ABSTRACT
Usually the parties to leases of commercial property or long leases of residential property will make express provision as regards liability for repairs. The standard of repair must be sufficient to enable the premises to be used not only with safety but with reasonable (although not excessive) comfort by the appropriate class of persons. In determining the standard of repair required by the landlord’s repairing covenant, regard must be had to ‘the age, character and prospective life of the dwelling-house and the locality in which it is situated’. Where the landlord retains control of essential means of access to the demised premises, the insertion of a term may be necessary to give business efficacy to the contract. In some circumstances, the courts may imply an obligation on the landlord to match a correlative obligation expressly imposed on the tenant. Poor housing conditions are often the outcome of inherent defects brought about by design faults, bad workmanship, etc.
