The defendant landlord let a farm to a tenant retaining the adjoining premises on which was a shrubbery containing yew trees. The branches of the yew trees overhung the farm and were within the reach of the tenant’s cattle and horses. The tenant’s horse died after eating yew from the overhanging branches of trees growing on the landlord’s adjoining land.
Held: The tenant’s claim against the landlord in negligence and nuisance failed.
Pickford LJ said: ‘The law of this country is that a tenant, when he takes a farm, must look and judge for himself what the state of the farm is. Just as in the case of a purchaser of a business the rule is caveat emptor, so in the case of taking the lease of property the rule is caveat lessee; he must take the property as he finds it. I never heard that a landlord warranted that the sheep should not eat his yew trees.’ That is a distinct statement of the law and not a dictum. It is the second ground given by the Lord Justice for his judgment. If a judge states two grounds for his judgment and bases his decision upon both, neither of those grounds is a dictum. The law so stated by Mellish L.J. is in agreement with a series of cases of which Sutton v Temple is an early instance. In a case of this kind the tenant takes the land demised as it is, and therefore if the tenant here took the land with the yew trees growing over it so that his cattle could eat of the branches and they did eat, he cannot complain. Therefore the broad proposition argued on behalf of the plaintiff cannot be maintained.’
Pickford LJ
[1917] 21 KB 247
England and Wales
Citing:
Approved – Erskine v Adeane 1873
Mellish LJ said: ‘The law of this country is that a tenant when he takes a farm must look and judge for himself what the state of the farm is. Just as in the case of a purchaser of a business the rule is caveat emptor, so in the case of the lease of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Jackson v J H Watson Property Investment Ltd QBD 7-Jan-2008
The tenant claimant held under a 125 year lease of the defendant. A fault in a light well led to water ingress and damage. The fault was in the landlord’s land but not the flat. The tenant alleged a nuisance by the landlords. The landlord replied . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.263270