| Tenant's Covenant to Repair |
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Full repairing lease In a lease of the whole of a building, the term "full repairing lease" usually means that the tenant has full responsibility for the repair of the whole property. The tenant will normally be directly responsible for carrying out the repairs and will bear the cost of such repairs. If the premises form part of a larger property, a "full repairing lease" places direct responsibility for repairing the demised premises on the tenant. It also makes the tenant indirectly responsible for the cost (or a proportion of the cost) of repairs to the structure, exterior and common parts of the property through the medium of “service charge”. This charge may be collected in advance along with rental payments or at specific points during the year. Repair and condition A covenant to keep the property “in repair” includes an obligation to put the property into repair if it is in disrepair at the start of the lease. Before taking the lease, the tenant should inspect the property (and the building of which it forms part) for disrepair and then assess the potential repair costs to be borne either directly by the tenant or indirectly through a service charge. Many leases require the tenant to keep the demised premises in "good repair", "good and tenantable repair" or "substantial repair". It is not clear whether the additional words add anything to the obligation to "repair" though there is case law to suggest that they generally do not. However, the contents of the repairing covenant will depend on the length of the term, the location of the property and the nature of the tenant. A tenant should consider restricting its obligation to merely keeping the property "in repair" to avoid assuming a more onerous standard of repair, and also should consider instructing a surveyor to assess the premises and the larger property of which it forms part to obtain as much information as possible prior to entering into any lease obligations. A tenant would be wise to consider a request to limit the covenant to repair, making it subject to a Schedule of Condition, usually prepared by a building surveyor. An obligation to keep the property “in good condition” can require works to be carried out even if there is no disrepair. A covenant that requires the tenant to keep the property "in good repair and condition" is more onerous than one that specifies "good repair" alone. The nature and standard of the work that the tenant has to carry out depends on the age and nature of the property at the date of the grant of the lease. So, if the property is an old building, a covenant to repair it will not require the tenant to modernise it. If you would like to discuss repairing covenants with us or feel you need professional advice on anything in this section please call us on 01562 514870, email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or contact us on the contacts page of our website. |