Cases - Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Davstone (Holdings) Ltd

Record details

Name
Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Davstone (Holdings) Ltd
Date
[1980]; [1979]; (1978)
Citation
QB 12; 1 All ER 929; 249 EG 51, QBD
Legislation
Keywords
Commercial property - property management - dilapidations - cladding - expansion joints
Summary

Cladding/expansion joints - the inclusion of expansion joints not previously present could be within the covenant to repair (as it related to cladding).

The landlord took down stone cladding which had started to come away from the property and was dangerous and reinstalled it but added expansion joints that had not previously formed part of the property. The tenant contended that the expansion joints were installed to remedy what was described as an inherent defect; it was not a case that an element of the property had fallen into a worse condition than it had been in - it had been built like that.

Consequently, the tenant contended that the work was not of repair and that it did not have to pay for its cost through the service charge. The court concluded that there was no concept that inherent defects could never be remedied under an obligation to repair.

Therefore, whether or not a tenant is liable to repair is a question of degree, rather than of the nature of the defect.