Q&As

Tenant Damages for Landlord's Breach of Repair Obligations

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Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert

Published on: 28 July 2016

What are the heads of damages that a tenant can claim as a consequence of the landlord’s breach of its repairing obligations? Where a tenant operates a business from the demised premises and is forced to close the business temporarily, due to the landlord’s failure to repair, can the tenant claim damages for loss of profits?

Although it is inevitably a question of construing the terms of the lease, it is not uncommon to find that the tenant is obliged to keep the interior of premises in repair, while the landlord has that duty in respect of the exterior of it. This is particularly likely to be the case where the premises are one part of a larger building held by the landlord in circumstances where there are a number of tenants, none of whom are granted a demise of the exterior part of it.

As the landlord’s covenant to keep the premises in repair is in the nature of a contractual obligation, the remedy for a breach of it is to put the tenant in the position which would have

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Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Damages definition

What does Damages mean?

The monetary compensation awarded by law to a person for the legal wrong done to him.

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