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 that the fault pre-dated the lease, and that the tenant should have identified the fault before taking the lease on.
Held: The claim failed. If the state of the premises was no worse than at the commencement of the lease there was no want of repair, and ‘In the absence of an effective covenant to repair in the lease I do not think Mr Jackson can rely on the law of nuisance to impose what is, in effect, an obligation to put right faulty construction work.’
Judges:
John Behrens QC
Citations:
[2008] EWHC B1 (QB), [2008] EWHC 14 (Ch)
Links:
Citing:
Cited – Cheater v Cater CA 1917
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 . .
Cited – Cockburn v Smith 1924
The owner of a block of flats let one to the tenant, but kept the roof and guttering in his own possession and control. The guttering became defective and the landlord failed to remedy it after notice. Rainwater escaped and caused damage to the . .
Cited – Post Office v Aquarius CA 2-Jan-1985
The tenant’s covenants included an obligation ‘to keep in good and substantial repair . . the demised premises and every part thereof.’
Held: A repairing covenant does not require a defect in design to be made good. One cannot have an existing . .
Cited – Southwark London Borough Council v Mills/Tanner; Baxter v Camden London Borough Council HL 21-Oct-1999
Tenants of council flats with ineffective sound insulation argued that the landlord council was in breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment in their tenancy agreements.
Held: A landlord’s duty to allow quiet enjoyment does not extend to a . .
Cited – Quick v Taff Ely Borough Council CA 1986
Because of fungus, mould growth and dampness, the tenant’s council house was virtually unfit for human habitation in the winter when the condensation was at its worst. Section 32(1) of the 1961 Act implied in the tenancy a covenant by the council to . .
Cited – Tennant Radiant Heat Ltd v Warrington Development Corporation 1988
A property comprised a large building let on fully repairing leases of 22 units. The many rain outlets were allowed to become blocked, and water accumulated above one unit before that part of the roof collapsed. The landlord appealed a finding that . .
Cited – Credit Suisse v Beegas Nominees Ltd ChD 15-Sep-1993
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 . .
Cited – Sedleigh-Denfield v O’Callaghan HL 24-Jun-1940
Occupier Responsible for Nuisance in adopting it
A trespasser laid a drain along a ditch on the defendant’s land. Later the defendants came to use the drain themselves. A grate was misplaced by them so that in a heavy rainstorm, it became clogged with leaves, and water flowed over into the . .
Cited – Carstairs v Taylor 1871
The plaintiffs were tenants of the ground floor of a building. The defendants occupied the top floor. A rat gnawed through a box in which rain water was collected from the roof, causing a leak into the plaintiff’s property, causing damage. No . .
Cited – Kiddle v City Business Properties Ltd CA 1942
Goddard LJ said: ‘[The plaintiff] takes the property as he finds it and must put up with the consequences. It is not to be supposed that the landlord is going to alter the construction, unless he consents to do so. He would say to his intending . .
Cited – Cunard v Antifyre Ltd 1933
Talbot J defined private nuisance as an interference by owners or occupiers of property with the use or enjoyment of neighbouring property. . .
Cited – Hargroves, Aronson and Co v Hartopp CA 1905
The tenants of a building of which the defendants were landlords sought damages after a rainwater gutter became stopped up and the defendants failed to clear it out for a few days after receiving notice of the stoppage.
Held: The landlords . .
Cited – Cavalier v Pope HL 22-Jun-1906
The wife of the tenant of a house let unfurnished sought to recover from the landlord damages for personal injuries arising from the non-repair of the house, on the ground that the landlord had contracted with her husband to repair the house.
Cited by:
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: 12 July 2022; Ref: scu.263249