Cases - Scottish Mutual Assurance PLC v Jardine Public Relations

Record details

Name
Scottish Mutual Assurance PLC v Jardine Public Relations
Date
[1999]
Citation
EWHC 276 (TCC)
Legislation
Keywords
A tenant with a 3-year lease could not be required to pay for roof replacement works, which would fulfil the landlord’s repairing obligations over 20 years or more, when such works were not necessary to fulfil the obligations over the shorter period of the tenant’s lease.
Summary

In this case the tenant with a 3-year lease of a building was faced with substantial repair costs to maintain the roof in good order over a longer period. The High Court held that the tenant’s liability was limited by the short length of the lease.

This puts the decision from Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Davstone Holdings [1980] QB 12 in context where it has been held that repairs might encompass improvement.

For a property to require repair, there must be deterioration from a building’s previous condition. Repair will only bring a property back into the condition it would have been in before the damage or decay began.

Such remedial works were considered in the case of Holding Management Ltd v Property Holding and Investment Trust plc and Others [1990] 50 EG 75 where Lord Justice Nicholls identified some or all of the following as aspects to consider in the service charge recovery:

  • the nature of the building;
  • the terms of the lease;
  • the state of the building at the date of the lease;
  • the nature and extent of the defects sought to be remedied;
  • the nature, extent and cost of the proposed remedial works;
  • at whose expense the proposed remedial works are to be done;
  • the value of the building and its expected life span
  • the effect of the works on such value and life span;
  • current building practice
  • the likelihood of a recurrence if one remedy rather than another is adopted;
  • the comparative cost of alternative remedial work;
  • the impact of the works on the use and enjoyment of the building by the occupants; and
  • the likelihood of similar disrepair arising in other parts of the building if remedial work is not undertaken, and how soon such further disrepair is likely to arise.

These considerations will most likely apply to a building during the course of its occupation, since costs are to be incurred during the lifetime of the lease.