Cases - Langham Estate Management Ltd v Hardy

Record details

Name

Langham Estate Management Ltd v Hardy

Date

[2008]

Citation

3 EGLR 125

Keywords

Dilapidations case law

Summary

Considering the scope of the landlord’s covenants, the judge said:

‘a landlord's covenant to ‘keep in proper working order’ or to ‘maintain’ is likely to be wider in its scope than a covenant to ‘repair’, although even this will depend upon the true construction of the covenant in its context. This point is particularly relevant to plant, machinery, equipment and installations. ‘Repair’ involves remedying a state of disrepair that has arisen, and the obligation does not arise until it has. ‘Keep in proper working order’, and possibly merely ‘maintain’, may well require proactive preventative maintenance work, or carrying out adjustments or general servicing before any actual fault develops or a want of repair exists. The covenant to ‘keep in proper working order’, in particular, may also require the remedying of design or construction defects, which are not wants of repair. This is because such a covenant means ensuring that the relevant installations perform their intended functions ‘in a proper, safe and reliable manner’ or, to put it more simply, that they 'work properly'’.