Defective Premises

Defective Premises-The duty of care:

Where premises are let under a tenancy which requires the Landlord for an obligation to the Tenant for the maintenance or repair of the premises, the Landlord owes to all persons who might reasonably be expected to be affected by defects in the state of the premises, a duty to take such care as is reasonable in all circumstances. The Landlord must ensure that they are reasonably safe from personal injury or from damage to their property caused by a relevant defect.

This duty extends to :- Tenants, tradesmen, visitors, guests and ANY one who may visit the premises.

Remember: The Landlord MUST  ‘take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances to see that they [the persons in the premises] are reasonably safe from personal injury and from damage to their property caused by a relevant defect’.

The said duty is owed if the Landlord knows (whether as the result of being notified by the Tenant or otherwise) or if he ought in all the circumstances to have known of the relevant defect. This is why you must perform regular inspections so that you can demonstrate effort. 

In this section “relevant defect” means a defect in the state of the premises existing at, or after the material time and arising from, or continuing because of, an act or omission by the Landlord which constitutes or would if he had notice of the defect, have constituted a failure by them to carry out their obligation to the Tenant for the maintenance or repair of the premises; and for the purposes of the foregoing provision “the material time” means—

 

(a) where the tenancy commenced before this Act, the commencement of this Act; and 

(b) in all other cases, the earliest of the following times, that is to say—

 

(i) the time when the tenancy commences; 

(ii) the time when the tenancy agreement is entered into;

 

(iii) the time when possession is taken of the premises in contemplation of the letting.

 

Where premises are let under a tenancy which expressly or impliedly gives the Landlord the right to enter the premises to carry out any description of maintenance or repair of the premises, then, as from the time when the Landlord first , or by notice or otherwise can put themselves, in a position to exercise the right and so long as they are or can put themselves in that position, they shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) to (3) above (but for no other purpose) as if they were under an obligation to the Tenant for that description of maintenance or repair of the premises; but the Landlord shall not owe the Tenant any duty by virtue of this subsection in respect of any defect in the state of the premises arising from, or continuing because of, a failure to carry out an obligation expressly imposed on the Tenant by the tenancy.