header-logo header-logo

Read the small print

26 April 2013 / Nicholas Asprey
Issue: 7557 / Categories: Features , Property
printer mail-detail
istock_000005657917large1

A covenant to keep a property in good & substantial repair & condition can hold hidden pitfalls, as Nicholas Asprey reports

Leases sometimes contain a covenant to keep the property “in good and substantial repair and condition”. In effect, this is two covenants; namely, a covenant to keep the property in good and substantial repair and a covenant to keep the property in good and substantial condition. This article examines how the covenant to keep in good condition has potential to go beyond the liability to keep in good repair. This is not a new topic but there are unresolved issues and the potential for the second covenant to go beyond repair is not always understood.

It must be emphasised that each case turns on the particular covenant construed in its own context and surrounding circumstances, as was emphasised by Robert Walker LJ in Welsh v Greenwich LBC [2000] 3 EGLR 41. The factors to be taken into account were described by Nicholls LJ in Holding & Management Ltd v Property Holding &

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll