a claimant seeking diminution in value damages (other than blight) in a case where the developer had agreed to undertake no-cost remediation. The decision also confirms that a schedule of loss cannot be used to introduce new, unparticularised claims beyond the pleaded case.
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