When considering the reasonableness of the alternative accomodation offered by the landlord to a tenant, its proximity to the workplace of the tenant and of his family must be considered. What is reasonable is a question of fact in each case. Megaw J: ‘The most that the judge could have done, if he could have done so, would have been to make a future and conditional order – conditional on the repairs being done, presumably, within some stated time and the maisonette having by then been put in a condition in which it would objectively have been regarded as suitable. There are, no doubt, cases where, although the offered accommodation is not immediately available, a judge can properly make an order to take effect a future date. Whether the judge here could or should have found it possible to take such a course on the facts as they were before him, and the facts that remain unknown, on the evidence of this case I do not need to speculate.’
Megaw J
[1984] P and CR 402
England and Wales
Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.245848