ABSTRACT
Thus, in Surrey CC v Bredero Homes Ltd,59 building land was sold subject to a stipulation limiting the number of houses to be constructed by the buyer to no more than 72. In breach of contract, the buyer built 77 houses instead. The council, having discovered this fact, but being unable to show any loss to itself, was limited to nominal damages, with no claim in respect of the extra profit made by the builder by exceeding the agreed density. Nor was the court impressed with an attempt to argue that the victim of a contractual breach should be regarded as having lost the amount a reasonable person would have charged for release of the obligation in question: as Dillon LJ remarked with some force, it was somewhat unreal to base awards of damages on a hypothetical bargain that no one ever contemplated in the first place.60
