Regalgrand Ltd v Dickerson and another [1996]

Regalgrand Ltd v Dickerson and another [1996] Damages awarded to tenants under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 for unlawful eviction were significantly reduced due to rent arrears and the tenants’ conduct. Two tenants were granted an assured shorthold tenancy of a flat in July 1990. Following the tenants’ dissatisfaction with living conditions in the flat, namely the lack of adequate heating and water and a damp problem, the tenants stopped paying rent in December 1990 and decided that they were going to leave at or near or at the end of February 1991. The landlord then entered the flat when the tenants were not there and, believing that the tenants had vacated the flat, he changed the locks. He also sent a letter to the tenants telling them that he considered the property to have been abandoned, and he informed them that he had changed the locks. The landlord sued for rent arrears and the tenants counterclaimed for damages for breach of the tenancy agreement (due to failure to provide heating and to carry out repairs) and for wrongful eviction. The landlord was awarded damages for the rent arrears, but the tenants’ counterclaim was also successful as the court found that the landlord had failed to show a reasonable cause for thinking that they had stopped living in the flat.