When it comes to recovering the damages caused by a breach of contract, the following limitations apply.
In regards to foreseeable damages, the party responsible for the breach must be in a position to predict these damages are likely to occur. For example, if a buyer has gone ahead and hired people to help with the moving or has bought new furniture, and the seller has breached the contract of sale, then the latter must compensate the former for the costs occurred, since such actions are likely to take place.
Damages caused by a breach of contract must be proved with certainty. Claiming compensation because of emotional distress as a result of a deal not going through (for example, claiming you desperately wanted the sale to go through) is highly unlikely to produce positive results.
Finally, there’s the issue of the duty of the offended party to lessen the loss suffered (duty to mitigate). For example, when a seller breaches the contract of sale, the buyer cannot continue with previously made arrangements to move into the house and then expect to be compensated for these expenses.
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