The landlord had covenanted to maintain, repair amend renew and otherwise keep in good and tenantable condition the structure of the building.
Held: A Landlord’s covenant to keep in good repair can include a duty to put the property into repair. The wording went beyond a mere covenant to repair. The court relied on the obligation to keep the structure in good and tenantable condition coupled with the parallel obligation to ‘amend’ and ‘renew’.
Lindsay J stated: ‘Whilst I accept the inevitability of the conclusion of the Court of Appeal in Post Office v Aquarius Properties Ltd [1987] 1 All ER 1055 that one cannot have an existing obligation to repair unless and until there is disrepair, that reasoning does not apply to a covenant to keep (and put) into good and tenantable condition. One cannot sensibly proceed from ‘no disrepair, ergo no need to repair’ to ‘no disrepair, ergo no need to put or keep in the required condition’. Leaving aside cases, such as this, where there is special provision for there to have been prior knowledge or notice in the covenantor, all that is needed, in general terms, to trigger a need for activity under an obligation to keep in (and put into) a given condition is that the subject matter is out of that condition.’
Judges:
Lindsay J
Citations:
Independent 15-Sep-1993, [1994] 4 All ER 803
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
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 . .
Cited – L Batley Pet Products Ltd v North Lanarkshire Council SC 8-May-2014
The appellant was mid-landlord and the respondent the sub-tenant under a now-expired lease. The appellant had wanted repairs to be executed but told the tenant informally. The tenant argued that the lease required formal notice to create an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.79619