What constitutes being ‘in good and substantial repair and condition’ has regularly provided room for debate and this can be especially important when the state of repair of a roof is in point.
A tenant which had covenanted to yield up its industrial unit in good and substantial repair at the end of the lease found itself facing a hefty bill when the incoming tenant insisted that the roof – which had been repaired by patching – should be completely replaced. The landlord subsequently sought to recover the cost of the replacement roof from the previous tenant, under the repairing covenant.
The tenant fought the claim, arguing that the landlord’s claim must be restricted to the cheapest sensible option for the repair – clearly not the cost of a new roof.
The court agreed. The demands of the incoming tenant were not relevant to the issue. The standard of repair is an objective standard and patch repairs were sufficient to comply with the covenant. The previous tenant’s liability was therefore limited to that cost.
Reasonable Repair is Objective, Not Subjective
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