In Edwards v Kumarasamy ([2016] UKSC 40) the UK Supreme Court had to consider the landlord’s liability in respect of physical injury caused to his tenant. The lease was of the interior of a flat in a block of flats. The landlord (K) was himself a tenant of the flat and had the benefit of the right to use the entrance hall to the flats, the car park and the paved area between the front door and the car park. K sub-let the flat together with these ancillary rights to E. E injured himself when he tripped over an uneven paving stone in the paved area.
The primary question was whether the paved area was part of the exterior of the building of which the flat formed part. If it was, then K would be liable to T under the covenant imposed on landlords by section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Lord Neuberger held that the paved area was not part of the exterior of the building. The natural meaning of the words of a statute should be applied unless they produced a nonsensical result or one which was inconsistent with the intention of the legislation. Here the natural meaning of the ‘exterior’ did not extend to the paved area ([17]).
That effectively meant that the case was decided in K’s favour. Lord Neuberger went on, however, to look at another, more general issue. He referred to the rule that, ‘a landlord is not liable under a covenant with his tenant to repair premises which are in the possession of the tenant and not of the landlord unless and until the landlord has notice of the repair’ ([30]). This is an implied term. It does not normally apply where the premises to be repaired are not in the tenant’s possession ([42]). If the landlord had been subject to a covenant to repair the paved area, did the tenant have to serve notice of disrepair on him before the landlord was under any liability to repair?
The distinguishing feature of this case was that the premises to be repaired were in the possession neither of the landlord nor the tenant but was property over which they both had a right of way. The premises were the paved area over which the landlord had been granted a right of way which he had effectively passed on to the tenant. The landlord had effectively disposed of his right to use the paved area to the tenant ([50]). Lord Neuberger held that the rule requiring the tenant to give notice of the disrepair applied to this case (49]).
Michael Lower
